Laws are changing across the country regarding the use of criminal history reports in the employment screening process. New ban-the-box laws are popping up around the country in city and State legislation. Typically employers within the jurisdiction of these new laws cannot ask a job applicant about their criminal history in the initial phases of the hiring process. A criminal background check is then allowed once the applicant is deemed qualified for the position and has completed an in-person interview. Recently Portland Oregon enacted ban-the-box legislation continuing a trend across the nation to reduce disparate impact caused by the initial disqualification of job applicants due to checking the “Criminal History” box on job applications. In a hope to reduce discrimination and possible disparate impact the legal use of criminal history reports in the hiring process is changing. To read more about the proper use of criminal history reports in the employment screening process view recent CriminalBackgroundRecords.com press release: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2014-9-11-Criminal-History-A-Public-Document.html