纽约斯克内克塔迪市正在努力改进对城市雇员的背景调查。根据时代联盟发表的一篇文章，自去年夏天以来，该市一直在努力实施变革。到目前为止，Schenectady 有一项关于要求城市雇员背景调查的书的决议，而不是法律。要访问 纽约州犯罪历史数据库，该市需要制定法律。在雇用了几名有犯罪记录的人后，斯克内克塔迪官员被提示改变城市政策。去年夏天，该市在得知一名房屋检查员是一名登记在册的性犯罪者后终止了他的聘用 。

在此之前，一名城市法规执法人员被发现有犯罪历史，但他没有在求职申请中披露。执法人员肯尼思·泰瑞 (Kenneth Tyree) 目前因 2015 年一起公寓楼火灾导致四人死亡的事件而面临刑事过失杀人罪的指控。据称 Tyree 未能检查建筑物是否违反了法规——这一疏忽导致了致命的火灾。

这两起事件 促使斯克内克塔迪市议会通过了一项决议去年 9 月，该法案将对所有城市雇员实施强制性指纹采集和背景调查。此前，该市只对公共安全工作人员进行了犯罪背景调查，其他政府雇员则未经审查。该市的法律顾问卡尔·法洛蒂科 (Carl Falotico) 告诉时代联盟，该决议“对国家来说还不够好”。

因此，斯克内克塔迪市的雇主无法访问州犯罪历史数据库。如果该市想使用这些数据库，就必须通过一项法律，概述所需背景调查的细节。据报道，当地政界人士正在制定立法。法律制定完成后，市议会将召开公开听证会，然后进行正式投票。如果投票通过，那么背景调查很快就会成为斯克内克塔迪城市求职者的全面要求。

Falotico 指出，候选人不会因为犯罪历史而被自动拒绝工作。相反，他表示，新立法的目标是更多地了解潜在员工，并鼓励候选人在求职申请中披露过去的犯罪记录。

纽约是美国最大的禁止盒子政策的采用者之一。有一项州政策禁止在所有州政府职位申请中使用与犯罪历史相关的问题。此外，该州目前有 13 个司法管辖区制定了自己的禁令政策，包括罗切斯特、布法罗、奥尔巴尼县、锡拉丘兹和纽约市。纽约市、布法罗市和罗彻斯特市禁止公共和私人雇主使用该盒子。

如果新立法在 Schenectady 获得通过，那么该市将采取几乎与禁止盒子相反的政策。新法律不仅会促使候选人在其工作申请中披露犯罪历史，而且 Falotico 还表示，这将使在城市工作申请中撒谎成为伪证行为。

New York state criminal history database, the city would need a law in place. Schenectady officials were prompted to change city policies after hiring several people who turned out to have criminal records. Last summer, the city terminated the employment of a housing inspector after learning he was a registered sex offender.

Before that, a city code enforcement officer was found to have criminal history he did not disclose on his job application. The code enforcement officer, Kenneth Tyree, is currently facing charges for criminally negligent homicide over a 2015 incident where an apartment building fire resulted in the deaths of four people. Tyree allegedly failed to inspect the building for code violations—an oversight that contributed to the deadly blaze.

These two incidents spurred the Schenectady City Council to pass a resolution last September that would have implemented mandatory fingerprinting and background checks of all city employees. Previously, the city had only conducted criminal background checks on public safety workers, leaving other government employees unvetted. The city’s legal counsel, Carl Falotico, told the Times Union the resolution “wasn’t good enough for the state.”

As a result, Schenectady’s city employers do not have access to state criminal history databases. If the city wants to use those databases, it will have to pass a law outlining the specifics of the required background checks. Local politicians are reportedly working on the legislation. Once the law has been authored, the City Council will call a public hearing, followed by an official vote. If the vote passes, then background checks could soon be an across-the-board requirement for city job applicants in Schenectady.

Falotico noted candidates wouldn’t be automatically turned away from jobs because of criminal history. Instead, he said the goal of the new legislation would be to learn more about potential employees and encourage candidates to disclose past criminal convictions on their job applications.

New York is one of the nation’s biggest adopters of ban the box policies. There is a state policy in place that bans the use of criminal-history-related questions from all applications for state government jobs. In addition, there are currently 13 jurisdictions in the state that have their own ban the box policies, including Rochester, Buffalo, Albany County, Syracuse, and New York City. NYC, Buffalo, and Rochester ban the box for both public and private employers.

If the new legislation passes in Schenectady, then the city would be adopting a policy that is almost the opposite of ban the box. Not only would the new law push candidates to disclose criminal histories on their job applications, but Falotico also said it would make lying on a city job application an act of perjury.