
Quoting
ESteele
No readily easy or practical way exists to check the commercial databases which gather and disseminate criminal records information in order to determine if the information on you is accurate. Fortunately, these database companies have their own financial incentives to update their records periodically. Consequently, if a prospective employer undertakes a background check on you, it is entirely possible, if not likely, the check will reflect you current, clean slate. More fundamentally, by virtue of the expungement order you can truthfully respond in the negative when asked whether you have ever been convicted of a felony or whether you have a felony conviction record.
Of course, notwithstanding the foregoing, there is no guarantee a prospective employer will never discover you once had a felony conviction record. With electronic dissemination, it is virtually impossible “to put the genie back in the bottle.” An intrepid researcher can locate references to your 2003 felony conviction notwithstanding the 2011 expungement order. Needless to say, discovery of the felony conviction significantly undermines the effect of the expungement order.
Considering that employers in most jurisdictions can lawfully deny “at-will” employment to individuals with “expunged” criminal records, you may want to consider focusing your job search in the significant minority of the states which have taken legislative action to ameliorate this harsh reality for workers with criminal histories. Fourteen states prohibit discrimination against some form of ex-offender discrimination in the workplace. Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Mexico and Washington ban ex-offender discrimination in public employment. Five other states, Hawaii, Kansas, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, prohibit this form of job discrimination in both private and public employment. (Additionally, a number of municipalities, e.g., San Francisco, CA, have restricted employers’ ability to rely on criminal record information in making hiring decisions.) Your record should have less of a potential impact in these jurisdictions.