Tennessee Criminal Background Check Requirement

Ok...I just want to put a little disclosure in here that this post is NOT regarding me.

I have a long-term friend of mine that graduated from nursing school in Tennessee about a week ago and she called me last night to thank me for a gift that she had received from me and during the conversation she burst out into tears.

My friend is just a few years older than me...she is 42. She is married with children, etc. She has had several jobs that have required background checks in the past, and it's never been a problem.

When she was 22 years old, she was arrested and convicted for vandalizing her boyfriend's car...but she didn't vandalize his car. To make a long story short, it was a really good example of how you can "get back" at someone for a breakup if you have at least one person willing to claim that they were a witness to something that they never saw.

Because she had never been in trouble before, never even a traffic ticket, the judge offered to let her pay for the damage in exchange for a plea bargain and an expungement when payment was completed.

Because the damage was $800...it was technically a felony. She had a court appointed attorney that advised her to take the agreement, because she didn't have an alibi for the night it happened (she was home alone)...and if she got convicted she was looking at 30 days in jail, plus restitution, plus 1 year supervised probation, plus a record.

Since she had no alibi and she was afraid to take her chances with a jury, since she could not prove she was home alone, she felt that $800 was a small price to pay for a guarantee...she just swallowed her pride and took the deal to let her ex-boyfriend have the last laugh.

She knows for an absolute fact her record was expunged and still has the court order.

So now my question....

She just got hired into an ICU (I don't want to say the hospital or city) and she just got her BSN.

She went to the BON in TN website and it now has a new requirement for fingerprint checks through the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations for initial licensure.

She is scared to death, because when she reviewed the information it showed that the background check company got their information "from arresting agencies".

She is now afraid she can never work as a nurse, or even WORSE...her new employer will see the results of it and she will lose her job or get the offer yanked.

Just to note: It's the BON that is doing the fingerprint check, NOT the hospital that she will be working for.

I was on the phone crying with her because she doesn't even want to apply for her state boards because she doesn't want the embarrassment of it all. Fear has really, really gripped my friend.

Does ANYONE have any experience with how the TN BON handles these?

I know that she'll be able to work as a nurse and sit for NCLEX...I CAN'T convince her of that, because she had her record expunged...but she is worried that the records the BON collects will get sent to her new employer.

If anyone has any suggestions....I just feel bad for her.

Thanks!