New provisions reinforce equity in employment for individuals with criminal records
Today, City Councilmember Rue Landau introduced a set of critical updates to Philadelphia’s landmark Fair Chance Hiring Law, first enacted in 2011. The proposed changes continue the city’s legacy of championing equitable hiring practices and aim to ensure that individuals with criminal records—disproportionately Black, brown, working-class, LGBTQ+, and disabled—are granted a meaningful opportunity to rebuild their lives through employment.
Philadelphia has led the nation in fair chance hiring reform, setting a standard since it became the first major U.S. city to implement such protections. These latest amendments respond directly to the lived experiences of those impacted by the law, closing loopholes, expanding rights, and providing new enforcement mechanisms to strengthen the ordinance’s impact.
The legislation introduced today received support from City Council and was co-sponsored by Council President Kenyatta Johnson.
“We cannot have a serious conversation about economic recovery or equity without putting our people with records at the center of it,” said Councilmember Landau. “Every Philadelphian—regardless of their past—deserves a fair shot, whether that be at a stable job, a livable wage, or an economic opportunity. This is not just about a second chances, it’s about making Philly a place where everyone, regardless of their past, has a path forward.”
“Far too many Philadelphians are still struggling under the weight and stigma of criminal records and are denied the chance to provide for themselves and their families,” said Jamie Gullen, Managing Attorney of the Employment Unit at Community Legal Services. “We are grateful to Council for taking on the important issue of Fair Chance Hiring, and know that together we can make Philadelphia the best city in the country for access to high-quality jobs for people with past records.”
Currently, more than 300,000 Philadelphians are living with a criminal record. With these updates, Philadelphia continues to champion policy backed by research and a commitment to ending the cycle of exclusion.
Key Updates to Fair Chance Hiring Law:
- Clarify that the law applies to ALL uses of criminal history, whether that information is found by the employer themselves using public records, by a third-party service, or on a PennDOT Driver Record, which are not required to comply with state law regarding expunged or sealed criminal records.
- Clarify what is required of employers who make individualized assessments of criminal records. The bill would close loopholes and ensure that employers are only rejecting applicants based on their criminal records if they can show that their specific record poses a specific risk given the duties and responsibilities of the specific job. Employers will also be required to provide individuals with a detailed written explanation of their assessment. The bill also clarifies employers’ duty to perform an individualized assessment of someone’s criminal history by providing a non-exhaustive list of evidence of rehabilitation that they must consider, if provided, when determining whether hiring or promoting someone would pose an unacceptable risk.
- Change how employers can consider different types of convictions to align with research on recidivism risk and with state law. The bill would reduce how long employers can consider old misdemeanor convictions from 7 years to 3 years after arrest or release from incarceration, whichever is later. Research indicates that this change will increase opportunities for people with misdemeanor convictions without increasing risk to business or public safety. The bill would also clarify the law to align with 18 Pa. C.S. § 9125, which does not allow for the consideration of summary offense convictions in employment.
- Improve notice requirements for job applicants that an employer is considering rejecting because of their criminal history to ensure that they can effectively assert their rights by extending the time that they have to respond and requiring that employers inform them of their fair chance hiring rights, affirm that they will consider evidence of rehabilitation, and provide directions on how to submit evidence or explanation directly to the employer.
- Provide more options for people to assert their rights by allowing people injured by violations of the fair chance hiring law to go directly to court, instead of waiting for their case to be considered by the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (PCHR), where cases can take years to resolve, first. The bill also allows PCHR to provide liquidated damages directly to the injured party to make them whole.
- Protect people who exercise their fair chance hiring rights from retaliation and provide a rebuttable presumption of retaliation for any adverse action taken against an employee within 90 days of exercising their rights.
