Will an employment background check show an arrest if the person hasnt been to court yet? or wasnt convicted?

-- Modified on 4/25/2011 5:37:52 PM

It might depend on the individual jurisdiction, their practice and the arresting party i.e. federal, state or local LE.

Regardless, if hired you still run the risk of getting fired after the employer finds out and you failed to disclose at time of hire.

Pretty much every application form will ask one of the following questions:

Have you ever been arrested? If so, explain.

or

Have you ever been convicted of a crime? If so, explain.

Your best bet might be to fight any charges depending on your situation.

Many employers use third party agencies to run a background check on the employer's behalf. Many of these third party agencies use aggregated databases that pull information from many different sources.

The answer to your question will depend on how in-depth of a check the employer requests and the databases used to access information on you. A more detailed background check will cost an employer more money.

There is almost always lag time between an event occurring and the time a database picks the information up or updates to the database happen.

If your arrest happened recently, there is a good chance a background check will not pick it up.

Type a name in here and the arrest will appear prior to conviction.

http://www.jailbase.com/

... is lie on an employment application.  Many companies have policies for immediate termination if it is discovered that you lied.   The point is to read the question carefully, and answer the question, and ONLY the question asked without volunteering information that was NOT asked.  I do not recall employment applications asking about 'arrests' but certainly they all asked about 'convictions.'  Therefore, if I had been recently arrested for a misdemeanor but not (yet) convicted, I would answer the question 'No' regarding  'convictions.'  Assuming I am hired and later convicted of the misdemeanor, I may not have any obligation to volunteer that information unless the terms of employment so state or a security clearance of some sort is involved.  
Your own judgement needs to be used on a matter like this.  Are you dealing with someone in HR or the potential new boss who would be approachable with 'listen, I have this problem I am dealing with right now, I was at the wrong place at the wrong time and was picked up in a vice sweep.  My lawyer is fighting it but he advises I may have to just plead guilty to something or another to make this go away. '  Most people do understand that you can't fight a traffic ticket and may see your plight.  On the other hand, keeping your mouth shut and 'gutting it out' may be the best way to go.  Or, if you are going to work someplace that is certainly going to do an extensive background check, you might be better off passing up the job and looking for something else.  Unemployment sucks, but having to explain being fired after a few weeks on that job for the rest of your work life would suck even more.
My .02
MVR