Effective February 1, 2021: The City of Lakeland, Florida is required to remove questions about prior criminal records of job applicants from City employment applications. According to the city’s news release, “the questions about criminal history will be removed from the City’s initial hiring process and potential job candidates that may have a criminal offense in their background will not be judged at the time of submitting their application.”
Lakeland now uses one application that eliminates questions related to criminal background for all positions outside of the public safety sector. Public safety now has applications specific to the police and fire departments.
Other cities in Florida with Ban the Box laws include Tampa, Orlando, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, and Sarasota.
For more information about Ban the Box and other laws that may affect you in your state, please visit our Resource Library.
