We have received several telephone calls with respect to our proposed, “felon work force.” Almost all of the comments have been favorable. As a result, one of our consultants has spent the week talking to prospective employers, and ferreting out their feelings with respect to hiring former inmates. I confess that many employers have clearly demonstrated a negative reaction. On the other hand, several responses to our inquiries have been favorable.
It was the opinion of our consultant that the current state of our enonomy plays a huge role with regards to those employers who indicate they will not hire felons. The response is universally the same, “why should I hire a felon when there are so many qualified people looking for jobs and who are not possessed with a negative history.” Our consultant attempted to pose logical arguments in favor of hiring the felon. In most instances the arguments fell upon deaf ears.
Curiously, if I had to pick segment of the market that was most opposed to hiring felons, it was the large retailers, i.e. Walmart, CVS, Home Depot, and Kohls, who posed the strongest objections. The retailers were followed by a few of the national supermarket chains in terms of level of negativity . The service industries for the most part maintained an open mind, as did the technology employers. Many government entities were surprisingly receptive, depending upon position applied for and nature of offense. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the US Army will accept certain felons for enlistment now.
Although the results are really mixed, I believe they are sufficiently encouraging to take the project to the next level. In that regard, we are instructing our Lawyers to consider the legal ramifications, and requirements of structuring such an enterprise.