Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Expungement and Gov't Licensing (for collections)

Hello. I have had a felony conviction (pc 487) reduced to misdemeanor and expunged, and it shows as dismissed in the court records. I know I can answer ''no'' to the question of conviction with a private employer, and also have been told that I should answer ''yes, dismissed'' if applying to gov't employer or for licensing. I am being hired by a collection agency that requires each employee to be licensed in all the states we collect in. Here are my questions: 1) When I fill out the licensing applications, do I check the felony or misdemeanor box, or neither, and simply write in ''conviction dismissed''? Remember the original charge was reduced to misdeanor, and 2) Do you forsee that licensing (for collection in individual states) will be held up due to the dismissed conviction?By the way, my crime was not a work or collection related matter, for whatever that is worth. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that I have to disclose the fact that there is a dismissed conviction, but that it should not be held against me for licensing. 3) Should I attach a copy of my court document that shows the dismissal with each application I send in to individual states? There will be about 20 of them that I need to be licensed in. Thanks so much!


Asked on 7/30/05, 7:30 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Philip Iadevaia Law Offices of Philip A. Iadevaia

Re: Expungement and Gov't Licensing (for collections)

The rule of thumb when answering criminal history questions on employment applications is answer yes if you've been convicted. But if the case was reduced to a misd., then your conviction is for a misd., not a felony. So answer ''no'' to convictions for felonies.

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Answered on 8/01/05, 11:40 am


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