How Long Do Convictions Stay on the Record for Employment?
A person who has a criminal record faces an uphill battle in attempting to find employment. This is because employers are often far less likely to select a person with a felony on her record for a job than a person with a clean record. While there is no master record for convictions that an employer can consult, employers will often hire background check companies to consult the public record. These records generally do not expire.
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Criminal Convictions
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A criminal conviction is a conviction for either a misdemeanor or a felony. Felonies are considered more severe than misdemeanors. Court records for almost all crimes are a matter of public record. Public records of this sort do not have expiration dates. This means that an employer could theoretically find a record of a conviction from several decades before. However, a record can be legally expunged, at which time it is removed from the public record.
Background Checks
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According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, employers do not always attempt to determine whether a prospective employee has a criminal record. However, if they do, the company will generally turn to the services of a background check company. This company will consult public records or its own private database of criminal convictions, which is culled from these same records. The thoroughness of this background check will vary by company.
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Employer Policies
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Employer policies toward people with criminal convictions varies. Some employers disregard all misdemeanors and only consider if a person has been convicted of a felony. In addition, some employers will disregard convictions that happened before a certain period of time. For example, an employer may disregard any crimes that a person was convicted of more than 20 years ago. Some of these policies are flexible, while others are set in stone.
Additional Considerations
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In addition, some people may seek to have their previous criminal convictions expunged. This means that the conviction is no longer part of the public record. Therefore, if an employer searches the public record for it, it will not appear. However, the conviction may still be listed in the archives maintained by certain background check companies. Therefore, it would still be accessible to some potential employers.
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