Are My Dreams Of Becoming A Nurse Over Because A Stupid Mistake

Tankweti · Nov 12, 2011

What state do you live in? That is a paramount question. About 25 states fingerprint for the nursing license. But the question is not can you get your license, which you might be able to if they dont fingerprint, but can you get hired after that? Many facilities fingerprint, especially those dealing with the elderly, children, the disabled (which are most of the facilities). If they fingerprint you and it pops up and you did not tell them on the application, you are toast. The only way you can legally avoid it is if you were, for example, arrested for something but not convicted and the case against you is dismissed. In this country, you are innocent until proven guilty and that is why an arrest without a conviction cannot hurt you. In fact, employers are not permitted to ask you about arrests alone. You will never see an application (or should not see) that asks if you have ever been arrested. This is why most question if you have ever been convicted. From what I understand, adjudication withheld means you were not convicted of the crime. If that is the case, you might look into the procedures in your state for getting your record sealed, if that is at all possible. I just went thru something like this recently for an arrest I had 36 years ago for a disorderly conduct charge (which is a violation and a non-criminal offense). I was turned down for 2 jobs recently because of this. Legally, they cannot do such things as the type of offense must be considered and whether it has a bearing on your current job and they must consider how long ago it was, which neither of these employers did in my case. I am currently considering my options legally. I have subsequently had my record sealed under NYS law so this will no longer come back to haunt me. In NYS, all non-criminal violations committed after 1991 must be automatically sealed by the state under the law. However for violations prior to that (mine was in 1975) the person has to dig up the records themselves and ask that they be sealed. My husband and I had gone down to the courthouse in 2000 to see if the record still existed (as this was before the time of computers) and we were told it did not. It turned out the clerk lied to us and she simply did not want to bother herself to direct us to the right place just down the hall. Hence, 11 years later it came back to bite me for 2 separate jobs I applied for. I went down to the court last month and got an official Certificate of Disposition and faxed it to the Dept of Crim Justice Services in NYS who has taken care of the problem and put it in writing to me that they did so. In addition, just for anyone out there that is interested, the Office of Court Administration in NYS up until 2007 used to sell people info that a sealed record existed if they paid to get that information. In other words, they could not tell them what was in the sealed record but would freely state that it existed. There must have been a big commotion made because that practice has been stopped as of 2007. Also, just so all of you know, if you have what they call a "finger-printable offense", then it not only becomes a part of your state record but it also gets sent to the FBI where they also create a record on you. So, if you can get a record sealed, you must be certain that your state entity that is doing the sealing also advises the FBI that their records must be sealed/destroyed. From what I understand, the fingerprint card and any mugshots are destroyed by the state and only a trace record remains of the incident. In NYS, the only persons who can access that trace record are your local police if you apply for a gun permit or if you apply for a job with the police. I don't know if you had an attorney for your case or if it was a public defender. However, since most people cannot afford a lawyer, I would suggest that you start with researching the laws in your state regarding nursing licensure and then be VERY certain as to whether you were actually convicted of a crime or not. You should go to the courthouse that has your records, bring your I.D. and ask for information. If they will only mail it to you, then you will have to go that route. But you must find out, in plain language, what the actual disposition (or conclusion) of your case was. Were you found guilty or not guilty? That answer will make all the difference in the world.

gsamanez · Sep 27, 2012

its not over you can do it