San Diego County is working to make sure that previously incarcerated people who have paid their debts to society can truly walk free and pursue job opportunities without the hindrance of their past.
The Fair Chance Act went into effect statewide on Jan. 1, 2018. The law prohibits employers from asking job candidates about their conviction history before making a job offer. It’s often referred to as a “ban the box” law because it essentially bans the criminal record checkbox from job applications.
To strengthen this law, San Diego County passed its own, the Fair Chance Ordinance, which went into effect in October 2024.
The ordinance builds upon the state law and helps enforce it locally, educates employers on compliance and job applicants on their rights, and also includes a statutory penalty for noncompliance, something that is not part of the state act.
“We want to ensure that we have the safest community possible, and that starts with making sure folks get a fair chance to actually get a job when they’re getting out or have been formerly incarcerated,” said Branden Butler, the director of the County’s Offices of Ethics, Compliance and Labor Standards.
Butler previously worked for the California Civil Rights Department, where he was involved with enforcement programs for discrimination in the workplace. He also led the state campaign to educate employers about the Fair Chance Act.
The county enforcement period began July 1, meaning that as of just over a month ago, companies now can be penalized for noncompliance.
Helping get things off the ground is Rézme, a company that helps with compliance in getting companies to hire previously incarcerated people. Rézme’s founder, Jodi Anderson Jr., said he’ll be in San Diego for the foreseeable future to help educate companies and applicants and provide accessible technology to make compliance easier for all parties involved.
Anderson was previously incarcerated himself, and he took classes through Cornell University while serving his time. Upon his release, he used those credits to transfer to Stanford University, where he graduated and then started his own business, to help people just like him.
“I feel like the California Fair Chance Act is broad, right?” Anderson said. “ I think the specificity of these local ordinances is important to address the material realities of what people we are trying to impact.”
One of those realities is that most companies simply don’t know about the ordinance. Butler said the county is working hard to educate employers about the new law and provide them with all the information needed in an easy and accessible way.
“Many times, employers don’t have an animus towards people with conviction histories. They simply just didn’t know that there was a law,” he said.
Individuals with criminal records also know very little about the ordinance. To combat this, the county is going into correctional facilities and educating people on their rights. That includes letting them know they have the right to apply for a job and be hired if qualified, regardless of their conviction history.
“It’s not like the legislation is supposed to lower the bar. It’s just like you have already indicated that this individual was qualified, and now you found out that they have a record, and now you’re not going to hire them, but they are qualified, right?” Anderson said.
The ordinance also imposes a penalty for companies not in compliance. First-time offenders have to pay $5,000. That jumps to $20,000 for second-time offenders. Any subsequent violations result in a penalty of up to $20,000.
The unique caveat about the penalty: the applicant who files the complaint receives half of the retribution money.
Anderson said his company encourages applicants to file Fair Chance complaints so they can receive financial benefits if wrongly turned down for a job, but also so companies can understand they’re not in compliance.
Their effort is off to a strong start, but both Butler and Anderson said the work is not done yet.
“We understand it’s a new ordinance, and it’s going to take continued time, but our goal of the ordinance is really compliance, and so we spend a lot of time on education, because we want people to get the fair chance,” Butler said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
