Is this Legal? Government Job (employment, applying, felony, percentage)
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I've applied here before so I already know it's on the app. I answered honestly the last time and of course no response to my submission. The job is working at the County Sheriff's Office - IT Support.
One of the "supplemental" questions asked is "Do you live with a felon or have you ever lived a felon"? Is this question even legal? I don't know about Florida but I know in Colorado there's a statute that says you can't be discriminated against in employment (personal life), if what you're doing is legal, i.e., employers can't discriminate if you smoke in your personal abode away from work because that's legal.
I'm asking because the job is open again (LOL apparently the person they picked didn't work out).
I understand the reason for the question (sorta), but plenty of law-abiding citizens have been known to "lose it" and commit a crime while employed.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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I'm not sure what the question is. They can ask you if you committed a felony or have been charged with one. If you're going for a law enforcement position, I'm willing to be they can ask if you live with a felon.
Remember also, people can ask questions that they can't use the information to discriminate against. For example, they can ask your age, but can't use it for discriminatory purposes. So, wise employers don't ask because it is opening themselves up for lawsuits, but it isn't illegal to ask (in any place I've lived).
I've worked in policing as a civilian. Yes, it's a legal question, and it is very important one for that line of work. You will have access to the kind of information that is valuable to criminals. There are sometimes problems with friends (and girlfriends, specifically) who find civilian jobs in law enforcement and pass along the information to their associates.
If it isn't illegal, it's legal.
Since you answered yes, have you considered calling and speaking to the hiring manager? Or asking to clarify? It is one thing to live with your felon boyfriend, it is another to have lived with one in the past by no fault of your own. I have, couldn't help who my dad was! But it didn't bar me from employment once I completed the investigations.
Yes they can ask that, basically it boils down to you can choose friends, but you can't choose family. So for my job if I had family with any criminal history, I had to disclose. If I had friends with criminal history (like current drug users) it was basically insinuated I should cut those relationships or friendships because if I ever was seen at a place where illegal activity was going on, I could lose my job.
So if you currently live with a felon, they might tell you that you have to move out because it's a conflict of interest.
I've worked in policing as a civilian. Yes, it's a legal question, and it is very important one for that line of work. You will have access to the kind of information that is valuable to criminals. There are sometimes problems with friends (and girlfriends, specifically) who find civilian jobs in law enforcement and pass along the information to their associates.
If it isn't illegal, it's legal.
Since you answered yes, have you considered calling and speaking to the hiring manager? Or asking to clarify? It is one thing to live with your felon boyfriend, it is another to have lived with one in the past by no fault of your own. I have, couldn't help who my dad was! But it didn't bar me from employment once I completed the investigations.
No, my husband is a felon and we've been married for 10 years. My sister is also a Denver cop since 1998. You would think one would trump the other.
Yeah I get that a FEW women have done really stupid crap for inmates but it's a really small percentage of people incarcerated today.
I've worked in IT for a long time and all of the information is sensitive whether it's personal or financial. I also have Federal Level 5 Security Clearance - Confidential so that should trump who I'm married to or live with.
My husband owns his own legitimate business now after working crappy jobs for the last couple of years. He wouldn't be interested in any intelligence lol. He has really nice and classy friends (read well to do) that he hangs out with and they don't know his history and wouldn't believe it if we told them.
I've put in apps with other law enforcement agencies and this is the first time I've ever seen the question. It may be something for someone applying at the police academy but I would think in a civilian position it would be a big no no.
I hate to say it, but if your husband's a convicted felon you may not get the job. We had a girl fail background because of her fiance being a convicted felon. Basically there was nothing she could do short of leave him to be able to pass background. This was in California, and I think his felony was for drug possession and dealing. Definitely conflict of interest when working for the Sheriff's Department! I felt bad for her, but I guess she didn't know about his felony.
When I went through backgrounds at one point they tried to say my husband was a felon (he isn't) but they had someone with the same name, just different DOB, I was like gee did you guys notice the conviction date or whatever was when my husband was 2 years old? lol.
BTW past criminal history isn't "personal life" if your husband is a felon. That's not being discriminated against because you enjoy an occasional glass of wine or are a card carrying member of ACLU. You can be denied a job for many reasons. Just also letting you know, if you fail a background at one place of law enforcement, that does follow you applying elsewhere. Knew a girl who failed background three times applying for a job with the county (three different counties). And the second and third failed her based on the FIRST failure of background.
Ummm...hun I had a FEDERAL 10 YEAR BACKGROUND CHECK and I am still certified with it. The question is not asked, they are NOT interested in your family members, they are interested in YOU. They're not investigating anyone else. The FEDERAL background check takes 4 months to complete. I've also passed the 10 year background check to work at International Airports.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,937 posts, read 36,943,649 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by meekocat
Ummm...hun I had a FEDERAL 10 YEAR BACKGROUND CHECK and I am still certified with it. The question is not asked, they are NOT interested in your family members, they are interested in YOU. They're not investigating anyone else. The FEDERAL background check takes 4 months to complete. I've also passed the 10 year background check to work at International Airports.
What is your point? You asked if it was legal. It is.
"I know in Colorado there's a statute that says you can't be discriminated against in employment (personal life), if what you're doing is legal,"
There is a difference between asking and discriminating; can ask all they want, just cannot discriminate.
Well if they are using that as criteria not to interview or hire, then they are using it to discriminate against people. They're passing up very qualified and legitimate candidates for jobs based on what?
When you think about it, you could get hired, meet a felon, marry them and they'd never know the difference.
It's a catch 22 situation, I'd rather answer the questions honestly and hope they would at least ask during an interview instead of just throwing the application in the trash.
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