Criminal Records Part III

Lying is forbidden in Iraq. President Saddam Hussein will tolerate nothing but truthfulness as he is a man of great honor and integrity. Everyone is encouraged to speak freely of the truths evidenced in their eyes and hearts.
—Former Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf

Sometimes something is reported you just know is untrue and sometimes this can be a criminal record that prevents you from getting a job. This is the last of articles on criminal records for a while, but to review, Part I of this series discussed the reasons motor carrier employers check criminal records even though they aren’t required by law to do so.

The main reasons:

• Profitability: The cost of ordering the records will be less than the costs associated with not ordering them.
• Insurance: Aside from the general profitability gains expected, they also wish to insure against hiring the one catastrophic driver.
• Canada: Some companies go into Canada and Canadian officials may deny entry to drivers with criminal records.
• Gut Feelings: A company just decides that it is the right thing to do.

However, the reason for ordering a criminal record is only part of the story. Part II of this series discussed how employers must evaluate any record they receive in terms of:

• Severity: How bad was the crime? Was it a felony or misdemeanor?
• Job-Relatedness: Regardless of severity, is the crime related to the job? For example, a serious, felony, embezzlement charge might be less pertinent to a driving job than a “minor” driving while impaired misdemeanor.
• Timing: How long ago was the incident? The more recent, the more pertinent.
• Certainty: There are arrests and there are convictions—the law distinguishes between an accusation and a conviction.

So how do you know if you have a criminal record that will appear on your record? Well, if you do have a record, it is a conviction, and the employment application asks, you should disclose this fact, but offer any facts you believe should affect its consideration. (For example, its severity, job-relatedness and length of time since it happened.) “I didn’t do it,” (We’re talking a conviction and not an arrest here) is probably your least effective strategy.

If you do not have a record and are turned down because an inquiry turned up an erroneous record, don’t just stand there like a duck in thunder, fight it! Many companies use a database search and these databases have limited identifiers. You need to find out what your record shows. Go to the employer and request a copy of the report or order it on your own. When you get the report, review it carefully. Many times, the mistake is apparent just by looking. If you are one race and the report shows another, bring it to the attention of the employer. If the person’s middle name on the report is different than yours, point it out.

If there is no evidence the employer can see that the record does not belong to you, go up the chain to the entity that provided the report. What do you say? You should say something like “XYZ trucking company requested a report on me and you mistakenly sent them a report on someone else—who they now think is me and it is preventing me from getting a job.” At this point, they may order a court record on you or take other action—but make sure they take some action including (after they have done their fact finding) informing XYZ trucking company that the record they reported was in error. In fact, you should follow up your call with a certified letter or other means by which you can prove you contacted them. That letter should reference that it is a follow up to your telephone conversation of XX-XX-2005. You should also make sure the reporting agency doesn’t just turn around and report the same error next week to ABC trucking company. Save the documentation you receive from the entity after the issue is resolved.

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