How To Avoid Hiring A Sex Offender   by Chris Miller

When you hire an employee with a criminal history, you could be making your staff and your company vulnerable to a host of potential problems. Depending upon the nature of the crime, you could be exposing your employees to violence in the workplace, theft, or fraud. Hiring a convicted sex offender carries its own unique set of risks. For some companies, the risk of employing a person who has been convicted of a sexual offense is irrelevant to their job. For other businesses, doing so can have catastrophic results. Below, we’ll explore whether hiring a sex offender in your company matters, a few potential downsides of doing so and how to avoid the problem in the first place.Should Being A Sex Offender Matter?

Of course, if you must choose between 2 job candidates with similar credentials, references and experience in which the only difference is a sexual offense conviction, the choice is easy. You will likely choose the applicant who hasn’t been convicted as a sex offender. That being said, circumstances aren’t usually that simple. You should consider whether a potential employee’s past sexual offense is relevant to the position you’re considering him for.

For example, if you want to hire an employee to work in your warehouse and all of the other employees in the warehouse are men, the sexual offense is less relevant. On the other hand, if you’re hiring for a position in a day care facility, the offense should be a primary concern (and likely, grounds for disqualifying the candidate).

Potential Drawbacks Of Hiring A Sex Offender

There are risks to hiring a convicted sex offender. First, the perception of other employees may cause a problem. The passing of Megan’s Law makes it possible, even inevitable, that your staff will discover the sexual offender’s past. If they do, they may feel uncomfortable working with that person.

Second, if a known sex offender commits a similar crime in the workplace, the employer can be sued for negligent hiring practices. An injured employee can simply claim that the employer knew the worker was unfit for the job, given his past transgression.

Conducting Employment Background Checks

Employers must always balance the safety of their workforce and laws governing how they can use a job candidate’s criminal history in deciding whether to hire him. In truth, it’s a fine line. The best way to ensure that your company and employees are protected is to define your employee screening process. Determine the responsibilities of each position for which you’re hiring. Identify your responsibilities as a hiring manager. Then, use the services of a reputable company that specializes in employment background checks.

While hiring a sex offender may not be a bad decision given his credentials and the position, you need to ensure you’re not exposing your company to an unreasonable level of risk.