Do pending charges show up on pre-employment background check?

ziddy

Bluelighter
Joined
Mar 13, 2007
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I have some pending felony drug charges from last year. The application only asked about convictions, so of course I didn't disclose anything about these charges. What I'm unsure of, though, is whether they'll show up on a background check the employer runs. Also, does it help that the charges are in a different county than where I'm applying?

I'm in GA by the way.
 
i also have a pending felony drug charge, that will be dismissed once i finish probation.

i've had 2 seperate background checks for Walmart and Kroger, and was hired for both jobs.

i don't think anything shows up unless you are convicted.

good luck!
 
They are very likely to not show up. Don't waste your opportunity to get a good job before you are a convicted felon.
 
I would venture to say that the employer is doing at least a statewide background check, so it prolly won't matter what county it happened in. To be honest, I don't know if it would show up or not, since technically you haven't been convicted yet.

I think the best you can do is cross your fingers, knock on wood, and pray to your deity that you get the job.
 
No. Pending charges dont show up on background checks, in my best personal knowledge, which I am sure there is exceptions to, but i can only tell you my experience w/employment BG checks. I have had BG checks ran on me while i was waiting for sentencing on one charge and it didnt show up. Also, I had been arrested once and got a diversion (Conditional Discharge/PTI) and completed it. even tho I had been sentenced in that case, it was not a CONVICTION, becuz the whole deal there is if u complete the program (short term probation, usually) successfully, the charge dont appear on your record. I was waiting for sentencing on another charge at the time, and it did not show up. So, out of 3 arrests, one a conditional discharge that i completed, one a felony that i got convicted on, and one a pending felony, the only thing that showed up was my 2nd arrest which i had got sentenced and convicted on, and it appeared on the BG check as "Felony-2nd degree (name of crime)". so FYI, it also tells them wat you did, not just a "is there anything on the record: check yes/no" type of thing.

Also, if you are a first time offender, and you been sentenced to a diversion program, even if you aint completed it yet, it still wont show up on your record yet. This is becuz the program is like a 'wait and see" type thing. If you fuck it up, it will count as a conviction, and you have it on your record. if you finish it successfully, it disappears. So, even tho you been sentenced for it technically, becuz you are in the diversion program, you aint been convicted yet. The only way it shows as a conviction is if you fuck it up, and AFTER you go to court to appear in front of the judge who sentenced you to the program originally. After s/he sentences you for failing to finish the program, then it would count as a conviction.

So even if you on diversion, and fuck up, it still aint gonna appear on your record until you go back to court to get your "i couldnt stay outta trouble" sentence. Thats as clear as I can make it, Ill try and make a TL;DR (too long;didnt read) version for yall with short attention spans tho.

SHIT THAT WONT SHOW ON YOUR RECORD:

--Pending charges of any kind.
--Completed first-time offender diversion programs (PTI/Conditional Discharge) that you been sentenced to.
--Incomplete diversion programs that you been sentenced to. (Incomplete meaning, you are still in the program/on probation/w.ever , doing good, complying, but did not finish out the term yet.)
--Incomplete diversion programs you been sentenced to (incomplete meaning, you are still only part way thru the term, and fucked it up and got in trouble again, but did not go back to court to get sentenced for violating yet.)

SHIT THAT WILL SHOW UP ON YOUR RECORD:

--Anything you been CONVICTED of. (for example, if you got arrested once, completed diversion, and then got arrested again a year later and got convicted, the completed diversion wont show, but your 2nd arrest that resulted in a conviction will.)
--Any diversion program that you fail to complete/comply with, THAT YOU HAVE BEEN SENTENCED FOR VIOLATING. (A successfuly complete diversion will never appear on your record. A failed diversion will get you sent back to court and sentenced as if you were a second time offender, and the charge will appear as a conviction on your record as if you had never attempted the diversion program.)

I hope that helps. Im sorry if its a lil redundant, but sometimes in this forum you got to really beat shit over the head with a hammer to make it stay in there. If I repeated myself, fine, as long as I managed to make it completely 100% clear in the process of doin that.

Disclaimer: I am in NJ, and the BG check standards might vary from state to state. Also like i said , if you applying for a military, police/LE-related job/any job dealing with large amounts of money or drugs, and some other positions, the check might be alot more in depth, and in that case i believe its possible to check for CONVICTIONS as well as ARRESTS, so pending charges would appear. In most regular type of retail jobs tho, even cash register related ones and etc., the simple convictions-only type of check is the one used as far as I kno. Hope that helps. You probably got nothin to worry about. Good luck gettin the job:)
 
Doesn't make a difference what county, the charges will show up on all pre-employment background checks. There is a law somewhere that all employers pretend to follow, and that is the law that says you don't have to disclose your arrest record to employers unless convicted. After running a background check a company will definitely take arrests into account and no one can really do anything about it.
 
Applications ask for convictions, if you aren't convicted of any crimes then you aren't convicted. Maybe some applications ask also for pending charges, I think I seen ones that said that too but I am not sure.
 
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