Koch Industries drops criminal-history question from job applications

Fredreka Schouten | USA TODAY

WICHITA — Koch Industries, one of the nation's largest private companies, has removed questions about prior criminal convictions from its job applications, becoming the latest corporation to join a burgeoning movement trying to make it easier for ex-offenders to find work.

Koch Industries, which employs 60,000 workers in the United States, dropped the questions last month, company officials said. More than half its U.S. jobs are in manufacturing.

The company's CEO, Charles Koch, a billionaire known for his support of Republican candidates and libertarian causes, has made overhauling the criminal-justice system a priority. Mark Holden, Koch's general counsel and senior vice president, said it made common sense for the company to take this step.

"Do we want to be judged for the rest of our life for something that happened on our worst day?" Holden said during an interview with USA TODAY at the company's headquarters.

The "ban the box" movement urges employers to wait until prospective employees are being interviewed or have tentative job offers before asking about their criminal histories. Proponents said it will give ex-felons and others with criminal records a better shot at employment if they are not rejected at the very start of the hiring process.

"The fact that more and more of our nation's major employers — including a company like Koch Industries that is synonymous with conservative politics — are choosing to embrace fair-hiring policies shows that this is an idea with broad appeal whose time has come," said Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project.

The project estimates that 70 million American adults have an arrest record or conviction that can show up in a routine employment background check.

Last week, Vermont Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin signed an executive order directing officials to remove the criminal-record question from applications for jobs within the state government. To date, 16 states have adopted "fair chance" hiring policies, said Michelle Rodriguez, a senior staff attorney with the law project. In six states, the measures also apply to private employers.

Other companies have taken similar steps. Minnesota-based retail giant Target announced in late 2013, for instance, that it would stop asking prospective store employees nationwide about their criminal histories in initial job applications.

Earlier this month, tech giant Apple rescinded a policy that barred people convicted of felonies within the last seven years from working to construct its new headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. — following complaints from union officials. In a statement to The San Jose Mercury News, company officials said the policy "may have excluded some people who deserve a second chance" and contractors would evaluate "all applicants equally, on a case-by-case basis" moving forward.

Koch's Holden said the company's managers always have been directed to comply with federal anti-discrimination laws that prohibit automatically banning the hiring of anyone with a criminal record. In any event, he said the company performs background checks later in the hiring process that would turn up any information about a prospective employee's criminal history.

Company spokeswoman Melissa Cohlmia said Koch has hired people with criminal records because they were otherwise qualified, but did not have a tally.

Koch Industries hired more than 9,100 people globally last year, she said.

Holden and Charles Koch, who advocates limiting government's size and power, maintain that federal, state and local governments have put too many criminal laws on the books.

Holden said the criminal code's goal should be "enhancing public safety" rather than "putting mentally ill people in prison as a way station or just kind of dealing with vagrants or people with drug problems."

The company is part of a broader coalition working on a wide range of criminal-justice initiatives, including a push to restore voting rights for non-violent ex-offenders.