This one bothers me as an independent small business owner here in Wisconsin. When is the government going quit trying to run our private businesses?
Giving Criminals a Leg Up
While the Legislature continues to rack up their per diem payments voting on senseless and unnecessary legislation, it refuses to deal with some important current laws that defy reason.
The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act states that when making hiring or firing decisions, arrest or conviction record cannot be taken into account by an employer. Thus, if a felon shows up at the corner store looking for a job and they are denied, the Mom n' Pop store could face an expensive lawsuit.
The following commentary was provided by Christian Schneider for the "Here and Now" program on Wisconsin Public Television:
"Another state legislative session is about to come and go, and it will still be illegal for businesses to take criminal records into account when deciding to hire or fire people. That's right - under Wisconsin law you can deny employment to applicants because they smell like pickles or have excessive nose hair, but not because they went to jail for stabbing someone in the eyes.
Currently, criminal record has to be ignored in the workplace unless it has a "substantial relationship" to the job at hand - but nobody knows what that actually means. You may remember the case of the Milwaukee Public School employee who was convicted of throwing hot grease on a 20-month old infant, giving the child third-degree burns. When the school tried to fire him, he sued, got his job back, and even received a cash settlement. He argued he was actually throwing the grease at the baby's mother, which meant he wasn't a threat to children. Apparently the law agrees.
What might be most galling about this law is that it gives the same discrimination protections to criminals that are reserved for things like sex, race, and religion - involuntary classifications. Somehow, I don't think Dr. King marched in Birmingham to protect some dirty-toucher's right to get a job at Arbys.
This law puts small businesses in a catch-22. It's just a matter of time before a violent felon shows up at the local futon store looking for a job. If the shop hires him, they could be endangering their employees and customers. But if it doesn't, the shop could be the subject of a long, expensive lawsuit.
Changing the law wouldn't mean that employers couldn't hire ex-cons - many still would. It would simply mean that businesses would have the right to decide what's safest for their workplaces - instead of the government making that decision for them."
Giving Criminals a Leg Up
While the Legislature continues to rack up their per diem payments voting on senseless and unnecessary legislation, it refuses to deal with some important current laws that defy reason.
The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act states that when making hiring or firing decisions, arrest or conviction record cannot be taken into account by an employer. Thus, if a felon shows up at the corner store looking for a job and they are denied, the Mom n' Pop store could face an expensive lawsuit.
The following commentary was provided by Christian Schneider for the "Here and Now" program on Wisconsin Public Television:
"Another state legislative session is about to come and go, and it will still be illegal for businesses to take criminal records into account when deciding to hire or fire people. That's right - under Wisconsin law you can deny employment to applicants because they smell like pickles or have excessive nose hair, but not because they went to jail for stabbing someone in the eyes.
Currently, criminal record has to be ignored in the workplace unless it has a "substantial relationship" to the job at hand - but nobody knows what that actually means. You may remember the case of the Milwaukee Public School employee who was convicted of throwing hot grease on a 20-month old infant, giving the child third-degree burns. When the school tried to fire him, he sued, got his job back, and even received a cash settlement. He argued he was actually throwing the grease at the baby's mother, which meant he wasn't a threat to children. Apparently the law agrees.
What might be most galling about this law is that it gives the same discrimination protections to criminals that are reserved for things like sex, race, and religion - involuntary classifications. Somehow, I don't think Dr. King marched in Birmingham to protect some dirty-toucher's right to get a job at Arbys.
This law puts small businesses in a catch-22. It's just a matter of time before a violent felon shows up at the local futon store looking for a job. If the shop hires him, they could be endangering their employees and customers. But if it doesn't, the shop could be the subject of a long, expensive lawsuit.
Changing the law wouldn't mean that employers couldn't hire ex-cons - many still would. It would simply mean that businesses would have the right to decide what's safest for their workplaces - instead of the government making that decision for them."
