Boston City Council Scrutinizes CORI Screening After Level 3 Sex Offender Found on City Payroll

BOSTON — September 22, 2025 — Boston City Council questions hiring standards after a Level 3 sex offender was found on the city payroll. The Committee on Labor, Workforce, and Economic Development, chaired by District 6 Councilor Benjamin J. Weber, held a joint hearing Monday on two dockets covering both CORI reform and emergency background-check overhaul, with a panel led by Chief People Officer Alex Lawrence and Chief of Human Services Jose Masso. The city employs roughly 23,000 people, including quasi-agencies, and currently runs criminal background checks only for positions designated as having unsupervised contact with vulnerable populations — a classification Lawrence said is under active review for all approximately 1,000 job categories. Councilor Edward M. Flynn, a former eight-year probation officer, pressed officials repeatedly for a categorical ban on Level 3 sex offenders in the Parks Department, BCYF, and Boston Public Schools, arguing those individuals are "most likely to reoffend"; city officials declined to commit to a blanket policy, citing due process, collective bargaining obligations covering 91 percent of the workforce, and the complexity of evaluating conviction age and recidivism risk. The Office of Returning Citizens, which assists the approximately 3,000 people who return to Boston from incarceration each year, has grown from two to 11 staff members over the past four years.