By Dan Murphy
Last month, the Westchester County Board of Legislators passed “Ban the Box” legislation, also known as the Fair Chance to Work Act, which will not allow employers to ask about an applicant’s criminal background when applying for a job and filling out the initial application for employment.
The goal is to give people who may have a record of conviction but who are otherwise qualified for a job a chance to explain their circumstances without being shut out of even that opportunity.
The bill’s chief sponsor, County Legislator Catherine Borgia, said: “Eliminating the question of criminal background on initial application has broad bipartisan support in the business community. This law does not limit background checks but allows an applicant to tell a more complete story of his or her background.”
Co-sponsor Legislator Christopher Johnson added: “Everyone should have a chance to be considered for a job on the basis of his or her qualifications – not disqualified by a checking a box on an application. We know that there is a disproportionate number of people of color who get caught in the criminal justice system. This is not only an economic justice issue, it’s a social justice issue.”
County Executive George Latimer issued an executive order earlier this year setting the policy for county government, but the Board of Legislators’ actions now set a policy for all of the county, including private businesses in Westchester
For the first time since the blue wave elections of 2016, a republican county legislator stood up and said “enough.” His name is Legislator John Testa, who serves as the minority leader on the county board, which is made up of 13 democrats and four republicans.
Testa called Ban the Box “an outrageous overreach into private business and a continuation of their assault on the small business community.” He said he disagrees with the executive order, but feels it was Latimer’s prerogative to set county policy. “But to legislate that private businesses can no longer establish their own standards for what type of character and integrity they require in an employee – using past criminal activity as a guide – is a disturbing level of government interference in private business,” said Testa.
The next piece of county legislation that has many small businesses scratching their heads is the recent legislation that requires all businesses in Westchester with more than five employees to provide their workers with earned sick leave.
Under the new law, workers can earn one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year. The law doesn’t limit the amount of sick time an employer may offer employees, but will cover the more than one-third of workers in Westchester who currently lack any paid sick time, and who may face retribution on their jobs if they take time off for illness.
BOL Chairman Ben Boykin said: “Providing workers with earned sick time is important for human dignity and public health, but it’s also good for businesses. Research shows that when employees come to work sick or distracted by illnesses at home, their productivity drops off the table.”
Boykin’s reference to employees who are distracted by an illness at home is reference to a clause in the bill that allows employees to take a sick day to care for an ill family member.
Testa and his three republican colleagues on the county board opposed the measure and indicated that the law is not good for business, as Boykin and other county board democrats indicated.
Republican Legislator David Tubiolo said he had hoped for an increase in the number of small businesses exempted from the new law, and referred to other states like Massachusetts and Rhode Island that allow small businesses with more than five employees to be exempt. Tubiolo also called for a scale system, also used in other states, to determine which sick leave laws would apply to businesses with five to 24 employees, 25 to 99 employees, and more than 100 employees.
The law passed by the County Board and expected to be signed by County Executive Latimer says that every business with more than five employees is required to provide paid sick leave to their employees.
The fact that Tubiolo was open to compromise but didn’t get it was referred to in comments made by Legislator Michael Kaplowitz, who criticized the democratic leadership on the county board for their “unwillingness to reach across the aisle and compromise and mirror other states. I’m disappointed,” he said. Small business is the engine that drives this county. Don’t kill the golden goose.”
Kaplowitz did vote for the bill, as did Legislator Damon Maher, who said, “This is why I was sent here, to be fair and to be kind.”
The one interesting vote in this bill’s passage was Legislator Kitley Kovill, who said: “I believe in paid sick leave, but I have small businesses in my community who believe that this will be costly and burdensome. I am very concerned.”
Kovill, a democrat, voted no. The bill passed on partisan lines other than her vote, with four republicans and Kovill voting no and 12 democrats voting yes.
Legislator Borgia presented two different cost analysis that found that the new legislation would cost businesses 5 cents per hour, and another study that found that businesses would benefit from the legislation by 6 cents per hour by savings in worker turnover and new worker training.
Testa sounded the alarm that someone in county government is looking out for small
businesses. “This legislation (Ban the Box) also requires employers who may have a number of applicants for a position to offer a ‘written analysis’ to job applicants if they are not hired and dictates that unsuccessful applicants have an opportunity to refute the employer’s decision. This is an affront to the notion of private enterprise.”
