Mike Ralston (right), ABI president, said the company would be filing to appeal the court's decision to side with the new "ban the box" ordinance. | Facebook
Mike Ralston (right), ABI president, said the company would be filing to appeal the court's decision to side with the new "ban the box" ordinance. | Facebook
The first ordinance to "ban the box" in Iowa survived a legal challenge last week against Iowa's Association of Business & Industry.
The ordinance prohibits businesses from asking about criminal histories on job applications in the City of Waterloo, according to the Des Moines Register. Iowa's Association of Business & Industry (ABI) challenged the ordinance, saying it restricted the way in which businesses could decide on whether to hire an applicant.
Judge John Bauercamper ruled in favor of the Waterloo Fair Chance Initiative ordinance on Saturday, according to the Des Moines Register. He said the ordinance is about civil rights, which need to be upheld.
"Criminal history considerations have been shown to have a disproportionate impact on minority groups, especially African Americans," Bauercamper wrote, according to the Des Moines Register.
But the ABI said it has filed a notice to appeal Bauercamper's ruling, according to the Des Moines Register.
“We are disappointed in the district judge’s ruling," Mike Ralston, ABI president, said in a statement. "Iowa Code preempts local regulation of hiring practices that exceeds state or federal law, and Waterloo’s ordinance does just that. The district court's ruling guts the preemption statute that the legislature passed just three years ago."
The petition for declaratory and injunctive relief was filed by the ABI on Jan. 2, and will try to keep the ordinance from going into effect. Waterloo has the ordinance scheduled to take effect on July 1.
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