How much of a truck driver’s criminal history should be considered when applying for a job? A federal appeals court just limited the scope, giving former felons a wider shot at getting a second chance.
Reestablishing life outside prison walls is not easy. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than two-thirds of released prisoners are arrested within three years. More than 80% are arrested within nine years.
A big part of repeat offenses is lack of employment. One study reports that the recidivism rate among prisoners released in Ohio was less than 20%. That was more than half the rate among those unemployed. As much as a third of released prisoners do not find a job within four years.
Trucking has long been a career for people with a criminal history to restart their lives. New York City’s Commercial Driver’s License Workforce Development Program was designed to prepare formerly incarcerated people for trucking jobs. FreeWorld offers a similar program across several states.
Several states protect former felons from discrimination by blocking criminal history as a basis for being denied a job. Pennsylvania is one of them, which is why a truck driver was surprised when Warren, Mich.-based Central Transport denied him a job at its Hatfield, Pa., facility.
In December 2023, a Pennsylvania man with a CDL and a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) card applied for the truck driver job. During the interview, he was told a criminal history report would be conducted. That prompted the man to let the company representative know he was convicted of armed robbery in 2008.
Even though the man had a clean record over the past 15 years, the Central Transport representative immediately informed him that he could not be hired due to his criminal history. The company did not consider whether the conviction was relevant to the job, and it did not provide him with a written notice explaining the decision.
Voluntary disclosure vs. criminal history laws
The man sued, saying the company violated Pennsylvania’s Criminal History Records Information Act (CHRIA).
That law allows employers to consider criminal history only when it relates to whether someone is suitable for the specific job, and it requires written notice when criminal history is used in hiring decisions. Pennsylvania also has a “clean slate” law that can seal certain felony convictions after 10 years.
Central Transport argued that the law applies only to criminal history records, not voluntary disclosures. “Criminal history record information” is defined as “information collected by criminal justice agencies …” CHRIA also states that “information collected by noncriminal justice agencies and individuals … shall not be considered criminal history record information.”
Earlier court decisions held that CHRIA does not apply when an employer learns of misconduct through other sources, such as internet searches. In this case, voluntary disclosure.
The truck driver argued that if CHRIA only applies when the employer gets information from an official report, companies could dodge the law by pressuring applicants to disclose their criminal history up front.
Judge Sylvia Rambo made that point in a 2020 decision, warning it would reduce job opportunities for people with past convictions based on stigma rather than job relevance.
A district court dismissed the case in December 2024, siding with the company’s narrow reading. The truck driver appealed. On January 28, a Third Circuit Court of Appeals panel agreed with the truck driver and resurrected the case.
The Third Circuit found that the trucking company received information about the armed robbery conviction. That information is part of the man’s criminal history record information file. The law does not say that information must come from the file.
“Job hunting is never easy; having a criminal conviction makes it much harder,” Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas states in the opinion. “So Pennsylvania law limits when and how employers may use an applicant’s criminal history.”
The case has been sent back to the district court, where the truck driver can proceed with his claims. LL
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