Legal Question in Criminal Law in Iowa

PAULA: employment application and hiring process

I am 24 years old and reside in IL. When I was 20 and attending school in IA, I received a PAULA citation (posession of alchohol under the legal age). This is a misdemeanor. I am in the hiring process with a company and have been offered a job with them. In hindsight, I did not know I should include this citation in the job application where it asks ''have you ever been convicted of a crime''. I do not remember the EXACT wording of the question on the application, which is where my legal question arises.

Should I contact the hiring representative and inform her of this misdemeanor before I return the employment agreement? Or should I return the agreement and wait to see if they find anything on my background check. In all honesty, I did not know that I had to include this citation on the application :( I do not want to jeopardize being hired by this company!


Asked on 2/09/05, 5:10 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Luedeman solo practitioner

Re: PAULA: employment application and hiring process

In general this is not a very serious offense particularly in college towns. If you were not arrested and fingerprinted there will probably be no interstate record of it. There is always the possibility that the company will find out about it, though, and hammer you because you did not disclose it.

You can see how it is characterized on ICIS which is the Iowa Court Information System.

That will allow you to decide what your answer to the question on the application should be.

I cannot advise you to answer it or not because I don't know enough-a lot depends on your reading of the hiring manager and the people.

My sympathies on a difficult situation-something similar dogged a friend of mine for years. If you want to correspond further email me and best of luck.

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Answered on 2/13/05, 10:26 am


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