New England Public Radio

MGM continues construction of its casino in downtown Springfield — slated to open in late 2018. The company has launched a series of sessions on how potential workers can get ready for the nearly 3,000 jobs that will be available there. But regulations governing who can work at the casino could potentially rule out many of those most in need of a job.

Austin Bouknight said that as a young man in his 20’s, he had a lot going on for himself. He was living in Maryland, working for UPS and making $22 an hour, affording him nice clothes, jewelry and money to spend on his two kids at the time.

My life was set,” Bouknight said. “I was five years in, on my way to being a full-time employee making the top-scale rate. My seniority was at a high peak. I was doing pretty good, and just got jammed up in situation that was just ridiculous.”

The situation he refers to happened in 2010, when he was arrested and charged for illegally possessing a firearm, a gun he claims he only got for protection. Bouknight, who is now 34, said he was detained for several months before receiving three years’ probation with a three year suspended sentence.

After losing his job with UPS, he returned to Massachusetts where he was born and still has family, hoping to get his life back on track. But because of his criminal offender or CORI record, he said he’s had difficulty getting a job, despite a stellar work history and references.

“Almost every interview that I go to, they’re looking like, ‘Oh yeah, we like him,'” Bouknight said. “Then I get offered jobs, they’ll be like, ‘We have to check your CORI.’ Or they might ask you, ‘Have you ever been arrested for a felony?’ ‘Yes, I made a mistake. It happened years ago, it’s over.’ Then they’re like, ‘No, it’s not. This is something that’s going to stick with you ’cause we’re not hiring you’ — which is unfair.”

Bouknight said that while his immediate focus is on getting a job now, he has thought about a job at MGM Springfield once they begin hiring in 2018. But would he even be eligible?

The law presently reads that if you are convicted of theft, embezzlement or fraud, or have any felony, then you may not work anywhere in the gaming establishment, except after ten years. Then we do have the discretion to decide that you’ve been rehabilitated,” said Stephen Crosby, chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission..

“It was well meaning, but there are some unintended consequences related to it,” says Springfield State Representative Ben Swan. “The idea was to keep certain criminal characters away from the casino. It wasn’t meant to keep community-based individuals who’ve made a mistake in their life from having a job.”

While the law makes sense for people who may be working with the casino’s money, Mike Mathis, president of MGM Springfield, said it’s less so for people working in the restaurants, hotel or other retail operations. He wants what he calls a more flexible and sensible approach.

“Some of the mistakes that young people make, they should be relieved from those at some point,” Mathis said. “So we’re trying to tailor the program so that matches the position. If someone’s had a problem with running a bad check, maybe they shouldn’t be in the cage. But they can be in the warehouse. And let’s get them an opportunity to get rehabilitated, enter the workforce and correct some of the mistakes they made in the past.”

Crosby, the Gaming Commission chair, said he has written the legislature asking it to revise the rules, specifically for those who would be working in non-sensitive positions.

Representative Swan, who is retiring from the legislature in January, said he’s hopeful his soon-to-be former colleagues will resolve the CORI issue by the time MGM Springfield begins hiring. But he warned it may be held up as lawmakers address the larger question of criminal justice reform.

Jeremiah Riordon hopes this gets sorted out quickly. He is vice-president of workforce training at Springfield Technical Community College which, along with Holyoke Community College, is developing training classes for the gaming industry. Riordon said he’s heard from job recruitment centers around the region concerned that their clients’ CORI record nullifies any casino-related prospects.

They’re saying, we have a lot of people that did something when they were 16 years old. Now they’re 30 years old and they’re finding out they can’t ever work in the casino with a career that’s going to come in here with 3,000 jobs in our backyard,” Riordon said. “That’s a big problem.”

Riordon said the Massachusetts Gaming Commission will host a meeting with community based organizations Tuesday at S.T.C.C. to clarify exactly how CORI will be applied in hiring for the casino.

ARCHIVE: As Massachusetts Gaming Law Awaits Voters, Plans For Developing Casino Workforce Continue

Meanwhile, Austin Bouknight said that despite his setbacks — a promising job at the post office just fell through — he’s relying on his religious faith to keep his spirits up. With now three children to support, he said he remains prayerful that someone will give people like him a chance to display their full potential.

I don’t know nobody in the world that’s never made a mistake,” Bouknight said. “So give people the opportunity, see what they do with it. Because you never know, you might have hit the jackpot.”