Hi, I was offered and started a job with large hotel firm as a night guy. All fine first shift.....In for second shift and GM was waiting to hand me a letter.....said i was suspended on full pay pending a fact finding mission in to my unspent conviction. At no point on application form was I asked to disclose anything under the 1974 act......so im awaiting this fact finding missiin which will ultimately finish the job off. But im wondering any advice etc.....Cheers 😉

Not an expert here, but... Have you still got a copy of the original job advert/offer? and of the contract? Are there any references at all to ciminal record? I say you have to read the contract very carefully, because there could be hidden references to criminal record or "good character". But I'd like the opinion of the more expert members.

I would advise contacting Unlock about this. You can phone or email them.

While employees have some protection regarding spent convictions, with unspent ones employers can and do let people go if they find out about unspent convictions.

As for "fact-finding mission", I wonder what this means. As a private employer, obviously they have no access to police records and cannot obtain any criminal record info without your consent. Gone are the days when an employer could do a criminal record check directly - now it has to go through the employee.

So their fact-finding will be restricted to Google, asking around your acquaintances/former employer, or asking you to get a basic DBS check. Was your conviction reported in the press?

If your conviction was in the press, they probably Googled you. If not, I wonder how they found out?

Most importantly, I hope you manage to get beyond this, we are all behind you on here, many of us have experienced this. All the best of luck, don't give up.

Hi Pb01

Really sorry to hear about the issue you're having with your employer. If you haven't done so already, give the Unlock helpline a ring. This is certainly something that we've come across before.

Best wishes
Deb

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