Boxed In: Activists Say Conviction Question on Job Application Unfairly Closes Doors from the Pittsburgh City Paper
Laid off from her telemarketing job in January 2011 while she was pregnant, 38-year-old Erica Yesko dreaded the idea of having to search for work again. For Yesko, who got into trouble while using drugs 10 years ago, jobs are very, very hard to find. "It's not that I don't have the skills, or interviewing skills. I have great customer-service skills," she says. Her biggest obstacle is "the box" — the space on many job-application forms that applicants are instructed to check if they've ever been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor. Filling in that box, says Yesko, keeps her from getting her foot in the door. "I paid my debt. Will I ever be able to move forward?"
The New Pittsburgh Courier has a story on protests directed against these application questions.
Laid off from her telemarketing job in January 2011 while she was pregnant, 38-year-old Erica Yesko dreaded the idea of having to search for work again. For Yesko, who got into trouble while using drugs 10 years ago, jobs are very, very hard to find. "It's not that I don't have the skills, or interviewing skills. I have great customer-service skills," she says. Her biggest obstacle is "the box" — the space on many job-application forms that applicants are instructed to check if they've ever been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor. Filling in that box, says Yesko, keeps her from getting her foot in the door. "I paid my debt. Will I ever be able to move forward?"
The New Pittsburgh Courier has a story on protests directed against these application questions.
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