'Ban the Box' passes city council, delays when employers can ask about criminal history

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A new bill just passed by the city delays when many employers can ask job applicants about their criminal history.

Supporters say it gives applicants a fair chance at employment.

So why are many business leaders worried?

For many, the time behind bars is just the beginning.

It's followed, often with a lifetime stigma as an ex-con employers don't allow past the application process.

If you live in some neighborhoods, you know someone who is judged by that one mistake.

"A lot. A lot. Young and dumb as usual. You know how that goes right? It shouldn't be held against their entire life," Dave Campbell, a resident.

Well, that may be changing some. In New York City, now, it's illegal to even ask on an employment application if the applicant has been convicted of a crime.

That has to wait, now until the employer is ready to make an offer.

"We're saying that you have to change a question to ensure that people are following the law, and we have to make sure that we are making structural changes so that people in communities have viable ways of putting money on their table," said Jumaane Williams, (D) Flatbush.

Many business owners, though, say the measure really just delays the exact same result and so costs business owners time and money.

"I don't think this opens up more jobs for people that are ex-offenders. It simply costs extra money and extra time for everybody to get to a point where everybody finds out what's really going on," said Kathryn Wilde, Partnership for New York City.

But supporters say the measure may open some eyes.

That maybe if an employer meets someone who is otherwise qualified but committed a mistake in his youth, he might just give that man a chance.

"What this will do if force somebody to take a look at somebody beyond the worst mistake they made in their career and look at somebody as a whole person," Williams said.