Working With A Record
ORC 2953.25 — the order that turns an automatic bar into a decision
A conviction shuts doors two different ways and the difference matters enormously. One is an employer deciding not to hire somebody, which is a choice. The other is a rule of law that bars a person from a job or a licence whatever anybody thinks of them, which removes the choice from everyone in the room. Ohio calls the second kind a collateral sanction, and it built a specific order for lifting it.
A certificate of qualification for employment does not erase anything. What it does is take the automatic part out: where a collateral sanction would bar a person by operation of law, the certificate lifts that bar so the person is considered on their own circumstances instead. The conviction is still there and the decision is still somebody's to make. It is now a decision rather than a wall.
| Situation | How long before a petition |
|---|---|
| A misdemeanour | One year |
| A felony | Three years |
| A felony that resulted in incarceration | One year from release, and from the end of every period of supervision imposed for that offence |
| The court's own clock | A decision within sixty days of receiving the completed petition and the information requested |
That protection has a boundary written into it. Where a holder is hired and afterwards demonstrates dangerousness or is convicted of or pleads guilty to a felony, and the employer keeps them on, the employer can be liable in an action about the retention, but only where it is proved by a preponderance that the person with hiring and firing responsibility had actual knowledge of it. The shield covers hiring somebody with a past. It does not cover ignoring a present.
There are restrictions the certificate does not reach, and the section lists them itself rather than leaving it to be discovered. A certificate is also a different thing from sealing a record, which is its own chapter with its own eligibility and its own waiting periods, and the two are not alternatives so much as different tools: one addresses who can see the record, the other addresses what the record automatically does.
“Is this bar a collateral sanction, or is it your policy.”
The petition goes to a common pleas court, and where it is filed depends on where the person lives. Federal bars, bars imposed by another state, and conditions attached to a sentence are not collateral sanctions of the kind this section reaches. The list of restrictions the certificate does not lift is in the section and is worth reading before a petition rather than after. The department of rehabilitation and correction publishes the process and the forms, courts add their own local requirements, and a licensed Ohio attorney or a reentry programme is who helps somebody through one.
Sources for this section (3)
- ORC 2953.25 — The certificate of qualification for employment, for a person subject to a collateral sanction
- ORC 2953.32 — Sealing or expungement of a conviction, eligibility and waiting periods
- ORC 2953.31 — Sealing and expungement, definitions
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Talk to a licensed Ohio attorney about your situation.