Criminal Record = No Job?

Employers have in recent years become increasingly concerned about knowing whether an applicant has a criminal record. Part of this concern stems from large jury verdicts that have been rendered against employers for negligently hiring a person with a criminal record who ultimately harms others, and the employer is held responsible. As a result, some companies conduct pre-employment background checks for criminal records and choose not to hire former convicts.

Employers have a legal duty to exercise due diligence in the hiring process, and that duty is breached if an employer hires someone that it knows or should have known was dangerous.

On the other hand, society has a vested interest in helping people with a past criminal record obtain meaningful employment. Nonetheless, nearly every employment application asks if the applicant has a criminal record.

Completing a prison term or paying off a fine or restitution can be just the beginning of paying the price for a criminal conviction. The costs can carryover into post-conviction employment, putting up barriers to complete rehabilitation and re-orientation into society.

The States sell criminal information to privately owned companies. In turn, those private companies secure contracts with employers to provide your criminal information to them. As a result, both the State and the private companies make money. Though we do not support this practice, it is the way things work. The conviction will always remain on your record until we secure a court ordered expungement and then we update government and privately owned criminal databases.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 24th, 2011 at 10:47 pm You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site..