My background profile shows some mistakes I made 8 years ago while living in FLorida. I made resititution for the bad checks and even spent a month in jail to pay my debt to society and make amends. I am a healthy middle age man with lots of enthusiasm to get back into the work force and be a productive member of society...not rely on food stamps, unemployment, etc.
Every time in the last five years that I have applied for jobs in my experienced field, locally or out of state, I have been rejected because of this background that haunts me daily. I tried to return to school to better myself and was walked out by the administration (very humiliating) after they discovered the bad checks showing up on the background.
I have even been hired several times, then walked out of the job after the background check. My previous work ethics show that I am loyal, hard working, and reliable (never miss and never late).
There must be others out there in society facing the same issues I am and maybe if we can ban together and get the government to look at this issue that has created a group of second class citizens unnecessarily, we can help lower the unemployment rate in this country.
We need to "ban the box" that shows up on every application now asking if you have ever been arrested or convicted (which should be two different things). Then set a time limit when these things are deleted from the background checks.
