Certificates of Relief from Disabilities and Certificates of Good Conduct are documents that can help people with convictions obtain employment, housing, and other benefits.
In New York State and City laws prohibit people with particular convictions from working in certain jobs or getting certain licenses (such as security guard jobs and licenses). Certificates remove most of these automatic disqualifications and require employers and licensing agencies to consider your application.
Before denying you a job or license because of your conviction, most employers in New York must consider evidence of your rehabilitation and good conduct. If you have a Certificate, employers and licensing agencies must assume that you are rehabilitated, unless they have significant evidence that you have not positively changed.
Certificates do NOT expunge or seal convictions, and they are NOT pardons.