It is not uncommon for persons accused of committing a criminal offence to have to account for or explain the circumstances behind criminal charges to their employers, even in situations where the charges have nothing to do with their job. Employers in Canada routinely run criminal background checks on prospective employees. Some employers even run “rolling” background checks on their current employees. A standard criminal background check will reveal all criminal convictions registered against a person unless the person has received a pardon/record suspension in respect of the conviction. In addition to a standard criminal background check, an employer may run additional background checks on individuals depending on the nature of the position applied for and the individuals the employee would be working with. In particular, a Vulnerable Sector Check is a background check performed on an individual who would be working with children and/or elderly, disabled or otherwise vulnerable adults (e.g., teachers, nurses, childcare employees, doctors). A Vulnerable Sector Check will reveal almost every interaction an individual has had with the police, either as a youth or an adult, including criminal records, occurrence reports, youth records, absolute and conditional discharges, and judicial orders. The history is then reviewed against a list of specified offences to determine the risk an individual may pose where they have unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults. If you are currently employed or are looking for employment and have been charged with committing, or convicted of, a criminal offence, we can help you assess the impact of the charges or conviction on your employment, including:

• determining whether you have any obligations to disclose the charges or conviction to your employer or any professional or regulatory body;

• assessing whether your employer has the right to terminate your employment based on a discovery of outstanding criminal charges or a conviction

• if your employment has been terminated, assessing whether the termination was in violation of applicable employment law;

• applying for a pardon/record suspension so that the conviction won’t appear on your criminal background check; or

• applying to have your police records for any non-conviction destroyed.