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Obama Issues Order to Remove Criminal Pasts From US Govt Job Applications

© REUTERS / Joshua RobertsU.S. President Barack Obama departs after a news conference in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, October 2, 2015
U.S. President Barack Obama departs after a news conference in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, October 2, 2015 - Sputnik International
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President Barack Obama announced he would issue an Executive Order to delay inquiries into US government job applicants’ criminal histories.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — President Barack Obama announced he would issue an Executive Order to delay inquiries into US government job applicants’ criminal histories until later in the hiring process in a speech at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey.

"We have got to make sure Americans who have paid their debt to society can earn their second chance," Obama stated on Monday. "We can’t have the criminal justice system carrying the entire load of society’s ills."

Obama also urged the US Congress to pass a bill that would prevent employers learning the criminal backgrounds of job applicants.

Obama: Much of US Criminal Justice System 'Remains Unfair'
The president stated that he would abolish "the box" in printed or online employment applications for jobs with the US government in which applicants had to acknowledge any prior criminal record.

Obama held up as examples several giant corporations for already eliminating the requirement to disclose any past criminal record in their hiring procedures.

"And keep in mind, some really good, really successful companies are already doing this: Walmart, Target, Coke Industries, Home Depot," he said. "They’ve already taken action to ‘Ban the Box’ on their own, and 19 states have done the same."

In 2012, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission endorsed removing the question about prior convictions from US federal job applications.

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