Police Caution

[ellis81]

I was recently arrested and cautioned for possession of a Class A drug. I am deeply ashamed of this. I have a few worries though. Firstly, would this info be accessible to my employer (i work in customer services) and if so would it be a sackable offence? Also, if I applied for a job and was only specifically asked about convictions would I need to declare the caution? If I didn't and they found out would they be able to sack me? Please help!

[Joe_the_Lion]

1) Check your work contract to see if it states you must notify your employers if you receive a record.

2) As long as it was not on work/company time or money you can not be sacked for an offence outside of work UNLESS stipulated in your contract (i.e working with children etc)

3) Unless asked, no need to declare if employment contract also says no need.

And finally as I have given sound legal advice, I shall give moral advice. DRUGS ARE FOR LOSERS and you have every right to feel ashamed.

[ellis81]

Thanks for that. However, I do not ever remember signing any contract as such when I joined the company nor do I possess a copy of anything similar. All I can do is ask my HR dept I guess?

[DC_FC]

ask your hR dept for a copy of the contract

[Reverandfunk]

If you receive a caution does it go on your record???

[ChuffingHell]

For data protection reasons, your employer wouldn't find out about it officially unless you agreed to tell them.

Ask your HR dept for a copy of your contract and for a copy of your handbook (as something about criminal activity might not make its way into the contract but would be more likely in the handbook - which normally is part of the contractual agreement).

However, I would suspect that unless you work in a role where they have grounds for not employing people with criminal records - in some roles where you might work with kids or the elderly or if you were in charge of money in a senior role - then they shouldn't get rid of you for it.

The only exception I can think of is if for some reason the fact you work for them and this happened to you becomes public knowledge (for example, reported in the press) and they ditch you for bringing the company name into disrepute.

For future roles, you are normally asked about convictions under the ROA act. I don't think cautions come into it. Look up the terms of the Rehibilitation of Offenders act for clarification on that.

[ellis81]

Ok so if say you applied for a job and you are not asked about cautions, only convictions, they then find out about the caution and sack you, would that be unfair dismissal?

[PhilLew]

Cautions are covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders act and do show up in CRB diclousure checks.

So if you are applying for a new job where THEY HAVE A RIGHT to a diclosure check then honesty would be your best policy as they are going to find out anyway.

If the job is not 'exempt' under the terms of the RoOA then the employer CANNOT apply for a disclosure and would have no way of finding out about your caution.