MORE RE: EMPLOYMENT AND CRIMINAL BACKGROUND

New York's Human Rights Law should be examined in exploring this issue - N.Y. EXEC. LAW § 296 (15):

"15.  It  shall  be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any person,
  agency, bureau, corporation or association, including the state and  any
  political  subdivision thereof, to deny any license or employment to any
  individual by reason of his or her having been convicted of one or  more
  criminal  offenses,  or  by reason of a finding of a lack of "good moral
  character" which is based upon his or her having been convicted  of  one
  or  more  criminal  offenses,  when  such  denial is in violation of the
  provisions of article twenty-three-A of  the  correction  law.  Further,
  there  shall  be  a  rebuttable  presumption  in favor of excluding from
  evidence the prior incarceration or conviction of any person, in a  case
  alleging  that the employer has been negligent in hiring or retaining an
  applicant or  employee,  or  supervising  a  hiring  manager,  if  after
  learning  about  an  applicant  or  employee's  past criminal conviction
  history, such employer has evaluated the factors set  forth  in  section
  seven  hundred  fifty-two  of the correction law, and made a reasonable,
  good faith determination that such factors militate in favor of hire  or
  retention of that applicant or employee."