Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Is it illegal to not report a felony on a job app?

If the application asks whether he has been convicted of a felony he must say yes, and if it calls for a signature under penalty of perjury but he signs despite deliberately giving a false answer, he has committed perjury. Most job applications ask about felony convictions, but I don't know how many require that the applicant sign under penalty of perjury.

Depending upon the specifics of the crime and of his sentence, your son may be able to have the conviction reduced to a misdemeanor. If he is able to do this he should also be able to get it expunged from his record altogether. Either of these procedures, if successful, would enable him to truthfully deny having any felony convictions.

Unless and until he is able to get the felony off his record, he will continue to have a hard time finding work. He should keep in mind that some employers are willing to hire ex-felons after considering the details of the crime. Few, however, will hire someone who lies on his application, and a lie like this one will probably be noticed most of the time.

Re: Is it illegal to not report a felony on a job app?

I respectfully disagree with attorney Hoffman.

I believe job applicants generally have nothing to lose by not reporting convictions on job applications -- except the job they would not have gotten anyway. But do not do this to a government agency, nor should one ever commit perjury (watch for the language, "under penalty of perjury." Also check with an attorney about getting the case reduced to a misdemeanor and/or expunged.