Walk It Through: The Background Check
A job application, a conviction weighed against the position, and an old juvenile record.
An applicant for a warehouse job learns the employer has received the applicant's criminal history record information.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One applicant and one employer. Federal background check rules, jobs where a law requires a check, and adult records are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- ExpungementRemoving a record. An acquittal of all charges is expunged automatically, and a summary offense may be expunged on petition after five years free of arrest or prosecution.
- Juvenile record expungementExpunging the records of a juvenile delinquency case, or of a summary offense committed under 18 years of age, after 30 days' notice to the district attorney, when the court finds a listed circumstance, such as a petition that was dismissed.
- Limited accessA record disseminated only to a criminal justice agency, apart from the exceptions the law lists. Clean slate limits access to some records without a petition, after the waiting periods the law sets.
- Summary offenseThe lowest grade of offense, punishable by not more than 90 days, with a fine of up to $300 unless a higher fine is set.