Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

The general rules and guidelines are: records are forever. However, many felony and misdemeanor convictions [not infractions] can sometimes be 'expunged' from criminal records by proper application and Petition to the court, but only if there was no prison time served or even sentenced and reduced to probation, if it was not for certain sex and Domestic Violence crimes, if all terms of sentencing and probation [and at least one year of probation] are completed and finished, and if there are no new charges pending. If successful, the conviction would be retroactively reduced to a misdemeanor and then withdrawn and the charges dismissed. That does not 'remove' the conviction, but merely changes the record to show 'conviction reversed and dismissed by expungement'. When applying for a job in the private sector, you generally do not have to disclose a conviction if it was expunged. However, the conviction is still a 'prior' or 'strike' for purposes of repeat offense, and must be disclosed on any application for government and professional employment and licensing, bonding, security clearance, etc. The licensing agency and employer then can decide whether you are barred from licensing and employment because of your conviction. If you�re serious about doing this, and you think you qualify, feel free to contact me for the legal help you'll need.

If I didn't make it clear, those rules apply to CA crimes and convictions. You will have to ask Colorado attorney whether there are similar expungement rules there. And, the specific answer to your question is that, yes, employers are entitled to ask about convictions, and if you lie, it is 'resume fraud' for which you can be fired whenever they learn the truth. The rule 'records are forever' is true in every state; your record is maintained in the federal DOJ/FBI database, as well as each state individually.