When you have a DUI on your record, you may be facing an uphill battle when it comes to pursuing a career or even just finding a job that will help you put food on the table and a roof over your head. Fortunately, one lawmaker from Dallas, Representative Eric Johnson, is trying to make obtaining certain jobs and professional licenses a little less difficult for individuals who have convictions for DUI or other offenses on their records.
Johnson has proposed legislation that would not completely remove inquiries about an individual’s criminal background from the state’s hiring processes, but would have that inquiry take place later on in the hiring process instead of on the initial job application. Johnson and others who support the proposed legislation feel that leaving the issue of an individual’s criminal background alone until later on in the hiring process enables prospective employers to place whatever answers job applicants provide to those inquiries in context with the other things that they have come to know about the applicant through the beginning stages of the hiring process. This would give job applicants with criminal backgrounds a better chance at obtaining employment, especially in situations where the offenses took place some time ago or are unrelated to the type of employment that they are pursuing.
State boards are responsible for granting many different kinds of professional licenses. Unfortunately, people with DUIs or other offenses that are not related to the licenses that they are seeking are often denied those licenses after they apply for them. Johnson feels that in situations where a state board denies an applicant a license, they must clearly disclose their reasons for refusing the license and also allow the applicant to make a case for themselves by testifying on their own behalf.
While the proposed legislation would only affect state jobs and the granting of professional licenses by state boards, people with a criminal history can take some comfort in the fact that many private-sector employers are removing questions regarding criminal history from their job applications, saving such inquiries for later on in the hiring process where they can consider that information in context with their impression of the person from their interview as well as their other credentials. The list of employers who are “banning the box” on their applications continues to grow, opening more and more doors to those with convictions on their records.
A DUI conviction can make it harder for you to get a job, among other things. If you have been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, you deserve the very best defense against those charges and the negative impacts that a conviction could have on your future. To learn how Texas DUI Defense Attorney Alex Tyra can help you, call our office today, at (903) 753-7499. You may also reach us by submitting a convenient contact form on our website.
