# Employment Question: Can I ask an ex-felon this?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employment-question-can-i-ask-an-ex-felon-this/365326>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 20, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employment-question-can-i-ask-an-ex-felon-this/365326 "2006-07-20T13:26:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employment-question-can-i-ask-an-ex-felon-this/365326/21 "2006-07-21T03:07:59Z")

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[QUOTE=Blanche]  
Unless you are in one of the few “right to work” states, why does it matter?  
[/QUOTE]

[Quibble]You mean at-will employment states. “Right to work” laws prohibit employers from requiring union membership of all employees.[/Quibble]

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**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employment-question-can-i-ask-an-ex-felon-this/365326/22 "2006-07-21T03:31:21Z")

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[QUOTE=handsomeharry]  
Basically, I only want cites from cases that any know of, or people that have had experience or know how to find information, their good collected wisdom, etc…  
[/QUOTE]

I Googled and I found this:

[http://www.selection.com/pdfs/statelaw\_criminalchecks.pdf](http://www.selection.com/pdfs/statelaw_criminalchecks.pdf) (only Oklahoma statute cited applies only to sealed arrest and criminal records).

If you take a look at the statute, you’ll see that

> [@](#):
>
> F. Employers, educational institutions, state and local government  
> agencies, officials, and employees shall not, in any application or  
> interview or otherwise, require an applicant to disclose any  
> information contained in sealed records. An applicant need not, in  
> answer to any question concerning arrest and criminal records provide  
> information that has been sealed, including any reference to or  
> information concerning such sealed information and may state that no  
> such action has ever occurred. Such an application may not be denied  
> solely because of the applicant’s refusal to disclose arrest and  
> criminal records information that has been sealed.

O.S. sec. 22-19  
For actual searching of court records–you won’t find arrest records, but if he’s been charged, it looks like you can find that–here: [http://www.odcr.com/](http://www.odcr.com/)

You can find the statutes here:

[http://oklegal.onenet.net/statutes.basic.html](http://oklegal.onenet.net/statutes.basic.html)

That’s what I found from Googling. Not legal advice; not even thorough legal research. Talk to a lawyer for that.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employment-question-can-i-ask-an-ex-felon-this/365326/23 "2006-07-21T03:43:39Z")

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And here is the state Supreme Court website ([Oklahoma State Courts Network](http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/start.asp)) which has some cases and other materials that are searchable.

And a pretty handy legal research guide: [http://www.ecok.edu/academics/acad\_resources/library/research\_guides/legalstudies.asp](http://www.ecok.edu/academics/acad_resources/library/research_guides/legalstudies.asp)

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**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employment-question-can-i-ask-an-ex-felon-this/365326/24 "2006-07-21T03:54:14Z")

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Oh yeah, here are some employment law links:

[http://www.hrlawinfo.com/states/oklahoma.asp](http://www.hrlawinfo.com/states/oklahoma.asp)

[News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines - AOL.com](http://members.aol.com/mattlawfrm/oklalaw.htm)

[http://www.state.ok.us/~okdol/](http://www.state.ok.us/%7Eokdol/)

> **[Research Information & Articles | Lawyers.com](https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/research/)**
>
> Find Research legal information and resources including law firm, lawyer and attorney listings and reviews on Lawyers.com.

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**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/employment-question-can-i-ask-an-ex-felon-this/365326/25 "2006-07-21T17:58:58Z")

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AHA! THANKS, BIG-TIME!

hh

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