Arrest & Conviction

njjel

If an applicant lists on the application that they have been arrested and convicted of a crime (i.e. shoplifting, drugs, etc.) is it legal to consider that fact and NOT select that applicant for the interview process?

lrobb

Lots to consider. Is the conviction job related? For instance does the applicant have a conviction for drugs and you are looking to hire them as a Pharmacy Tech. How old is the conviction? How serious is it? Check got back to the bank before payday or rolled Grandma for her social security check? Bad check ten years ago may no be to bad where armed robbery last year is different.

njjel

However is it LEGAL to give weight to arrests and convictions even it was a long time ago? I thought I read somewhere in my travels in HR that one could not give weight to that???

System

[font color="6633cc"]>However is it LEGAL to give weight to arrests
>and convictions even it was a long time ago? I
>thought I read somewhere in my travels in HR
>that one could not give weight to that???
[/font]
State laws vary with respect to whether you can consider arrests and/or convictions in making employment decisions, and some states certainly do prohibit employers from considering certain types of convictions or convictions older than a certain number of years. Many states do not allow any inquiries at all into arrest records. I believe in NJ you can consider conviction records, but only if the conviction is related to the job. I don't know about arrests. I definitely recommend that you investigate NJ's position on this further before taking any employment action based on arrest/conviction information.

Tony Kessler

One of the 50 questions in the book "50 Employment Laws in 50 States" is, "Does the state restrict employers from asking applicants or employees about arrests? Convictions?" For the private sector in New Jersey, the book says the NJ Division on Civil Rights takes the position that questions about ARRESTS are impermissible. For the same employers, questions about an applicant's CONVICTION RECORD are permitted only if they're related to the job. Also, "permitted questions concerning CONVICTIONS may be used in the employer's decisionmaking process when considering whether to employ the individual." The rules are a little different for the public sector. For more information about the laws in your state and this very useful book (which we affectionately refer to as "50 by 50"), go to [url]www.hrhero.com/50x50/[/url]

Tony Kessler, director of editorial
M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC
(615) 661-0249 ext. 8068

Cheryl S SPHR

I agree -- you need to consider the three R's -- recency, relevancy to the job, and recidivism.