[Anonymous]

Curious if you had an arrest on your record say for protesting the Dakota Pipeline, do you think it will affect your chances at obtaining or keeping a job in our profession?

[Missy]

You're confusing different issues, liability and principal agent relationship are legal issues for a court of law. While some HR issues are legal in nature, most are just a matter of what the employer expects and wants to present as an image. Lots of employers don't allow piercings. “Liability” would be a health or safety issue but there doesn't need to be a liability for the employer to say “we just don't like piercings”. Even if they know for a fact an employee will never be face to face with a customer it's their workplace their rules.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Anonymous]

Okay so if someone has a record, it's simply just that the arrest is probably public information and this could hurt the company's reputation and relationship with clients basically?

[Missy]

That's a big reason, then others, will the employee cause trouble if they perceive something in the workplace to go against their personal beliefs, will this person miss work to go stand for their cause,, will they then need additional time off for court appearances? If you're protesting on your own time and get arrested Sunday afternoon are you going to miss work on Monday? As I said usually when someone is being let go, hr says very little just because even if they're legally within their rights nobody wants to spend time defending a frivolous lawsuit (also why there's also usually severance offered except when firing someone for gross negligence, the package usually includes a waiver of claims). So it can in reality just be because your boss favors the pipeline and is ticked you oppose it and you'd never ever know that.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Anonymous]

Hmm k, thanks mla

[Missy]

Most employers DON'T play that hardcore though, and most don't care what you do on your own time. I'm hr and know who's got their resume posted online And that their resumes contain things that aren't even remotely true) and their jobs aren't in jeopardy because of that. Not a fan of hiring or training so as long as they're doing their jobs during work hours I'm not going to be petty.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Anonymous]

Interesting. I've always been curious about how HR works behind the scenes with issues like conducting background checks and contacting references, etc. How much information do the large firms look into when contacting previous employers? Most partners in a local or even regional community tend to know each other or have networked with each other correct? So I'd imagine they can easily get the inside scoop on most employees and new hires even though it's technically “illegal/unethical” to ask those questions.

[Missy]

Actually the hiring company can ask almost anything, very few questions are illegal. The previous employer will say very little, even if they're acting within the law because again nobody wants to spend time defending a lawsuit even one they're almost guaranteed to win. In hr, what's not said is almost as important as what is said. For example if you're giving a reference and asked “would you rehire this employee” an answer of “I'm sorry we only verify dates of employment and job title” is pretty much a big no. And yes people talk especially within a tight knit industry. I had an applicant who looked PERFECT on paper and happened to work for the same company one of our engineers used to work for so I asked. He told me she was a nightmare to work with and people dreaded her. So I never interviewed her.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[leglock]

i wouldn't hire someone who's been arrested.

i believe, and someone can chime in if I'm wrong, but most background checks are not a national search when it comes to arrests. It usually only searches one county, and the county searched is usually the one in which you currently reside. Obviously, law enforcement has access to a national search database, but non-law enforcement searches, which private co's are using, do not have access to this database.

[Missy]

Background checks like almost everything else depend on what a company wants to spend. They can get a national search but few companies shell out that kind of cash for one.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Anonymous]

True. I'm sure they do google searches and public records searches too on their own especially if it's a smaller firm. Checking social media sites and all. I think if anyone has an arrest on their record (not even necessarily a conviction) the best option for them is probably to find a private accounting position rather than public. Public deals with many clients where reputation is more important and private is more upon the owner/management discretion.

[Track55]

You're missing the point. I would not interview someone arrested because of what “clients may think” or the “company's image”. I simply don't want to work with anyone who has been arrested, Republican or Democrat. The background check will just state the crime (trespassing) not the specifics (trespassing while trying to free the whales).

Besides, what's to say the person interviewing you holds political views different than yours? I once heard of a guy who was turned down for a scholarship he was perfect for since he had pro-Democrat views and the committee was very conservative.

Finally, I work in private industry (a Fortune 500 company) and have access to people's personal information. I've seen actors' and athletes' SSN. You think my company would trust anyone with that information who had been recently arrested?

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Studying for Ethics exam

California candidate
Business and Industry

[Missy]

I think its a big misconception to assume public cares more about its image than private.

I don't care if you're a mom and pop corner store, if you're in a very Democratic state like mine you don't want an employee with an NRA bumper sticker on their car (yup, even your car's appearance matters for a job!) and if you're a small manufacturer in TX with a customer base of hearty cowboys who are uber conservative you're not going to hire the person whose facebook page is all rants against the Republican party.

Doesn't matter whether you have a billion dollar biz or barely break 50k in revenue, business owners care what their customer base thinks!!

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Anonymous]

Well in public you are dealing with clients and have more of a “public” role to play. Working in private is mostly internal work where you can keep your nose down for the most part and crank out what's right in front of you.

Of course reputation is important in both environments, but I'd say if you work in public accounting it's more particularly important.

@Track55 – I get what you're saying, however I don't think an arrest is that big of a deal. But if you are actually convicted of a crime, that is something that should definitely be taken into consideration. Just my opinion.

I'm fascinated in the HR stuff though. Do you enjoy what you do mla?

[Missy]

Ok-well not sure how long if ever you've worked in industry but I have my entire career (we're talking 26 years) so I'm speaking from actual real world experience not assumptions and can tell you with absolute certainty that employers don't differentiate between customer facing roles and back of the house roles in industry. If they don't let the cashiers, sales people or representatives wear piercings the person in the back room with the adding machine doesn't get to either, if they decide they don't hire people who were arrested they don't care what that person will be doing for the company. Private companies don't really operate much different than public they just perform a different service.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Missy]

I do enjoy what I do though, I'm like the mommy there, everyone does their very important thing but it all comes back to me supporting them.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Author]

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