The Pros of Hiring Ex-Cons - Brief Article

Workforce, Dec, 2000 by Victor D. Infante

How bad is your labor problem? Bad enough to consider hiring a qualified applicant who just happens to be out on parole? Don't sniff at the ideas. As unemployment has dropped to today's record lows, more and more companies are changing their minds about hiring ex-convicts.

The trend hit full steam in 1996, when low unemployment (then a whopping 5 percent) began making employers itchy to find new labor pools. Taking note, the Department of Labor instituted a bonding program that provides the employer $5,000 insurance "against losses stemming from theft, forgery, larceny, or embezzlement by the bonded employee," according to Office.com. The bond came free of charge for the first six months the employee was employed.

Other organizations stepped in to help the federal government find jobs for the large number of men and women leaving prison with no employment prospects. One such organization was the Michigan Neighborhood Partnership's BRIDGES program and its "Fresh Start Job Fair," where convicted felons found full-time employment in a variety of fields. Similar events are now held around the country, and when used with the government's bonding program and inexpensive extended insurance offered from Traveler's Property Casualty Insurance, the issuer of the bonds, a company can alleviate its hiring problem and give someone a fresh start.

There are dangers inherent in hiring ex-offenders, said Ron Rubbin, director of the federal bonding program. But of the 40,000 workers have been bonded so far, there is only a 1 percent default rate. Your nearest State employment office has more information.