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I was tentatively offered a contract role at a pharmaceutical company. During the onboarding process, I was asked this question:
Quote:
"Have you ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor crime that has not been sealed, restricted or expunged by a court?"
I do not have a conviction. It was a felony charge in May 2016 that resulted in probation in Oct 2017. The case was dismissed in Oct 2022. I've never been asked the question framed in that exact way above. The questions I have seen are either "Have you ever been convicted of a felony (or misdemeanor) crime?" or "Have you ever been arrested/charged of a felony (or misdemeanor) crime?" Answer is easy: "No" for the former, "yes" for the latter.
My gut feeling was to answer 'no' to
Quote:
"Have you ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor crime that has not been sealed, restricted or expunged by a court?"
Instead, I asked the recruiter for directions. He said I should answer "yes" and provide specifics that it wasn't a conviction. Almost two weeks later, the background check report came back. The charge did not show up. Instead, a comment was provided: "HireRight is unable to confirm, and recommends speaking to the applicant about this self-reported offense."
So what happens next? Anyone with similar experience? The onboarding process is entering its 3rd week come Tuesday. Pharmaceutical companies are strict when it comes to hiring people with criminal records, even on contract.
You had a deferred judgement. This means the court set some conditions you were to follow and if you met those conditions, your case would be dismissed and no conviction would be on your record. In essence, that charge would not show on any civilian (government access rights are different) background checking system. Your attorney should have explain this to you in detail at the time you accepted the deferred judgement. The purpose was so you would not have a reportable conviction.
What happens next? That all depends on the potential employer. They can ask you about it to help make a decision on what to do, they can ignore it since it didn't show on the background, they can throw your application in the trash and move on to someone without any baggage, they can.......
The above covers it. Your recruiter gave you bad advice.
What happens now is up to the employer. The nature of the charge may very well be a determining factor.
Generally, a misdemeanor is not going to be nearly as serious as a felony. A felony charge of drug distribution would be a bad look at a pharmaceutical employer. A public intoxication misdemeanor won't be as big of an issue.
OK so it looks like it's too late now but I would probably have not reported the offense if it was expunged from your record. But since you reported it, if (likely when) they come back to ask about it, just explain the details and be honest about it and say you felt obligated to report it even though it was dropped from your record, they might decide that your honesty trumps the actual offense, which is now 8 years old.
Should have said "no," put that's a moot point now, so when it inevitably comes up, just explain the situation.
I've found that most employers don't care one bit about whether or not you've been to jail. The nature of the crime is what really matters. Stealing, sex crimes and selling drugs are generally giant red flags. Getting involved in a bar fight or driving on a suspended license, not so much.
Why did you see the need to ask the recruiter? You knew the correct answer was “no” so why didn’t you be honest in the first place? As an employer, I would look at you with a fair bit of skepticism now because I would always wonder what else you were or would be dishonest about. Honesty is always the right way.
at least now you know that it does not show up on a background check.
so moving forward it seems to be OK not to report it.
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