<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Friday, March 29, 2024
March 29, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Bills aim to aid former criminals in job search

Senate measure passes vote, goes to committee; House bill also being considered

By Associated Press
Published: March 24, 2017, 11:42pm

OLYMPIA — Tarra Simmons said she knows “all too well” what it’s like to have to check a box on a job application that reveals her criminal history to an employer before she has a chance to explain.

“I was at the lowest point in my life,” she told The Associated Press.

Simmons, 39, said she began using methamphetamines after her father’s death in 2010. After 10 months of using drugs, she said she was convicted of drug and theft-related charges and went to prison. She said the hardest thing since has been getting a job.

State lawmakers are considering measures in the House and the Senate that would prohibit certain employers from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal history until after the employer determines if they’re otherwise qualified for the job.

The Washington Attorney General’s Office would enforce the new rule by imposing warnings and fines of as much as $1,000 for each violation. Exceptions would include jobs in law enforcement, state agencies, schools and other businesses that supervise children, persons with disabilities and vulnerable adults.

After Simmons’ release in 2013, she said she applied to nearly 10 jobs every day for almost a year and got nowhere.

“I felt so defeated being denied over and over, and know I’m not the only one this happens to,” Simmons said, who was a registered nurse before she went to prison.

According to the Washington State Patrol, more than a million people in Washington state have a criminal record.

Senate Bill 5312 cleared the state Senate by one vote earlier this month and now heads to a committee for consideration before a key deadline next week. A House bill is also being considered.

Simmons attended a hearing for the Senate bill earlier this week and spoke about her past drug addiction, and how she has turned her life around and is expected to graduate with a law degree from the Seattle University School of Law in May.

“I wanted to become a lawyer so I could knock down employment barriers for people like me who’ve been incarcerated,” she said.

Republican Rep. Liz Pike, a member of the House Labor & Workplace Standards Committee, called Simmons a “gold plated million dollar example of why everybody deserves a second chance.”

However, Pike said she was concerned about “incentivizing” people who aren’t as “gold plated” as Simmons.

Loading...