On November 28th, 2007, the Cambridge City Council held a hearing on expanding their fair CORI-hiring guidelines to apply to their city contractors and vendors. The hearing was chaired by council member Brian Murphy.

This proposal is modeled off of the City of Boston’s CORI Ordinance, which prevents employers from asking about a criminal record before they have considered the skills and qualifications of the job applicant. Only positions that have been identified as having unsupervised contact with vulnerable populations (children, elderly) are allowed to inquire about criminal histories.

All council members in attendance pronounced their strong support for the proposed Ordinance. The council discussed their plans to pass the law in mid-December if scheduling allowed, and if not, in January 2008.

Representatives from the Boston Workers Alliance, Massachusetts Alliance to Reform CORI (MARC), Mass Law Reform Institute, Jericho Boston, American Civil Liberties Union, American Friends Service Committee, Survivors Inc., Green Jobs Forum, the Phillips Brooks House Association, Harvard Black Men’s Forum, and Harvard Students Labor Action Movement (SLAM) attended and testified in support of the bill.

To download the text of the Ordinance, click below:

http://www.cambridgema.gov/CityOfCambridge_Content/documents/CORI%20screening.pdf