Employee Background Checks: Beyond Ban-The-Box Illinois joins a growing list of jurisdictions expanding employer obligations regarding the use of criminal convictions and history. Jun 4th, 2021 As originally conceived, the “ban-the-box” laws (sometimes referred to as "fair-chance laws") that proliferated over the past decade were relatively simple and straightforward: employers could not use a job candidate’s criminal history as an automatic disqualifier for consideration in hiring, at least early in the hiring process. More particularly, these laws limit when an employer can collect and/or use a candidate’s criminal history — for example, only after an interview or a conditional job offer. The reason is tied to statistics that show ethnic minorities have a higher percentage of criminal arrests and convictions than Caucasians, which paves the way for employment discrimination claims.