One of the most common complaints expressed by owners of portable restroom companies is the difficulty in finding and keeping employees. A solution to that problem you may not have considered is hiring someone who has recently been released from prison. Ex-convicts can be motivated and loyal employees because they appreciate someone taking a chance on them.
AT YOUR SERVICE
John Gray, manager of At Your Service Restroom Rentals in Owasso, Okla., says his company has had good luck hiring ex-convicts.
“The owners, Stacey and Tammy Hillis, believe in giving people a second chance,” Gray says. “As long as someone is not a violent offender or committed a crime against women, we’ll give them a chance.”
The result has been what Gray calls “a close team” of workers with low turnover.
“They respond positively because they’re not used to someone giving them a chance,” he says. “If you go the extra mile and hire them, they are extremely loyal. It’s not just a job to them.”
Gray, a former Tulsa police officer, says as many as 85 percent of prison inmates are incarcerated for drug-related crimes and he requires potential employees to pass a drug test before he’ll hire them.
“When they get out, most of them are full of promises to get a job and stay clean,” he says. “But if no one will hire them, or all they can find is a fast food job, they get angry and go back on drugs. We say, ‘We’re here and we believe in you.’ If someone is taking pride in you, that goes a long, long way.”
A standard job application questions whether the person filling it out has ever been convicted of a felony.
“When I read an application and I first bring it up, saying, ‘I see you have a felony,’ I see a look of despair come over their face as they think, ‘Here we go again,’ expecting to be turned down,” Gray says. “That’s my first indication that this applicant is serious and not just applying for the job to meet some probation requirement.”
Many ex-convicts received vocational training while incarcerated. This gives them useful skills, prepares them for employment and sometimes reduces the amount of training required after they are hired. Gray says to make sure applicants understand the nature of the jobs he’s hiring for, he walks applicants around the yard and explains every aspect of the work.
“Then I give them a couple of days to think about it,” he says. “That way we don’t get guys saying, ‘This is not for me,’ after a few days on the job.”
Gray says some allowances have to be made when hiring ex-offenders. They have to be given time to report to their probation officers when required, and some have to call in daily to see if they are required to take a drug test. If they’ve got to go take a test, they’ve got to go, Gray says, but it’s generally not difficult to work around these small inconveniences.
GOOD FOR THE COMMUNITY
Employing ex-offenders is also good for society. Ex-convicts who are employed are much less likely to be repeat offenders or rely on welfare. By providing job opportunities, employers help ex-offenders advance from economic dependency to self-sufficiency. They become taxpaying citizens who care about their community. And for that, there are ways the government shows its appreciation to employers.
FEDERAL BONDING
There is certainly added risk to employing an ex-convict, so to encourage employers to take that chance the federal government administers the Federal Bonding Program (FBP). The bonds issued by the FBP guarantee the honesty of at-risk employees on the job. The FBP bond insurance is free of charge to the employer and will reimburse any loss due to employee theft of money or property.
TAX CREDITS
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is available to employers who hire individuals from specified groups who have consistently faced barriers to employment, including ex-convicts.
A tax credit is an amount subtracted from the income taxes a company owes. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, qualified wages paid to an ex-convict during the first year of employment form the basis of this tax credit.
For employees working between 120 and 400 hours the first year, the credit is 25 percent of qualified wages. For those working more than 400 hours the credit is 40 percent of wages. There is a cap of $6,000 on wages that can be used to calculate the credit, so an employer may be eligible for a one-time tax credit of up to $2,400 for each ex-convict hired.
For WOTC tax credit qualification purposes an ex-felon is described as: “An individual convicted of a felony and hired within one year after conviction or release from prison, and who is a member of a federally-defined economically disadvantaged family. Lower Living Standard Income Levels per Memo AP 03-10.” Relatives and dependents of the employer do not qualify. Former employees are also exempt from the credit.
APPLYING FOR THE TAX CREDIT
After hiring an ex-convict, you can’t wait until you file your taxes to apply for the credit.
The IRS requires that you:
1. Complete page 1 of IRS Form 8850 by the day the job offer is made.
2. Complete page 2 of IRS Form 8850 after the individual is hired.
3. Submit the completed and signed IRS forms to your state workforce agency within 28 calendar days of the employee’s start date.
You can contact your state WOTC coordinator through its Department of Labor to learn how they prefer to have the forms submitted. Go to this link for more information: http://www.doleta.gov/business/incentives/opptax/State_Contacts.cfm
