Busted!
These are desperate times and more and more employees are doing desperate things. How do you handle it if someone has been arrested before they were hired or even after they were hired? To begin with, the answer to this question varies on a state-by-state basis. That’s one reason why we encourage you to work with companies like our strategic partner, Global HR Research, because they conduct background checks and give you advice based on jurisdictional constraints. In some states it’s a free-for-all, if you decide not to hire someone because they were arrested, that’s OK. In other states, there is a prohibition against not hiring people because they were arrested. In fact, we know of some government contracts that require employers to hire people with an arrest record (only in America).
“Just how bad is it?” is the next question. Assuming work-related arrests are a legitimate reason for not hiring somebody, how bad was the situation? Did they steal something off a delivery truck? Did they swipe confidential data? Did they get busted smoking pot on the job or off the job? As Cicero famously said, let the punishment fit the crime.
Employers also have to be aware of negligent hiring causes of action where an arrest record was overlooked or not even looked into in the first place. For example, in one case I handled years ago, a nursing facility did not conduct background checks because it was so desperate for attendant. As a result, they hired somebody recently released from Folsom Prison for robbery and rape who, in turn, raped and murdered one of the patients. Of course, they were rightfully sued for millions of dollars. This was simply negligence on their part and doing no background checks at all is one of the greatest risk a company faces. Lastly, if the arrest occurs while in your employ, you’re certainly entitled to do your own independent investigation into the situation to determine if it makes sense to keep the employee on board. The recent fiasco at Penn State provides plenty of examples.
Of course, the smartest move to make in a situation like this is to work both with your attorney and, if it’s an executive, your public relations person.
