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State Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R-Union) speaks at the Statehouse in 2011.

(Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger)

TRENTON — A fight is looming in the state Legislature over a bill that would ban employers from asking job applicants if they have criminal backgrounds until the final stage of the hiring process.

Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R-Union) today fired off a warning shot to Democrats who control the state Senate and Assembly, telling them they should not pass the bill (A3837) in the "lame duck" weeks of the Legislature's current session.

“I’m just getting information from back channels that it’s something certain members want posted,” Bramnick said. “That’s one of the worst bills, in my judgment.”

Spokesmen for Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) could not immediately be reached for comment.

Advocates for the bill, the "Opportunity to Compete Act," are making a late push. At a press conference in Jersey City on Wednesday, former Gov. Jim McGreevey, a Democrat, equated the box some employers ask applicants to check if they've been convicted of a crime as a "scarlet letter," according to the Jersey Journal.

“They are automatically precluded from consideration,” McGreevey said, according to the newspaper. “There is no forgiveness.”

Under the measure, employers would be barred from conducting a criminal background check on candidates during the interview process. Only after an employer has judged an applicant qualified and extended a conditional offer of employment can the check be conducted – but the employer would still need to get the applicant’s consent and give written notice, both of the intention to conduct the check and of the applicants’ rights.

Employers would be allowed to base their hiring decisions on an applicant’s criminal history. But for offenses other than murder, sex crimes, arson or terrorism, the conviction would need to have been in the last 10 years. For disorderly persons offenses, that window would be reduced to five years. And employers would also need to consider – and document in writing -- a range of mitigating factors, including “the degree of the candidate’s rehabilitation and good conduct,” “the accuracy of the criminal record” and “the nature and circumstances surrounding the crime.”

Penalties for violating the law would range from $500 to $7,500.

Cornell William Brooks, CEO of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, called criminal background questions a “mountainously high” barrier for former convicts who are trying to improve their lives.

“It’s one of the most profound economic challenges of our time,” he said, according to the Jersey Journal.

But Bramnick, an attorney, called the bill a “terrible idea.”

“Look, I hire a lot of people. I’m not allowed to know in my initial consideration whether a person is a convicted felon?” Bramnick said. “Come on, now. You pay a price for being a criminal, ok?”

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