Would you hire a convicted felon (violent crime)? Please state your argument. The law says something about suitability for the position, which looks very gray to me.

Why would you want to hire a convicted felon with a violent past?

I don't want to. I'm not in a position to. I had an inquiry from HR addressed to myself and Legal. Legal looked up some ruling for the EEOC. HR sees a gray area as far as "suitability" goes. I say no way, because it puts our customers and employees at risk. I just want to know what others do.

Thanks for clarifying your request.

Technically, if you have a legitimate business interest, you can generally use a applicant’s prior conviction record as a basis for denying employment. Some states have certain restrictions on the use of convictions. For instance, The Pennsylvania Criminal History Records Act states an employer may consider felony and misdemeanor convictions only to the extent that they relate to the person’s suitability for employment in the position sought. If an employer decides not to hire an applicant under the Pennsylvania law, the employer must notify the applicant in writing.

Always check with your states employment laws to be sure.

The EEOC recommends that conviction records should not automatically bar applicants from employment if it is not relevant to job performance. In making your decision, the EEOC says you should consider these five questions:

1. How long ago did the conviction take place.
2. What were the circumstances of the event?
3. How many convictions were there?
4. What is the applicant’s employment record since the convictions?
5. What rehabilitation has the applicant been through?

Bob,

Thanks for your thorough answer. I really appreciate it. Sorry I was vague in the beginning. I was hesitant to give too much away.

I think Bob presented some excellant information. I would add, that many banks have some or all of their employees covered under a bond. Your ability to include this individual under your existing coverage deserves further research. Your bond provider may require a supplemental policy or may not be able to cover the individual at all.

I don't believe the insurance company would write a surety bond for a convicted felon. And, hiring someone with a known past violent crime history could subject you to negligent hiring and create vulnerability there as well, especially if something happens after he/she is hired.

I appreciate you pointing me in this direction. Examined our bond policies and applications and I do not find any exclusions or language specific to non-coverage for felons. I do not find any questions on the bond application surrounding criminal bankground checks,convictions, etc. Placed a call to our agent and I am awaiting a response from them.

Before I do a search for this, I thought I'd start here. Is there any specific law that prohibits a bank from hiring a person who has been convicted of felony theft from handling money in a bank. I can't believe I am asking this--there is no way a bank would ever knowingly do this. However, there are folks protecting the rights of rehabilitated criminals who believe that they could be hired. So, other than just "no, that would be crazy," is there a prohibition in FEDERAL law?

You need to refer to Section 19 of the FDICA and determine whether you need prior written permission from the FDIC. See here:

Section 19

As noted in the previous post, the FDIC Act prohibits any federally insured institution from hiring a person who has been convicted of a crime involving dishonesty, breach of trust or money laundering.
For a number of years I had to deal with my bank's ability to hire people with criminal records. In dealing with the FDIC legal office in San Francisco I would inquire if my bank could hire persons who had been convicted of such crimes as arson, kidnapping, prostitution, drug possession and sale of narcotics.
You will be glad to know there is no federal prohibition to hiring such persons because none of their crimes involved dishonesty or a breach of trust!
However, if someone was convicted of writing bad checks, stealing money or embezzlement then they could not be hired.
One issue that came up repeatedly for persons convicted of dishonesty crimes while they were young and irresponsible was what to do when their criminal record had been expunged by the local court (under some program where they performed restitution and community service in exchange for having their criminal record erased).
The FDIC told me that a conviction was a conviction regardless of what a local court did with the person's criminal record and that such a person could not be employed at a FDIC insured institution unless the institution's board of directors applied for an exemption from the FDIC AND received such an exemption.

Here is some good info on waivers for the FDIC hiring requirements.

Hey Z--
I thought FIRRREA prohibited banks from hiring people convicted of a crime involving breach of trust or dishonesty ? The fines for willful violation can be $1 million. In fact, I think we have checked with the regulators and we can't even hire someone who entered an adjudication program without admitting guilt, if the crime was breach of trust or dishonesty.