If you check the box and add a brief explanation, you might get a hearing, and a job, and not be living with a cloud over your head.

if you worked at another job in the past and are eligible, if you are truthful on the application and they hire you anyway but fire you when the background report comes back, you can get UI from you prior employment. If you lie, you are disqualified for the lie and can't get UI. (Kinda technical but we get those cases every once in a while and it breaks my heart.)

do the whole "learned my lesson, have a lot to prove and I will do that, blah blah, etc."

People like giving people second chances, assuming the crime isn't too horrific.

I've been convicted of three murders my self and really don't understand this question? I always check no. Just kidding. I always thought it was against the law. Anyway everybody does background checks nowadays.

You are in a spot where you need to lie, in order to get the job. You might lose it, of course, if they do a background check, but you won't get it in the first place if you check that box.

Keep in mind this was during the depression, but he had some pretty interesting stories about lying on job applications. He said whenever he was asked if he could do something, he always said yes. His logic was that by the time they figured out he couldn't he already had the job and at least a chance to prove himself. His most interesting story was one where he got a job as a singing waiter in Chicago.

As a manager I've ran across a few instances where people have lied on their job applications. It does cause us to seriously consider whether or not we want to retain the employee, but the reality is when you find a good employee you're not always so ready to fire them over something like lying on their job application. Everyone exaggerates their qualifications and it's really just a matter of how far some are willing to go. We don't keep people with felony convictions and we make it clear up front that we do background checks so most people don't even bother to lie, but it has happened a few times. I think it's tragic in some instances due to our country's willingness to put people in jail for drug convictions.

Something else that many managers don't talk about is that when you are wanting to fire an employee for whatever reason, you check their application. Since everyone lies to one degree or another on their application, it's one way to easily find a reason to terminate someone. I don't use this tactic myself because I think it's shitty and sends the wrong message to employees, but I know managers who do.

If they are on parole, for example, they could face a revocation and return to prison if caught lying. Depending on the crime and their current status they may have a legal obligation to tell the employer the truth. They may need to tell the employer to get certain accommodations. Some employers make an effort to support ex-offenders and reintegration, so it could even help in some cases.

For an ex-offender, the worst thing you can do is get in the habit of lying. If you lie about that question, and they employer does a background check, you are in much worse than if you answered honestly.

You're under no penalty of perjury, like you would be on an income tax form, or something governmental.

Lots of companies ask the question, but they don't do background checks because they're too expensive. In those cases, I think it's best to lie, and hope for the best. The only thing you have to lose is the job at hand, and you won't get it in the first place if you tell the truth.

P.S. They can't revoke your parole or probation for lying on a job application.

some applications DO state that what you put down is "under penalty of perjury", but a lot of people desperate for a job do lie on apps.

it was a state application. i retired after 21 years, so don't know about other jobs...

if you lie on a job application. YES, you CAN!

I know people who have failed multiple drug tests and didn't get VOP'd. The feds seem to be more strict, but I wonder if even they would bother with such a thing. I know that as an employer we don't bother forwarding such information to the authorities. We just don't hire them. I'd be surprised if many do. Seems like assholery.

are used by the State Police. So when you try to work with certain populations, and you need a State certification to do so, the state police use magical things called email and phones to notify other state agencies of what you're up to.

second you'd be surprised how many prospective employers take umbrage at being lied to..... or how many prospective employers feel horror when certain individuals attempt to work with vulnerable populations.

finally parole officers actually know how to use the Internet....you'd be surprised.

There's probably a good chance it's going to get back to their parole officer, violate a condition of their parole, and would stand a good chance of putting them back in lockup.

Thanks for the (condescending) non-direct reply which didn't answer my question.

So how about how this works for the vast majority of other felons, such as those who get convicted of drug offenses? The employer would have to report the lie to police, and yes I would be surprised at how many prospective employers would report that in the first place since most everyone lies on their job applications. Next it would have to violate a condition of parole, and I'm not convinced it universally would. Next I suspect most(if not all) states have due process hearings to determine if the parolee goes back to jail (assuming the parole officer forwarded it to them in the first place), so a board would have to determine if such a (minor) offense would warrant the state paying thousands of dollars to put someone back in prison.

So you are most likely technically correct in that lying on a job application might get someone thrown back in the big house, but you didn't answer the question.

either calls or sends an employer a form to verify your employment status, which you are required to update.

There are myriad ways you can get jammed up....I would never advise a client on parole to lie.

I'm just curious as to how often people are getting sent back to prison for lying on a job application, as in almost never, occassionally, or in most instances. I suspect it's the former, but have no idea.

The days of a felon getting a job with someone who cares about such things are generally well past given how easy it is to do background checks these days. I can't remember the last time someone slipped through the cracks where I work. So it's really just a matter of someone who didn't check the box and got caught before they were hired which would rely on the prospective employer turning them in. This also assumes a subset of felons who are on parole in the first place. Someone who wasn't wouldn't seem to have much to lose by not checking the box.

You obviously have no idea what you are talking about. Ex-offenders who are still under probation or parole have an axe that hangs above them at all times. The tiniest of wrong moves can end up in a return to custody.

You are also wrong about that a yes answer would bar you from the job. It often does make it harder, but is not as dispositive as you suggest.

It is not against the law to lie, except to the police. We all know better than that.

And there are a lot of companies that will throw your app away if you check that box "Yes." You know better.

It would be a technical violation. You are just uninformed.

You know better.

I have worked with and around parolees for years. You are totally clueless. You asked a question with your OP. I gave you answers.

A parolee has a parole officer who keeps very close tabs on them. Unless you've experienced it or worked with the system, you have no idea how intrusive and closely a parolee is watched.

If a parolee is hired somewhere they have to report that to their PO. Their PO may then follow up with the employer to make sure they really have a job and what the duties and hours are. If the PO calls and the employer says, "oh, they didn't indicate on their application that they were an ex-offender," the parolee could and probably would be given a violation of parole. It could easily end in a revocation and return to custody. A parolee is expected to be damn near perfect. It would be a stupid and unnecessary thing to lie on an application because they would almost certainly get caught.

If you have an experience of parolees lying, getting caught and not suffering a consequence, I'd love to hear about it. If you are just wanting to talk out of you ass, save it.

No, buddy, YOU save it. There is NO REASON to talk like that to someone, even on a discussion board on the internet. It's funny, you know, how people wouldn't ordinarily speak so rudely to someone in person, but they do it on the internet because they're anonymous. Says something, not good, about their character.

You have just joined my Ignore List. Have fun there.

Sorry you have egg on your face.

"Says something, not good, about their character..."

Much as lying also illustrates. However, I'm quite certain that many people will rationalize dishonesty as a strength of character and in doing so, hold others to a higher standard than they appear to hold themselves to.

Or they may possibly justify that the third-grade petulance of "my Ignore List. Have fun there..." is much more righteous than the honesty of calling someone who acts like an ass, an ass.

However, at the end of the day, I imagine that the ethical condemnations coming from a person who not merely rationalizes dishonesty, but also defends it will be allowed all the credibility he actually warrants.

“Ask for work. If they don't give you work, ask for bread. If they do not give you work or bread, then take bread.”

She was advocating that people take bread without paying for it, of course. She did this because she believed that sometimes, there is a higher level of decency, even if it sometimes involved theft.

These people have served their time; paid their debt to society, and yet we constantly discriminate against them, because of their crime. I don't advocate that a child molester become a gym teacher, or that a bank robber become a bank teller. But we cannot continue to require that convicts make a decent life for themselves and then put constant impediments in their way, when they attempt to do just that. This is the same reason many states are making employers remove that question from their applications. Until all of them do, I advocate lying. It is the lesser of two evils.

And then running away by putting them on ignore (and feeling the need to state it to boost your own feelings of "winning" the discussion).

I too would love to hear the examples where you have experienced this.

It's protecting your privacy.

classic example was cited above, felon lies, gets job, tell po, po checks, company is shocked that felon lied to them, fires felon, po revokes due to bad behaviour. pretty much anything done on probation is scrutinized by the po.

Give me a break. That's one hell of a stretch for a cause of action of fraud.

I'm really good at doing appendectomies, but I never went to med school. So I just lie on the paperwork in order to get admitted to hospitals to do those appendectomies. Good for the patients and good for me.

Please provide the list of things that are okay to lie about in a representation to obtain a thing of value. Education? So you didn't graduate from high school, but you made up for it on your own, right?

How about age? I know I'm only 16, but I look and act older, so that's okay. Right?

What is the criterion by which you pick and choose what constitutes a fraudulent inducement to contract?

In the case of a job, there is no value in it until YOU put the value in it by doing the work. And, then, you get paid for the work. Your argument is not a good one.

Moreover, fraudulent inducement to contract is a civil action, not a criminal one. The mirror in criminal law would be false pretenses, BUT the person defrauded must be suffer some damages in order to claim this, and unless the person was not ABLE to do the job because of the criminal background, it doesn't fit the requirements for a criminal case. Sorry, simply getting a job because you didn't check the box is not cause for criminal charges.

And, by the way, doesn't it tell you something that some states are outlawing putting this question on the job application? That ought to tell you something.

Here's the one for the state of Texas:
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PE/htm/PE.32.htm

Claiming to possess a post-secondary degree would do it, which would cover your first example (practicing medicine without a license I'm sure is also covered). The other things you mentioned would not.

Anybody can use our state's CCAP website to do a free, quick check to see if you've ever been to court for civil or criminal matters in the Badger State.

especially if there is a security clearance, accounting responsibility for huge finances or taking care of children involved...

I think most employers would fire a person if they found out that they lied about anything on the job application. Especially felons.

At least, by lying, you have a chance of getting the job.

At my last job they were interviewing people for a position in my department. One young lady seemed promising and had checked that she had no criminal record. They said she had the job, pending the background check and she told them there shouldn't be a problem. Well, there was. They said it was a fairly minor offense, but that they wouldn't hire her for lying. I knew other people working there who had records, but they were honest about it.

If you lied on a (private sector) application and got the job, and once hired you have some legal/lawsuit/grievance or whatever against the employer, you WILL lose your case even if you were in the right...

To say nothing of the fact that if you're working for an unscrupulous boss and he/she finds out, they'll have something they can hold over your head at any time and exploit to the fullest...

My company hires workers with records. But only it they are upfront about it.

can find out practically anything about an employee candidate with very little effort, never mind if the company actually pays for a background check.

In Wisconsin we have CCAP. Anyone can search anyone and see their full criminal history in real time for free.

But there are plenty of small companies that don't do background checks. What gets me is the offender's assumption that they have to tell the truth on the application. Did you know that some states are passing laws to get that question OFF of job applications?

It's funny, we tell the ex-offender that they've served their time; they've paid their debt to society, now go out there and get a job and be a responsible citizen. And, then, we put every block in their way possible, preventing them from doing just that.

If I was an ex-offender, I'd like my butt off.

Yes, you may end up with a job for a while.

But if you get fired, you cannot use them for a reference. So now you have to lie again, about what you were doing at the time. If you are on parole, you have to tell your P.O. that you were fired, and WHY! And, even if you are correct that committing fraud on a job app is not a VOP, that is going to color their view of you. Phone check-in may turn into weekly home visits, perhaps a tether.

But, if you avoid jail, you can get a couple few days of pay!

(Me - I would give a truthful ex-con a chance, but a liar with or without a record? You are GONE!)

He was in a lot of stupid trouble in his early 20's, like selling hot brass to a scrap handler, and got caught. Throw in a couple DUI's and a drunk and disorderly, and you're basically unemployable.

His girlfriend's dad was a union member, sent him to the union hall with $250 to buy a card and viola! Great job for life, since age 28. No questions asked.

He recently retired after 30 years and collects a large pension.

I don't know if unions still allow people to buy cards or not, but it's worth investigation if you have felonies on your record as a young adult and you've learned your lesson the hard way.

For the sake of their business, other employes and customers.
And it's certainly their business to know the backgrounds and history of any potential employee.

It's the up to the employer to determine if the crime and person involved would pose a risk to the business being conducted and hire the person based on their judgment

Lying should be grounds for immediate disqualification.

If you were a business owner, would you want to hire a bookkeeper who had done time for embezzlement?

(e.g., banks, brokerages) from hiring individuals with a felony conviction for offenses of moral turpitude (stealing, fraud, etc.). I worked in a bank with a guy who apparently had such an offense on his record, and lied on his application. Several months later, the bank found out, and security marched him right out the door.

among the biggest cases of those who practiced fraud are the senior executives of the largest
banks.

The high-level gang-bankers were never convicted, b/c they were never tried b/c Obama/Holder/Geithner wanted to play nicey with them (and probably get a piece of their pie at some point.)

This was a job driving for a car service. When I was applying, another guy applying told told the receptionist that he did have a felony record and asked if he should even bother fill out the application. She said to go ahead, and as long as his driving record was ok and it wasn't severe enough to keep the local police from issuing a livery license (I'm guessing they check to make sure the job doesn't violate probation conditions), they'd hire him. Sure enough I saw him at work the next day. When talking to other drivers, I discovered that quite a few had criminal records. One friend I made there had a firearms violation because he had pulled a gun on the abusive ex husband of his girlfriend. Evidently it was determined that the circumstances of this act did no meet the legal requirements for being able to wave a gun at someone. Anyway, this guy worked the job because FedEx wouldn't hire felons.

We boot a lot of folks who lie on their applications each year.

Once they work for us we are liable for their actions. You're damn right we run a check.

Don't even get me started on the ones who fail the drug test.

Obviously lying on a government application is a crime. But even if you lied about an felony conviction on a non-government application, a parole officer could probably make your life hell depending on your relationship with him/her. Could even still be a parole violation depending on the terms of your parole.

Also, you could be "blackballed" by potential employers if caught.

Or you might get away with it and suffer no negative consequences. Anecdotally, I've heard of both occurrences.

You've clearly got all the answers based on your multiple rude replies down thread.

You lose your dignity when you get caught, and you will get caught.

therewill be the presumption that you are lying.

...where you sign your name under the statement to the effect that "all of the above is true and correct to the best of my knowledge."

I agree that it shouldn't be any of their business.

Is often how people justify their shitty behavior. How it makes no sense to you that people would not check the box says more about you than anything else. I have to spend money running background checks because of people like you.

if you feel that dishonesty is a good policy then its very telling.