The City of Fort Myers, Florida plans to “Ban the Box” and remove a question on the city’s employment application that asks job seekers applying for city government jobs if they have ever been convicted of a crime. The Myers Human Resources Department is working with the City Attorney’s Office to draft a Ban the Box policy. No applicant is judged by on the box now and all are judged on a case-by-case situation after a background check since every city job has different requirements. The Ban the Box movement is rapidly spreading throughout the United States. According to research from the National Employment Law Project (NELP), more than 100 cities and counties as well as 18 states have adopted some form of Ban the Box legislation.

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