Terminated due to criminal back ground!

[ebkool]

This question is of a serious matter! I was terminated from working with this company for over a year and a half due to my previous felony conviction which took place 8 years ago. My employer told me that I was not terminated due to lying on my application because I had told them the day I was hired. But due to the fact that I have this conviction and the company no longer wanted me employed with them. This conviction, once again, had taking place 8 years ago! After working so hard with this company and proving myself not only reliable and dependable, but deddicated as well, I was still terminated do to my conviction in which the company had known about from the start. What do I do next? Where can I get help? Can anyone help me?

 

[cbg]

What state are you in? It makes a difference to the answer.

 

[ebkool]

New Hampshire!

 

[cbg]

I have reviewed three separate sources and can find nothing that makes your termination illegal. I have also done a quick check of both the New Hampshire Department of Labor and the New Hampshire Human Rights Commission websites, and again am not seeing anything that would prevent your employer from firing you for this reason.

However, the documentary sources are all a couple of years old and the websites do not appear to be set up to answer much more than standard wage and hour questions. I am not in New Hampshire, but I am in a neighboring state, and my partner and I have had some clientele in New Hampshire. While my partner deals with most of these (she being geographically closer) I believe I remember her saying that there have been some recent changes to NH labor laws which were quite favorable to employees. I don't specifically remember her mentioning one that would affect your situation, but it's certainly worth checking into.

Contact the NH Department of Labor. Failing that, check with the NH Commission on Human Rights. If neither of them can quote you any statutes or case law that would forbid this, however, then about all I can suggest is that you file for unemployment and start a job search.

Continue to be honest about your conviction. In the long run you will lose far less by doing so.