Criminal Record HELP

I pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor petty theft charge when I was 18. I was pledging for a frat and unfortunately my pledge bros were completely out of control. They decided to hit up the local liquor store, and I brilliantly decided to tag along. Skipping the details, it's suffice to say we were caught and I joined another frat that wasn't overridden by young hoodlums. Petty theft is a misdemeanor, so I was arrested, but I served no jail time. I only paid a fine. There was no restriction on my freedoms.

Since then, I've had the misdemeanor expunged, so the court record shows that the misdemeanor was "dismissed."

Luckily for me, the BB I'm currently working for was pretty lax with my background check. I presume it was because I was an off-cycle hire. I've recently been offered a position in a highly prestigious group at a different firm, and I am nervous at the prospect of having to face a background check.

Is there a high probability that I will not pass the screening process?
Does expungement mean anything to HR?
Am I worrying excessively?

Please provide insight to a fellow banker who was once young and dumb.

 

you should be okay. expunged means that they no one should be able to find it/see it/what have you (or at least the details). Family friend got wrongly charged with a felony count went through an indictment process and ultimately the case was dismissed. He works for the government now, and I'm sure had to pass some pretty rigorous background checks. The charge was expunged and nothing was really found.

 

I don't know what state you guys are in, but an expunged conviction in California is still visible with a basic background check. Employers are able to tell that you were at some point convicted because a conviction that is "dismissed" by expungement is still displayed in the court record, but a dismissal by a judge is like nothing ever happened.

Knowing this, does your answer change?

 

To further clarify, I had a hiring firm run a background check for me. The original misdemeanor conviction shows up with an addendum that shows I expunged the conviction so the misdemeanor was summarily dismissed about a year later.

 

I assume you interned at the BB you received an offer from. If this is correct, the bank already performed a background check prior to the start of your internship. If they perform a second background check, you should be fine. If it's a bank that's never performed a background check, they shouldn't find anything assuming it's been expunged. The government can still see expunged records; however, private parties, such as a bank, are not legally allowed to access expunged records as they have been sealed by the court.

 
GenghisKhan:
Disclose it on your HR application. No need to mention it otherwise. Since it's not a fraud or securities issue, it is very unlikely to be a problem. Failing to disclose is grounds for termination of employment.

Not disclosing turns a simple fact into a honesty issue.

Why should he disclose it? It was expunged, meaning that there is no public record of him of having a criminal record at all.

 

Beyond just the honesty issue, he should disclose it because banks can and often do use any excuse to fire people, especially when the economy turns sour (which is what could easily happen in 2008). Not disclosing something small like this may result in it being used as an excuse/rationale to fire you if it comes up much later on in some context.

It's true that technically being expunged means there's no record, but as others have pointed out, this may not necessarily be true in states like California.

Bottom line is if nothing actually resulted from it and all the charges were expunged, why bother taking a chance when you have nothing to lose by disclosing it?

 
sternfox:
Why should he disclose it? It was expunged, meaning that there is no public record of him of having a criminal record at all.

It seems self-evident to me: you disclose it because if you do, it is almost sure to have no impact on your job offer.

If you don't, you are lying on your application. The question usually states: "Have you ever been convicted of a crime?" or something like that. There's no getting around the fact that the truth is yes, you have. The fact that it is "expunged" has no bearing on fact. You were convicted. Answering no would be a lie. This makes it, from an HR perspective, an honesty issue. If they find your expunged conviction, you get fired. Immediately.

As for them never knowing, I believe the original poster himself has had a background check run, and it shows up. What do you think will happen when his background check turns that up? I don't have to speculate, because I've seen us terminate new hires regularly for this sort of thing.

The two most common causes for terminating a new hire or revoking an offer are (1) failing the drug test and (2) lying about a fact on your application. What you may not understand is that when you submit your application, you can explain many things - I failed a course but here's why, I didn't technically graduate because I still owe $200 on my Bursar's bill at university, I got convicted of this little misdemeanor, but I was young and stupid. All forgivable, and really, not a big deal. But once you fail a drug teat or a fact turns up false, and there's no appeal or "maybe he misread the app form". There's a single policy in that case. You separate the new hire from the firm, immediately. You have to - if you don't you can be subject to liability from lawsuits from people who are terminated (hey, you didn't fire THAT guy right away, you are discriminating against me for whatever reason).

Moneytree, I think I've told this story before on this board, but here goes again: when I was an analyst, I knew of two contemporaries who were terminated in the analyst program at Goldman. One was for almost exactly this situation. He had shoplifted, and had it expunged. Back in my day, firms were more haphazard about background checks. They didn't get around to doing one until late in his first year. They found it, and he was gone. I didn't find out until much later what had happened to him: one day he was there and the next he was gone. The other analyst was double-billing dinners using other people (a practice which I know at some firms was relatively common, prior to the days of Seamlessweb).

This is your career. It would be a shame to blow it up on something as small as one of those two issues, wouldn't it?

 
freakedout:
Hi guys, freakedout here.

First of all, I would appreciate it there were some HR people who could give some comments. I'm new at this so go easy on me.

I'm trying to apply for a job at Goldman Sachs but I have a criminal record. I have been extended an offer letter so they like me as a candidate, but I dont know how my conviction will affect me.

It was almost five years back and it was originally a felony grand theft but got pleaded down to misdemeanor theft.

It HAS been expunged and what I want to know is:

a) Will it even show up? and b) Will it affect my chances?

Any advice is hugely appreciated!!!

-freakedout

On a Morgan Stanley App they said if it is expunged then you don't need to say that you have a background. If it has been expunged you shouldn't have any trouble and don't have to report it either.

HELP!
 

If it is expunged then you don't need to worry. If not, the best advice I can give you is to be honest and disclose it. I heard it holds more weight than the crime itself. Remember these companies can find out so disclosing it before they learn of it would work in your favor.

 

I had a similar situation, except I was arrested for underage drinking. I didn't know whether or not I should tell HR before my background check, so I called an HR person I knew at another BB and asked her opinion. After checking with her boss, she said I should disclose it to be safe and that it wouldn't be a big deal. I explained what happened in writing, and also called my HR contact at the bank I now work for. She said it was no problem, that I should include it in my background information but not to worry about it. The poeple I actually work with never heard about it (to my knowledge), and it was never mentioned to me after I sent my backgound info in.

I would disclose, but it should be nothing to worry about.

 
jgrb17:
As long as you have not been convicted of a felony you should be ok. In the case that something goes wrong, just explain to the HR personel your situation. Best of luck

Are you sure it's just a felony? I'm sure that FBI fingerprint scan picks up EVERYTHING on your record. In which case, yeah, just explain to HR that it has nothing to do with you as a person and has no impact on your performance/ethics at the firm.

 

Why disclose it when it's not on your record? Honesty isn't always the best option.

Example, I've had a few misdemeanors that were dropped via deferred adjudication. Never claimed them and never showed up on my background check.

 

Yeah, by the military or FBI or whatever... It's not on your record for a reason though. If BBs can't find it, don't bring it up. That doesn't make you a scumbag. It just prevents you from being an idiot and saying something that's none of their business.

If your dreams don't scare you, then they are not big enough. "There are two types of people in this world: People who say they pee in the shower, and dirty fucking liars."-Louis C.K.
 
scottj19x89:
Yeah, by the military or FBI or whatever... It's not on your record for a reason though. If BBs can't find it, don't bring it up. That doesn't make you a scumbag. It just prevents you from being an idiot and saying something that's none of their business.

I worked in PWM at a non-BB for an internship and they did the FBI background check which supposedly reveals expunged charges as well, for what it's worth.

 

Most applications/disclosure forms that I´ve seen (including one at a BB) just ask if you have ever been CONVICTED of a felony or misdemeanor other than traffic violations. To my knowledge (don´t have a law background, so I could be wrong), in most cases if it is expunged it is sort of the same as being dismissed in court, which doesn´t count as being convicted.

 

I had a BB app(1 month ago) that asked about deferred adjudications and i dislosed obv didnt get even though I interviewed well. But how could they actually know if i ever had a deferred adjudication or Adjournment in contemplation of dismissal if they are all expunged/sealed?

Ps I ran my fbi prints and all is clean(no record at all) For any body interested i used "field print" and actually got my criminal check back the same day for $43 (even though it usaully takes a week) check it out guys http://www.fieldprint.com

"Seeing this house and your fine sword and hearing how you're importing and exporting chinamen, let me guess, you must be fucking rich." Kenny Powdersss
 

Hey Genghis -

If I had to disclose a misdemenor Pot posession, that was later 'dismissed and sealed', 8 years ago (in college) on a GS application. How would you word it? You had an insightful post and I wanted your feedback.

Thanks

 

A background check typically looks for convictions only. If you were only arrested but not convicted of anything yet nothing would show up when they do the check. If on any paperwork it asks if you were arrested before I would tell the truth so it doesn't come back to bite you later. (info confirmed by lawyer buddy)

 

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