Though some business leaders contend that background checks protect employers from hiring potentially dangerous or untrustworthy applicants, opposition to their use in job applications has gained momentum. Employment attorney Sharon Dietrich, said that though state law only allows employers to consider felony or misdemeanor convictions, employers often reject applicants even when previous arrests and charges did not result in a conviction. They also ignore the law when they reject clients for summary offenses. “They’ve done everything the system has asked them to do,” said Vladimir Beaufils, president of the Reentry Coalition for Central PA. “But they still keep paying, sometimes for decades after the get out.”

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