Last year, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) penalized145 individuals due to their pre-license criminal conduct. This group included applicants for nursing, counseling, real estate, barbering, cosmetology, massage therapy, pharmacy, professional engineering, and PERC licenses.
Read MoreUntil now, licensees disciplined for (past or recent) criminal misconduct ended up with a permanent stain on their license record. This left them with fewer job prospects. As of January 1, 2018, however, discipline issued due to a criminal charge or conviction is expungeable.
Read MoreToday, I want to share a story I wrote two years ago and filed away. What prompted me to write this story was the terrible loss two women I know experienced. Both lost sons who were 20 years old. No one saw their deaths coming. Both young men teetered on the cusp of adulthood. One son collapsed on a bus, unaware of the cancer that had spread throughout his body. The other by homicide, shot execution style in the back of the head.
Read MoreCriminal Background Check Illinois. Today, you need a computer to apply for most jobs. Gone are the days when you could apply in person for a job. For anyone with a criminal background, applying for a job on-line is discouraging. Fortunately, more than half of U.S. states today have leveled the playing field by adopting Ban-the-Box laws to help ex-offenders better compete for jobs.
Read MoreStarting January 1, 2018, ex-offenders applying for a professional or occupational license will experience fewer licensing barriers due to their criminal history background, thanks to Public Act 100-0286 (SB 1688). The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) will be guided by agency-wide rules specifying what criminal record information can be used to determine if someone should receive a professional or occupational license. Currently, these decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.
Read MoreEffective immediately, HB 2373 is the largest single expansion of the sealing rules ever taken in Illinois or - for that matter - anywhere in the United States. For the first time, individuals who have been convicted of felonies such as burglary, robbery, or aggravated battery, can seek to seal their convictions. The new law also expands what drug offenses can be sealed.
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