NELP's Second Chance Labor Project works with advocates, policy makers and people with criminal records to ensure a more fair and effective system of employment screening for criminal records.  The Project seeks to protect public safety and security while promoting the rehabilitative value of work and the basic employment rights of all workers, including those with criminal records.

For more information, contact:
Maurice Emsellem, Project Director
emsellem@nelp.org 
(510) 663-5700

Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Worker Rights Material

-"A Worker's Guide to the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Application, Appeal and Waiver Process" (December 2007)

-TWIC "Know-Your-Rights" Flyer (November 2007)
-English Version
-Spanish Translation
-Simplified Chinese Translation
-Vietnamese Translation
-Khmer Translation
-Punjabi Translation
-Hindi Translation
-Urdu Translation

Worker Rights Presentation on the TWIC Appeal & Waiver Process (PowerPoint Presentation, February 2007).

Initiative to Enforce Civil Rights Law

"Enforcing the Title VII Standards that Relate to People with Criminal Records" 
(PowerPoint Presentation prepared for EEOC Enforcement Staff, March 2008)

Policy Advocacy

NELP Testifies Before House Homeland Security Committee on Recommendations to Reform New Port Worker Criminal Background Checks (October 31, 2007).

NELP Joins Center for Democracy and Technology Petition Urging Federal Trade Commission to Defend Workers' Rights Under Fair Credit Reporting Act When Subjected to Employment Criminal Background Checks (July 11, 2007). 

NELP Testifies in Congress on Priorities for Federal Reform of Criminal Background Checks on the Job.  (April 26, 2007).

Major U.S. Cities Adopt New Hiring Policies Removing Unfair Barriers to Employment of People with Criminal Records (Updated May 15, 2008)

Joint Comments of Labor, Civil & Privacy Rights Groups Opposed to the FBI's Proposed Regulation to Report "Non-Serious" Offenses on Rap Sheets for Employment Screening (November 2006)

Act Now to Oppose the FBI's Proposed Regulation to Report "Non-Serious" Offenses on the Rap Sheets Issued to Employers and Occupational Licensing Agencies (October 30, 2006)

NELP Comments on TSA's Proposed Criminal Background Checks of Port Workers (July 6, 2006)

NELP Comments to FBI's Regulations Authorizing Criminal Background Checks of Private Security Officers (March 13, 2006)

"Smart on Crime" Agenda: Reduce Recidivism in California by Addresing Occupational Barriers for People with Criminal Records (Testimony Before the California Legislature, Assembly Business & Professions Committee, dated November 1, 2005).

Labor & Civil Rights Groups Write U.S. Attorney General Responding to Proposals to Make the FBI's Criminal Records More Broadly Available to Individual Employers (Joint Letter to Deputy Assistant Attorney General, dated January 9, 2006.

NELP Comments to the U.S. Attorney General on Expanded Use of Criminal Records for Employment Screening. Congress has required the U.S. Attorney General to make policy recommendations related to employment screening for criminal records. In detailed comments to the Attorney General, NELP urged fundamental federal reforms to protect employee rights and remove unwarranted barriers to employment for the one in five adults in the U.S. who have a criminal record. 

Education & Outreach

Know Your Rights to E-RAILSAFE's New Criminal Background Checks of Rail Workers (factsheet, April 2007).

Criminal Background Checks: A Growing Problem for All Union Members, Not Just Those With a Criminal Record (December 2006).

Know Your Rights: Criminal Background Checks for Michigan's Long-Term Care Workers (October 2006).

Know Your Rights: Criminal Background Checks for Michigan's School Employees (October 2006).

U.S. Conference of Mayor's Annual Conference, "New City Hiring Policies Promote Public Safety By Reducing Barriers to Employment of People with Criminal Records" (NELP Presentation, dated June 4, 2006).

Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Forum, "Reentry Strategies for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals" (NELP Presentation, dated September 24, 2005)

State Criminal Justice & Reentry Statistics  (September 2005)

Congressional Briefing, "'Smart on Crime' Agenda to Promote Public Safety While Addressing Occupational Barriers to Employment" (NELP Presentation, dated June 2005)

H.I.R.E. Network Newsletter, "Commercial Drivers Face Major New Federal Screening Rules" (April 2005)

A Summary of the New Federal Security Standards Regulating Transportation Workers (March 2005)

2004 EARN Conference, "An Emerging Role for EARN in Criminal Justice Advocacy?" (November 2004)

Legal Advocacy

Outline of Selected Laws and Cases Regulating Criminal Background Checks in Employment, prepared by Community Legal Services & the National Employment Law Project (June 2006).

Project Press

"FTC Asked to Probe Background Checks on Rail Workers," Washington Post (July 12, 2007).

NELP's Interview with the Center for American Progress State Progress Report, Profiling Model State Policies to Reduce Barriers to Employment of People with Criminal Records (June 6, 2007).

"Lawmakers Say Employment Background Checks in Need of Revisions," Cox News Service (April 27, 2007).

Editorial, "Closing the Revolving Door," New York Times (January 25, 2007)

Editorial, "Twin Cities Adopt Smart Job Stances: Effort is to Help Stop Revolving Prison Door,"  Star Tribune  (January 2, 2007)

Michelle Chen, "Employers May Get Access to Applicants' Minor 'Offenses,'" The NewStandard  (Nov. 17, 2006)

Editorial, "Ex-Prisoners and Port Security," New York Times (July 11, 2006)

Editorial, "Cities That Lead the Way," New York Times (March 31, 2006)

NELP Press Release, "National Advocates Call for Federal Action to Curb Workplace Abuses Caused by Criminal Background Checks" (August 8, 2005).  

Editorial, "A Senseless Rule in Los Angeles," New York Times (June 25, 2005)

Editorial, "Barred from the Long Haul," New York Times (June 6, 2005)