MOBILE, Alabama – The Mobile City Council voted unanimously to back a resolution urging the Mobile County Personnel Board to remove questions about past criminal convictions from initial employment applications, a policy commonly known as “Ban the Box.”
The resolution followed a lengthy discussion during the council’s pre-meeting conference, where a council committee had already recommended the measure by a 2-1 vote after hearing from the county’s personnel director. The sponsoring council member modeled the resolution’s language after a policy previously adopted in Atlanta, and it mirrors a broader national campaign led by employment-law advocates aimed at reducing barriers to work for people with criminal records. If county personnel policy changes as a result, Mobile would become the first city in Alabama to formally endorse the approach.
City officials noted the personnel board has effectively been following similar guidance since federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission direction issued in 2012, but supporters said a formal council resolution still carries symbolic and practical weight even though the council itself has no direct authority over hiring policy. The resolution places the ultimate decision with the county personnel board, which oversees hiring standards not just for the city of Mobile but for multiple local government jurisdictions. The board could choose to revise its uniform employment application for Mobile positions only, for all jurisdictions it serves, or not at all.
Officials clarified that removing the conviction question from initial applications would not eliminate background checks altogether. The uniform application is used to build a pool of qualified candidates, and individual hiring departments remain free to run their own background checks later in the process. Currently, automatic background checks for city of Mobile positions are limited mainly to public safety roles. Mobile’s police chief told the council the department does not rely on applicants to self-report felony convictions, given that background checks catch that information regardless.
Not every council member was fully satisfied with the scope of the change. One council member said he supported the resolution but argued the city should be conducting background checks for all positions above a certain level, rather than limiting the practice mainly to public safety jobs.
Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s administration signaled support for the broader goal, telling the council it would work to ensure applicants are properly screened for the specific jobs they seek, regardless of how the application process changes. Supporters of the resolution argued that removing the conviction question earlier in the hiring process gives applicants with records a fairer chance to be evaluated on their qualifications before a criminal history enters the conversation, while critics questioned whether delaying that disclosure serves employers well.
The county personnel board has not set a timeline for deciding whether to formally revise its application procedures in response to the council’s resolution.