How Much Detail Do I Need to Disclose for an Expunged Charge on a Job Application?
Question by outdooreli: How much detail do I need to disclose for an expunged charge on a job application?
I was arrested for a minor marijuana (minor misdemenor) charge on my 19th birthday (7 years ago) at my undergradute university. The charge was lessened to “disorderly conduct” and then EXPUNGED a year later. Now I am graduating with a masters degree, have kept a clean record, and am applying for competitive jobs.
Even though my record is “clean”, I have decided that I will disclose the arrest on job appications, for the sake of honesty, but I’d much rather stick to ‘disorderly conduct’ as opposed to “possession of marijuana”.
Since I was arrested for possession, but charged with DC, can the employer somehow review the arrest record? The jobs I am applying for require a pre-employment drug screening (which I can pass) and I dont want my application to be discarded because I have a “drug” arrest, but not a “drug” charge.
As a side note, my ability to get federal student financial aid was unafffected by the arrest, meaning it is NOT a “drug charge”
Best answer:
Answer by cantankerousoldlady
Do NOT disclose. It cant be traced, it was expunged. I have been denied menial jobs due to my honesty on a pot charge thirty years ago that was expunged. You are clean now. Keep it that way. All charges have been dropped and dismissed. You have no need to divulge this information, it no longer exists. One joint caused me years of grief. I am a very honest person. I had the same question. Learned the hard way. ITS OVER
Answer by Rio
You don’t have to because at this point it never even happened. I had a deferred ajudication on my record which was expunged 13 years later and I was able to get a government contract job.
The only way someone will see that on a backround check is if the are from the government or law inforcement.
The charges will still show up if the police pull your records.
Unfortunately, Expunged is not a legal term. I’m just guessing here but it sounds like after you were found/plead guilty, the judge reduced the charge to DC with a suspeneded sentence. Which means as long as you didn’t get arrestted again, you wouldn’t go to jail or whatever the judge ordered. but the guilty plea is still there. The only way the judge can is by ‘setting aside’ the verdict. Which means you were never found guilty. This is the closest thing to your ‘Expunged’.
Regardless if you were found guilty or not guilty, the arrest will always be there.
Read the application carefully. They should only be asking about things in which you were found guilty of.