Voters this fall will have the chance to take a symbolic stand against job discrimination against people with felony convictions, the New Orleans City Council decided this week.
The council on Thursday voted unanimously to put a measure before voters on Oct. 11 that would bar local laws that discriminate based upon workers past felonies. The vote spurred emotional testimony from people who had struggled to find work due to past convictions.
The proposed language, to be added to the city’s bill of rights, states that “no law shall arbitrarily and unreasonably discriminate against a person based on conviction history.”…