With discrimination against ex-felons on the rise, those effected speak out in hopes to reverse longstanding prejudices.

Christian Read
Staff Writer

Seattle City Councilman Bruce Harrell introduced a bill last month that he hopes will give felons a better chance in the work force. The legal details have yet to be released, but the premise involves requiring background checks to be done later in the application process, when the employee in question is almost guaranteed the job.

Discrimination against felons by employers worsened when the economy recessed. Employers often turn applicants away purely on the basis that they have committed a felony at some point in their life. Harrell believes that helping ex-felons reintegrate into society by giving them an equal chance at employment will greatly reduce the chance that they will reoffend.

Bradley Moore of Olympia is just another American ex-felon who is struggling to get by because of felon discrimination by employers. “I had a felony charge 28 years ago, and it’s preventing me from getting a job,” he says. “I’ve been fighting this for years, and I’m not alone.”

His story is one that is all too common. Moore put nearly 300 applications out to employers, all of which included the information about his felony charge from his youth. Employers consistently turned him away after they saw his background. Some applications even read something along the lines of “felons need not apply.”

“When I am honest on my applications,” Moore says, “I get no calls from employers. When I lie on my applications, and put down that I have no felony, I get calls. I would take the interview and pass the drug test, but they would turn me away after they did their background check.”

Even though felons have served their sentencing, they are still dealing with the repercussions no matter how old their offense is.

“Companies will not look at your work experience for the past 20 years. They will look at your criminal record.” This is an unfortunate truth for ex-felons like Moore, no matter how qualified they may be.

Moore had to turn to an attorney for help, who was quite familiar with the situation. The attorney had dealt with prior clients who were suffering from felonies 40 years past. He is working towards eliminating discrimination throughout the entire state of Washington. Seattle is hopefully just the start.

Employers, naturally, see many problems with removing bias towards felons. Business columnist Don Brunell points out several liabilities that go along with the proposal in his online article, which primarily addresses the costs of the change.

Brunell argues that removing the background check early on will cost a great amount of trust between the employer and employee. He also points out that the interview process, including drug testing, is highly costly: employers could end up spending great amounts of money on an applicant who could end up turning out to be ineligible for the position.

However, Harrell plans to work around these problems by sending up red flags for felonies that relate to the job being applied for. For example, felons charged with vehicular manslaughter will not be able to hide their charges when applying for a job as a truck driver.

Critics and proponents cannot agree or disagree with the bill, though, until the details of the proposed bill are worked out. The bill may or may not be passed, but it certainly addresses an important truth: felons are being discriminated against, today more than ever.

“We are not the people we used to be,” Moore says. “We’ve raised families, we’ve been in society without incident, and we’ve followed all the rules.”

Felons who are trying to be better citizens are struggling because they can’t pay to put dinner on the table.

Bradley Moore states, “And I’m just one of many Americans out there.”