by Jason Morris

March 28, 2008

Rejecting Applicant with a Felony Conviction: Illegal?

Do state and federal antibias laws protect employees or applicants who are convicted of a felony offense from discrimination? A federal court sitting in Pennsylvania recently considered that issue.

What happened. A man who had pled guilty in New York State in 2004 to one count of Attempted Dissemination of Indecent Material to a Minor in the First Degree (a felony) applied for a job at the Wal-Mart store in Wilkes-Barre in July 2007. Wal-Mart managers interviewed him and offered him a job as a cashier, pending the outcome of a background check and drug test. At some point during the interview or shortly thereafter, Wal-Mart told the applicant that he would not pass the background check because of his prior felony.

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