Columbia Criminal records in employment ordinance (§ 12-90)

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), it shall be unlawful:

(1)

For an employer to inquire, question or otherwise seek information on an employment application as to whether an individual has ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of any crime.

(2) For an employer to inquire, question or otherwise seek information as to whether an applicant has ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of any crime until after the applicant has received a conditional offer of employment.

(b) The requirements set forth in subsection (a) of this section do not apply for positions where:

(1) Employers are required to exclude applicants with certain criminal convictions from employment due to local, state or federal law or regulation;

(2) A standard fidelity bond or an equivalent bond is required and an applicant's conviction of one or more specified criminal offenses would disqualify the applicant from obtaining such a bond; in which case, an employer may include a question or otherwise inquire whether the applicant has ever been convicted of any of those offenses; or

(3) Employers employ individuals licensed under the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems Act.

(c) This section does not prohibit an employer from notifying applicants in writing of the specific offenses that will disqualify an applicant from employment in a particular position.

(d) Employers are encouraged to not automatically ban jobseekers with a criminal history. Employers may make final employment-related decisions based on all of the information available to them, including consideration of the frequency, recentness and severity of a criminal record as well as rehabilitation efforts against the duties and responsibilities of the position.