On Today’s Rally at the White House for Federal Fair-Chance Hiring Reform


Following is a statement from Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, on the July 30th demonstration in front of the White House to demand action on federal fair-chance hiring:

“We are honored to stand alongside leaders and representatives of formerly incarcerated people from across the country to demand a policy change that will have a real impact on people who seek work in order to provide for themselves and their families but who are too often shut out from those opportunities.

“Far too many people with records continue to be punished long after they have served their sentences because they face the stigma of a record that prevents them from finding work.

“NELP has long worked to reduce work barriers faced by people with records, and we are asking President Obama to make good on his recent statements that we need to ‘ban the box’ to give everyone a meaningful opportunity to work.

“We are asking, as we have since the beginning of this initiative, for the federal government to give all workers a fair chance at a job.  We continue to call on President Obama to issue an executive order and presidential memo that will ‘ban the box’ and implement fair-hiring practices for jobs with federal agencies and contractors.”

Back to Top of Page