(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers Oct. 17, 2016)
Want to stump that candidate for the House or Senate who shows up on your doorstop while you’re trying to finish dinner in time for “Dancing with the Stars” or hustling to get the hopefully last-of-the-season lawn mowing done?
Might try asking that legislative hopeful one or two questions about labor law in Kansas.
Key, of course, is that Kansas is a state where employment is important for the general economy, and your town in particular.
Those questions? Try: “Where are you on ban the box and/or E-Verify?”
Ban the box is that campaign under way in several states—and which has been rejected by the Kansas Legislature—to ban that little check box on employment applications that asks “do you have a criminal record?”
If there’s one question on an employment application that virtually assures that for those who have a criminal record—and because they’re filling out an employment application have likely completed the sentence or penalty for whatever they’ve done—the application goes into the trash, it’s probably that box.
The issue goes a couple ways. That box might be checked for some juvenile mistake or a crime for which the applicant has paid his/her price, learned his/her lesson and is ready to become a productive member of society.
That checkbox virtually eliminates an interview in which an employer can ask in person about a criminal record, what it deals with, how it was handled and what skills the job candidate has. It’s still the employer’s decision, but at least it can be based on a face-to-face interview and assessment of whether that criminal record presents any problems with employing a former check-kiter to roof houses or cook or assemble trailers.
Interesting question? Learn something about a candidate by his/her answer to the question? Probably. Nope, it’s not taxes or highways or the death penalty, but it might tell you something about what experience the candidate has in real life—because, after all, that candidate is applying for your vote.
That second question? Might try E-Verify. That’s the federal program that Kansas doesn’t mandate that employers use but which in many states and for some types of contracts requires that an employer verify that a job applicant or employee is legally eligible to work in the United States.
Now, here’s your chance to get the candidate off his standard pitch for votes and maybe get a little feel for whether the candidate is fairly broad-based in his/her thoughts on issues that aren’t so simple.
Employers, or at least many of them, don’t use E-verify, asserting that the federal data isn’t always accurate and that it puts them in the position of sometimes having to go through some extra steps to make sure that the worker is here legally. An immigration deal? Maybe, because U.S. citizens—and Kansans—are competing for jobs with foreign workers (anyone had a roof replaced or a tree trimmed recently?) who maybe shouldn’t be working here.
Whatever you feel about the issue, would you care what your representative or senator feels on the issue?
These last couple weeks provide the chance to see whether a candidate knows issues, responds to questions, answers the phone, and may or may not be the candidate for you.
Because, remember, that candidate is essentially a job-seeker.
The “ban the box” issue probably doesn’t apply to him/her, unless you ask or for some reason the candidate offers, but politically would you want to automatically deny a candidate your vote for some little infraction years ago? Probably not.
Oh, and the E-verify issue is easier. They’ve already been confirmed—not to work anywhere in the U.S.—but at least they’ve been vetted that they live in your House or Senate district, so consider them “verified.”