Not a felon but grew up with everyone telling us that colleges would search our social media etc.
A friend told me that the 2 important rules to surviving corporate environments is the following in no specific order.
1. Never lie to someone, and own what you did. Wordsmithing is a gray area but never lie, the reputation of not being truthful can follow you for decades.
2. Never volunteer information that isn't specifically asked for. This isn't a free pass to not provide critical info when your working on stuff like a project, but keep in mind that HR always can dig up info when they want to fire you or not offer you a job. Be honest and to the point, but don't volunteer info that can put you in a bad spot.
TLDR: if they don't ask, don't tell. But if they ask, be honest
sounds reasonable, but I can't tell you how combative it is if you're applying for a job in a state that forbids them from asking if you have any felonies, and there it is on the job application, staring you in the face.
so what are you going to do, tell them no? you won't get the job.
tell the truth? you won't get the job.
sue them? good luck. you'll need it and that does not get you the job and the settlement, if you were to win is years away, so there is no remedy. you start out combative, it's over.
there is frequently just no way to win since the ones paying are the ones not following the rules.
Didn't know that. Also was too emotionally distraught to really deal with it in a logical manner. I had a lot of stuff going on, I was about to get off parole 3 years early. I absolutely needed a job. Anyways, I found a good one after. And it was good for 2 years.
You don't need to sue, you should file a complaint with your states department of labor or whomever is charged with enforcing your states labor laws, they will sue for you if they think you have a case. Also in every state I have seen with a similar law the law specifically says you are allowed to lie if you are asked that question anyways and the employer is not allowed to run a background check on you before they offer you the job so your lie cannot be discovered before the job offer is made (and after its made your lie cannot be used against you and the offer cannot be rescinded without a written evaluation that explains why the specifics in your background check make you incompatible with the specific job you were offered). So I would just lie about it and if you don't get the job or the offer gets unfairly rescinded then report it to your department of labor.
Guidance for New York City which is a locality with such a law:
> Job applications cannot have questions about criminal records and cannot ask you to authorize a background check. Employers cannot ask you questions about your criminal record. If you are asked about your record, your answer cannot be used against you. Employers cannot run a background check on you until after a conditional offer of employment.
> Once an employer offers you a job, they can ask about and consider your criminal record ...an employer can decide to not hire you for one of two reasons:
1. because a direct relationship exists between your conviction and the job you want; or
2. because your conviction history creates an unreasonable risk to people or property.
The employer must send you its reasoning in writing, along with the background check it used.
> If you are asked about your record, your answer cannot be used against you.
Let's be real: This is basically impossible to enforce. This is exactly the same a gender and national heritiage (ethnicity) discrimination. It happens all the time -- there are so many mentions of it on this board. And very, very rarely is anything done about it. There are so many "weak sauce" excuses that companies can give to explain why they will not hire a candidate.
That said: I like your advice: Lie, then report when you are unfairly rejected. This is the way.
It all depends on the framing of the situation. For myself, I frame it as a few of the following, context-depending on how it's asked:
* (on a webform) "not applicable" in writing
* (do you have a felony?) I do, but it has absolutely nothing to do with my role (because it really doesn't).
* (will the background check yield anything we should know?) you'll see something, but it has nothing to do with the job.
If they keep pressing, and seem simply hesitant, I refer them to a webpage that articulates the story for them. It's behind me, I've grown from it to where it doesn't define me, and I'm proud that it's behind me.
If they get weird for the rest of the interview, I simply say "thank you for your time, but I don't believe this will be a good fit, please let me know if you change your mind", and I walk out of there to avoid wasting another minute with their bigotry.
Once I hit the 7-year mark, that background check won't yank any database association to my legal fiction unless they wish to dig. At that point, I can simply say "nothing will show on my background check" and it's completely honest.
The reason this continues to be a problem in the USA is because people aren't confident in what they've come through. The stigma exists because employees fold over and continue letting employers feel they have the right to discriminate over what happened, irrespective of how that person changed from their experience. I see my opposing any condescension as an effort to resist a social structure that creates a second-class citizen.
A friend told me that the 2 important rules to surviving corporate environments is the following in no specific order.
1. Never lie to someone, and own what you did. Wordsmithing is a gray area but never lie, the reputation of not being truthful can follow you for decades.
2. Never volunteer information that isn't specifically asked for. This isn't a free pass to not provide critical info when your working on stuff like a project, but keep in mind that HR always can dig up info when they want to fire you or not offer you a job. Be honest and to the point, but don't volunteer info that can put you in a bad spot.
TLDR: if they don't ask, don't tell. But if they ask, be honest
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