Seems like a lot of my friends are losing their jobs these days.  And many clients call me up to ask what DUI “supervision” looks like on a record (so they can figure out how to answer questions about criminal charges on their job application).

Here’s how it works.  A DUI supervision is not a conviction, but because there are limitations on how many supervisions a person can get in a lifetime (one), they keep track of DUI supervisions.  First question … how long do they keep track?  Answer: forever.

So what to do.  It turns out that the only way an employer can detect a DUI supervision is to send someone to the courthouse to check the case file.  Once there, public records will show an arrest and a DUI supervision disposition.  So the potential employer must send a person to the county at which the person received the DUI charge, or they won’t find it.  But if they do go to the courthouse they will find it.

In recent years more than 50,000 DUIs have been written in our state, so a lot more people have DUI supervsions than ever before, and as a result a DUI charge does not carry the stigma it once did.  When I advise clients about what to put on a job application, I use the George Bush v. Richard Nixon example.  Richard Nixon had to resign because he was caught in a lie, not because he caused the Democratic National Committee headquarters to be bugged.  George Bush didn’t have to resign because he told us all that he bugged all of our phones because that was his right as a president during the “war on terror”.  Essentially the same behavior but the second guy didn’t lie.  He was arrogant, stupid and not willing to admit mistakes, but he wasn’t a liar.

In the same way, a person can list the DUI, point out that there was no conviction, that they successfully completed counseling, and learned something from the mistake … and hopefully turn a negative into something positive.  Of course some employers will not hire based on the report, but one avoids the “I hope they never figure out I lied on my application” dread.

Ray Flavin