Legal Question in Employment Law in Massachusetts

Hi there,

I'm a recent college grad who made some mistakes in college, one of which was getting arrested for unarmed B&E (Commonwealth of Massachusetts). Long story short, it was an apartment building and the apartment was my friend's (but the apartment building owner wanted to press charges). The charges were quickly dismissed. Having gone through the rest of college not really worrying about it, I am now realizing that it's proving to be more of a problem than I anticipated... I've applied to a couple different jobs where I've had problems because I have a felony arrest record, even though I was never convicted of any crime.

My questions for you are:

1) I was applying for a job with Universal Studios in the state of Florida and when I was offered the job, they informed me that upon my arrival in Florida, they would be doing a background check and that I should let them know if anything was going to show up on it (so I didn't move down to Florida just to be refused a job because of my record.) In short, I trusted that honesty was the best policy and I told them what had happened. I was informed that I could not and would not be hired by them because I had completed community service & probation when my case was dismissed. IS THIS LEGAL ? I have read that the only reason a company can use an arrest with no conviction against you in a hiring decision is if the charge directly relates to the position you are applying for. (Which obviously I can't see a connection to a customer service/front desk position.)

2) I had been substitute teaching in the school district where I had attended school (State of Connecticut) when I was fired because of "something on my record". Again, long story short, the situation blew up because a woman (off-duty) who worked at the central office approached me one day when I was volunteering with an activity for the high school, and proceeded to tell me (in front of everyone) that I was fired because I was a criminal. The next day, I spoke with the associate Superintendent about the situation and she promised to immediately remedy the situation. The next day just happened to be the opening of the school musical (the activity I was volunteering for). I received a call from the Principal of the school, who told me that I could no longer participate in any extra-curricular activities with the district because I was a "convicted felon". I quickly corrected him and explained the situation, which he didn't believe. I was told I would be arrested if I stepped on school property from then on. I was floored. After a series of very angry phone calls, I believe he realized that his information about my "conviction and record" was flawed, and "allowed" me to attend the musical that night. I had planned on filing a suit against him, but I haven't gotten around to it.

WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THIS SITUATION? (Both, actually.)

I'm currently working on trying to get my arrest record sealed (Massachusetts doesn't expunge records), but that's going to take time, and I have still been applying to jobs, worried that I'm still being passed over because I have that blip on my record. I have not been in trouble since and consider myself to be an upstanding, intelligent citizen.

In what you can see is an INCREDIBLY frustrating situation, I am just looking for some advice...

Thanks so much for your time.

1 Answer from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Labor and Employment Law questions and answers in Massachusetts

Looking for something else?