Legal Question in Employment Law in Virginia
Can't get job because of DUI charge
My husband was charged with DUI in Maryland. He received Probation Before Judgement and attended alcohol classes. His year went by and he did not get any other violations so in Maryland's eyes this charge is over. He was never convicted and even though he plead guilty it was not entered as a conviction.
He has applied for a job with a jail in Virginia and had his interview and they said he had a very high score and he was in the door but they needed to check with the boss. After all this they noticed his DUI (the application asked if you were ever ''charged'' not if you were convicited). He did not get hired because the Superintendent of the jail said that even though we provided documentation from the courts and the lawyers stating PBJ is not a conviction he still sees it as one and he cannot hire him. Can this guy just decide not to hire my husband? He does not have any points on his MVA record either. Can they discriminate againsted him because of something that happened 4 years ago? Didn't VA just pass a law stating you can hire convicted felons on a case by case basis?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Can't get job because of DUI charge
I am not familiar with the law which you've alluded to regarding the hiring of convicted felons in the Commonwealth. Your husband, of course, on the basis of a PBJ DUI plea would certainly not qualify as such. And the jail superintendent would appear to be taking a very narrow view of matters in regard to his discretionary authority in the matter of your husband's employment application.
As regards the response which you've attributed to him, i.e.,"he cannot hire him", the more accurate one(response)likely is that he will not hire him due to his own discretionary biases which, unfortunately, he is probably free to exercise with impunity in this instance as superintendent of the jail facility wherein your husband is seeking employment.
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