Prohibiting public employers from seeking the criminal record or criminal history from applicants for employment under certain circumstances, establishing a criminal history employment application task force, providing penalties, and including effective date provisions

The division does not prohibit a public employer from notifying applicants in writing of specific offenses that will disqualify an applicant from employment in a particular position as permitted by these exceptions. The division defines “applicant” as a person pursuing employment with a public employer. The division defines “public employer” as the state of Iowa, its boards, commissions, agencies, departments, and its political subdivisions including school districts and other special purpose districts. The division defines “criminal record or criminal history” as information collected or possessed by any criminal justice agency or judicial system in this state or in another jurisdiction, including a federal, military, tribal, or foreign jurisdiction, concerning individuals which information includes identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, indictments, or other formal criminal charges, and any disposition arising therefrom, including acquittal, deferred judgment, sentencing, correctional supervision, release, or conviction, and any sentence arising from a verdict or plea of guilty or nolo contendere, including a sentence of incarceration, a suspended sentence, a sentence of probation, or a sentence of conditional discharge. A public employer that violates the provisions of the division is subject to civil penalties ranging from a written warning for a first violation to up to $1,500 every days for a fourth or subsequent violation not remedied within days. The labor commissioner may hold hearings and investigate alleged violations of the division by a public employer, may assess and recover civil penalties and seek attorney general assistance in such recovery according to the procedural provisions of the division, and shall adopt rules to administer the division. The division shall not be construed to require a public employer to employ an individual with a criminal record. The division takes effect January 1, 2020. DIVISION II —— CRIMINAL HISTORY EMPLOYMENT APPLICATION TASK FORCE. Division II of the bill creates a criminal history employment application task force. The task force shall study appropriate voluntary standards and procedures for evaluating employment applications from an individual with a criminal history, including but not limited to the nature of the crime, the age at which the crime was committed, the nature of the duties of the position applied for, and relevant evidence of the individual’s rehabilitation. The division lists the membership of the task force. The labor commissioner shall be the chairperson of the task force and the labor services division of the department of workforce development shall provide staffing services for the task force. The task force shall submit a report regarding its findings and recommendations to the governor and the general assembly no later than January 1, 2020. The report shall include a model pamphlet or other publication in both printed and electronic form on evaluating employment applications from individuals with criminal histories to be distributed to public employers in Iowa in a manner similar to other information distributed by the labor commissioner. The division takes effect upon enactment.