so while going through a secondary interview this morning, the interviewer said he found some things that would 'haunt me for a while'

turns out the drinking ticket i got when was 17 (that's 5 years ago) is on my criminal record

i was under the impression at the time that by completing my community service and paying my fines the ticket would be erased or not disclosed or whatever the jargon is, especially after i turned 18 -- and its never been mentioned by any prospective employer since

should it have been erased? is that even a possibility? am i permanently fucked because i got a drinking ticket when i was 17?

also, because a credit check was also done, aren't i allowed to get my score for free?

11/17/2006 12:21:34 PM

Expungement?

11/17/2006 12:35:14 PM

that's it

11/17/2006 12:39:32 PM

a drinking ticket isn't usually a reason a company would deny employment anyway.

11/17/2006 12:43:46 PM

your interviewer is a dumbass. ive had two underage drinking tickets (among other things) and i was still able to get national security clearance.

no reasonable employer is going to care about you drinking beer back when you were 17.

[Edited on November 17, 2006 at 12:56 PM. Reason : df]

11/17/2006 12:54:11 PM

he didn't care, i got the job

i guess he just wanted to see if i was going to lie about it

i'm not really that worried about this keeping me from getting a job, i just want to know why the fuck it's there

11/17/2006 12:56:25 PM

gotcha...i guess i was calling bs on the whole "haunt you for a while" thing.


...and it depends on what kind of job you're applying for. government jobs (or jobs where security clearance is an issue) require that you disclose all previous charges, even if they were expunged. the goverment has the authority to look through the expungement files.

if it was just a typical employer, then something went wrong with the expungement if you got it done and they can still see it.

[Edited on November 17, 2006 at 1:06 PM. Reason : r]

11/17/2006 12:58:46 PM

ok that makes sense

the employer isn't federal, but they would certainly have access to anything

thanks

11/17/2006 1:05:49 PM

np...like you said, the bottom line is don't lie about the past. employers tolerate "youthful indiscretions", they don't tolerate lieing about them.

11/17/2006 1:08:28 PM

you have to actually do something to get it expunged though right - i don't think it's automatically done

11/17/2006 1:13:14 PM

yeah, pay a lawyer a fucking truckload of money

11/17/2006 1:13:51 PM

^^thats correct. you have to request it.

^i dont think its a lawyer you have to pay, you just have to pay an extra "expungement" fee. atleast thats the way it was in sc where i got mine done.

11/17/2006 1:15:44 PM

Normally, on the application it will ask if you were ever convicted of a misdemeanor other than a simple traffic violation. If you weren't then just write no. And I received a government job even though I was arrested for B&E and the charges were dropped and the record was expunged.

11/17/2006 1:23:31 PM

I had a tiny altercation when I was 17 and it got TOTALLY erased, like, my lawyer made it never happen. I've had government jobs since then, they never mentioned anything. I'd check your shit.

11/17/2006 1:28:16 PM

i guess i should have clarified about govermnent jobs. not all government jobs will look into expungements......the ones the mainly care are the ones dealing with national security.

the dmv, for example, probably doesn't care enough to take the time to look through expungments.

my point was that the goverment is the only body that has the power to look at expunged files.



[Edited on November 17, 2006 at 1:33 PM. Reason : df]

11/17/2006 1:31:55 PM

Law schools are anal about records. If you apply for law school and you've ever been to the Office of Student Conduct, you can bet your ass that Paul Cousins will be on the phone with the admissions from that law school.

11/17/2006 2:15:50 PM

It depends...

If all you did was plead guilty and your were required to pay fines / community service it would still be on your record.

If you did something like the 90/96 program, the charge would still be on your record, but it would show up as not guilty or dropped. Sometimes, the difference between a guilty charge or a not guilty charge on your record - when they do the check - is a single letter beside the charge listed. Sometimes employers get these confused or do not know what they are talking about.

Everyone gets to apply to have their record expunged at least once. Any charges that were dropped or in which you were found not guilty can be erased from your record. This way, it will never even show up that you were charged with this offense.

Go to campus legal services and find out exactly what is on your record.

For the employer:
-No one should care about a drinking ticket, if they do, you might want to reconsider working for them.
-They should not be concerned with a dropped or not guilty result of a charge

11/17/2006 5:24:06 PM