Felony Employment Laws

Convicted felons can be barred from working in certain fields.handcuffs image by Daniel Wiedemann from Fotolia.com

Convicted felons do not have all of the same rights as non-convicts. For example, they may not be able to purchase firearms and cannot vote. One area where felons have fewer rights than others is the area of employment. Employers may refuse to hire a person or may fire him because of a felony conviction related to his job duties. In addition, felons may lose their professional licenses regardless of job performance once they are convicted.

Disclosure Requirement

Many employers require applicants to disclose criminal convictions. It is legal to fire a person who fails to disclose a felony conviction when asked to do so; this behavior is considered falsification of information. In most cases, a person who is fired for falsification of information is not eligible for unemployment benefits. However, if the employer does not ask, an applicant is not required to disclose convictions.

Similarly, employers may require employees to disclose felony convictions if they occurred during the course of employment. This is particularly true if the employee worked with children.

Convicted felons are prohibited from working in certain fields. People convicted of sexual offenses, especially offenses against children, are not allowed to work in educational settings or other fields involving the care of children. Felons who have been convicted of narcotics offenses are barred from working in the health care or pharmaceutical fields, and any person convicted of an offense involving theft is barred from working in a bank or any other position involving the transfer of money.

Felons who possess professional licenses may have their license to do business revoked upon conviction. Any type of health care worker, including mental health and social workers, can lose her license due to convictions. Architects, engineers and maintenance people are also subject to losing their licenses. State education boards may revoke convicted felons' licenses if the crime involved children or sexual offenses, and also have the discretion to revoke a felon's teaching license if she commits a crime considered to be sufficiently immoral to tarnish the reputation of educators. For example, a teacher who is convicted of felony DUI may face this revocation.