Top Stamford Connecticut criminal lawyers get this question all the time. If you have been arrested in Stamford or Greenwich Connecticut, do you have to report the arrest to your employer or boss?
Tricky question. Easy answer…
The best criminal lawyers in Stamford and Greenwich would agree that if you are arrested in Stamford, Westport, or Greenwich Connecticut, and you work for one of the mid-size or big-size companies or corporations in the area, then you probably were given a written or electronic copy of an “Employee Handbook” when you started your job. Many people who work for a company actually forget such a document exists, but it is an important formality and component of your employment. You may have physically signed this Employee Handbook. You may have click-and-signed it online. Or your Connecticut employer may have just given it to you. Under most circumstances, this Handbook contains certain terms and conditions of your employment with which your Connecticut boss and employer expects you to comply. If you don’t comply, then you could be fired.
Once you find this Employee Handbook, you should read it carefully. There should be a specific section regarding reporting requirements of any arrests or criminal convictions. Remember a Connecticut arrest is much different than a Connecticut conviction. An arrest is just an accusation in court where you have been accused of committing a crime. As the best Greenwich Connecticut criminal lawyers and attorneys will continue to hammer home…you are innocent until proven guilty. On the other hand, a conviction is when you plead guilty in a courtroom to a misdemeanor or felony crime. A motor vehicle infraction or violation—including a Connecticut infraction for Possession of Marijuana under 21a-279a—is NOT a crime.
So read your Connecticut Employee Handbook carefully. If it requires you to report an arrest to your supervisor, Human Resources Department, or Company Owner or CEO, then you should report it immediately. In these cases, and prior to creating a paper trail of any reports of an arrest or conviction to anyone, it would be a very good idea to run your proposed correspondence and disclosure by the eyes of a top Stamford Connecticut criminal attorney to make sure you are not revealing too much information that can later be used against you in your Connecticut criminal case. While it is extremely important to be open and honest with your employer, the last thing you want to do is jeopardize your criminal case by providing too much information to your boss. So if you are arrested in Stamford, Darien, or Greenwich Connecticut, and need to disclose the arrest to your boss / employer, be sure to contact a top Stamford Connecticut criminal lawyer.
But what if you don’t have an employee handbook? What if there are no formal reporting requirements in your company? Should you still tell your boss / employer? In these cases, the answer is not so straightforward. Many factors must be considered. How long have you been working at this job? Does the crime you were arrested for overlap with your job responsibilities (such as a larceny arrest for a bank teller, or a drug prescription forgery arrest for a nurse)? Is your boss / employer liberal or conservative? Does your boss have a criminal arrest or conviction record themselves? Can we find out if they do? Will your boss / employer find out about your arrest from someone else first? From the local newspaper or online police blotter? Is there a lower-level supervisor you can trust to tell first at your job? All of these questions should be carefully considered prior to disclosing your arrest in Stamford, Darien, or New Canaan to your employer or boss. It is a difficult decision. However, a critical concept that hangs heavy over this dilemma is the idea that your boss or employer would much rather hear about your Stamford or Greenwich arrest directly from you rather than read it in the paper or hear it from someone else. So you must assess that risk of your boss or employer hearing about the arrest from anyone other than you.
For people working in the financial services / finance industries, not only are you required to comply with your Employee Handbook, but if you are formally registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), then you must comply with additional FINRA reporting requirements if you are convicted OR even arrested of a crime in Connecticut. Anyone registered with FINRA must complete an annual Form U4, which is the Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer. Section 14, specifically Questions 14A and 14B ask the FINRA registrant to disclose any misdemeanor and felony criminal history. Thus, if you have a criminal arrest case pending in Stamford, Norwalk, or Bridgeport Superior Courts, then you should consult a top Stamford Connecticut criminal attorney prior to answering this question on your FINRA application. The last thing you need is FINRA to report to your employer that you answered a disclosure question dishonestly.
If you have been arrested in Stamford or Darien Connecticut for DUI / DWI under CGS 14-227a, then there is a good chance your license will be suspended by the Connecticut DMV for failing or refusing the breathalyzer test. The good news is that in spite of your suspension, you still have a chance of being granted a conditional driver’s license permit by the DMV. But this application requires your supervisor, boss, or employer to sign the work permit application. Yikes! You will need to quickly conduct a risk-benefit analysis in your head—do you tell your boss or supervisor and have a chance of driving? Or do you not mention it to your boss, hope he or she does not find out about your DUI / DWI arrest in Stamford, Greenwich or Darien Connecticut, and then find a way to get to and from work without driving. At the very least, you should consult a top Stamford Connecticut DUI / DWI criminal lawyer to discuss your options. Click here to learn more about the Stamford DUI / DWI work application process.
Finally, whether you tell your boss or not about your Stamford Connecticut arrest, one thing is for sure—you should contact an experienced Stamford Connecticut criminal lawyer to discuss getting your arrest reports removed from the internet so that your current or future boss and employer will never see it on the internet. This is not an easy task and requires some delicate legal finesse with online media companies. For more information on internet scrubbing, and removing your online arrest records from the online police blotter, click here.
So if you have been arrested in Stamford, Greenwich, Darien or New Canaan Connecticut and you are not sure whether you should report your arrest to your employer, contact a Stamford criminal lawyer at Mark Sherman Law today to discuss the approach you should take. We have counseled hundreds of clients through this process with successful results. Our clients have informed their employers, have appropriately narrowed and tailored the disclosure, and moved forward in their careers without any discipline whatsoever. Call us today at (203) 358-4700.
