Unlocking opportunity:

It’s a familiar scenario. Potential employers see criminal histories and don’t hire. In New Orleans, improvements to the city’s “Ban the Box” ordinance could better challenge employment barriers. An Oct. 11 ballot amendment could expand that protection to include housing 

By Bernard Smith

Shortly after returning home, Michael Mosley began applying for jobs—mostly at fast-food restaurants, convenience stores, and dollar stores. He had years of experience as a cook.

One of his first stops was Waffle House. There, a manager told him to apply online, so he hopped onto his phone and completed the application. He received a text inviting him to an interview a few days later, on a Monday. 

But on Sunday night, he got a discouraging email, thanking him for his honesty on the application—and disqualifying him for the position, because he’d disclosed his criminal record.

Despite that, another email arrived the next morning saying the interview was still on. Mosley showed up as instructed but the hiring manager was off. Come back the next day, he was told.

When he returned on Tuesday, a young woman at the front asked what position he was seeking. “I told her I’d take anything—cook, dishwasher, parking lot—whatever. I just needed a job,” he recalled. She went to the back to speak with the manager, who never came out.

Instead, the young woman told Mosley company policy barred them from hiring him because of his armed-robbery conviction from more than two decades ago.

“The whole time they saying they need help,” he said. “But they wouldn’t even come talk to me.”

Similar rejections followed at Racetrack, Subway, Family Dollar, and other places that initially seemed eager to hire. At each, Mosley ran into the same barrier: his old conviction continues to follow him.

The story is familiar to anyone with a criminal history. For people with serious records, finding the most basic job can feel impossible, no matter how long ago the offense occurred. 

Applications get submitted. Interviews get scheduled. But the moment employers see a conviction, the opportunity vanishes — even when they clearly need help. 

“The moment they see a charge from 20-something years ago, it’s like none of that matters no more.” Mosley said. “I’m trying to do right—but every door, they slam it in my face.”

Implementation of ‘Ban the Box’ in New Orleans needs analysis

Seven years ago, the city of New Orleans took a step to improve this situation with its so-called “Ban the Box” ordinance. Aimed at dismantling long-standing employment stigma for individuals with criminal records, the 2018 law prohibits city agencies and contractors from discussing an applicant’s criminal history in the early stages of the hiring process.

Its proponents, including then-Councilmember Kristin Gisleson Palmer and Mayor LaToya Cantrell, talked about giving applicants a fairer shot at city jobs regardless of their past. The resulting ordinance changed hiring processes and altered job applications, by banning the check boxes next to a key question: “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?” 

Behind the new law lies a persistent truth: people who come home and are unable to find steady employment are significantly more likely to reoffend. Recidivism rates were nearly cut in half for those previously incarcerated who have full-time jobs compared with those who are unemployed. 

Right now, the New Orleans ordinance doesn’t do much for people like Mosley who are completing applications for private employers. Only a handful of states and cities extend Ban the Box protections to both public and private employers.

But it’s a start. The New Orleans ordinance covers city departments and private contractors paid by the city, with exceptions made for law enforcement, emergency response, and aviation security. 

The city law mandates that municipal job applications omit all questions about criminal history and only allows background checks after the initial interview. Applicants with criminal records can also submit documentation or mitigating evidence explaining their rehabilitation—all to help people get a real Second Chance, city officials say.

City ordinance needed improvement

Implementation of the 2018 ordinance wasn’t perfect. 

As of 2023, roughly 80 individuals with criminal backgrounds had been hired into public roles under the ordinance. 

On one hand, those numbers marked real progress in a city long burdened by mass incarceration. But when compared with the nearly 5,000 workers employed by the city, 80 seems like a modest figure. It also raised questions about whether rehabilitated jobseekers were still being disqualified because of their rap sheets.

In an attempt to address that, the New Orleans City Council last month passed an updated ordinance, to enhance fair-hiring practices for individuals with felony convictions and reaffirm the city’s commitment to equitable employment. 

“I think it’s the perfect place and the perfect role for government to say, ‘You know what, no type of discrimination will be tolerated when a person pays their debt to society and they should not be excluded from an opportunity when someone who knows when you lose your citizenship,’” City Council member Oliver Thomas said.

To document how city managers assess candidates with felony records, the new ordinance incorporates a five-point evaluation framework created by Ronald Marshall, chief policy analyst from Voice of the Experienced (VOTE). For each candidate, the hiring manager must document the gravity of the crime, time elapsed since the offense, whether the crime is related to job duties, evidence of meaningful rehabilitation, and consideration of unique life circumstances. If the person is not hired, they also have to note the reason why.

“Ban the Box isn’t effective without an enforcement mechanism,” said Ronald Marshall, who emphasized that without real consequences, the policy fails to protect applicants. City contracts must also be held to the same standard, he said.

While Ban the Box policies in every city were designed to create opportunity, research shows that, without data tracking progress, they may produce unintended consequences. A 2020 study published in the Journal of Labor Economics found that when employers lack early access to criminal records, they may lean more heavily on racial and demographic stereotypes.

The study found that Ban the Box policies were associated with a 5% decline in job callbacks for young, low-skilled Black and Hispanic men, according to economists Jennifer Doleac and Benjamin Hansen, who noted that while the policy removed one of bias, it amplified another.

The best policy may be one that is upfront with companies, the economics concluded. Policies that directly address employer concerns about hiring those with criminal records—for instance, by providing more information about job applicants with records or improving the average ex-offender’s job readiness—could have greater benefits without the unintended consequences found here, the economists suggested.

Basically, Ban the Box risks merely reshuffling who is excluded – unless it’s implemented with the close tracking, measurement and analysis recommended by Marshall.

New Orleans officials are also considering other stronger protections. A 2025 charter amendment on the Oct. 11 ballot seeks to amend the city’s Bill of Rights, to classify individuals with criminal convictions as a protected class for hiring and housing assistance. But it only applies to the actions of the city itself and city contractors, not private industry as a whole. 

The hope is that the state may follow suit, said Councilman Oliver Thomas, who helped to spearhead the amendment. “Because so many formerly incarcerated people can’t get certifications or licenses in many areas or jobs in government because of their record,” he said. 

In 2022, Atlanta’s city council passed an ordinance that created the same protected class. The ordinance’s language outlines the bigger issue. “Too often in the United States, people convicted of a crime are forced to be outliers of society, unable to vote, find suitable housing, obtain livable wages, own a home or support their families.” 

Because of how widespread incarceration is in Louisiana, the city’s bottom line suffers when formerly incarcerated people, even people with minor felonies, are kept out of jobs and licensed skills, Thomas said. “We’re cutting a major economic component out of the community,” he said. “So while people think we’re punishing people forever for crimes they’ve committed, we’re actually punishing our own community. We’re cutting off our nose to spite our face.”