My question involves criminal law for the state of: Minnesota
I am in need of some advice. I was terminated from my job last week because a background check done by my employer came back with a petty misdemeanor possession of paraphernalia. In June of 1999, I received a ticket from an officer of the Department of Natural Resources. I paid a fine of $50.00 at the county courthouse the very next week. In 2001 while starting a new job I thought I was required to obtain a copy of this record from the courthouse to include with my application. I went to the records department at the courthouse and the female working in the records department laughed at me and said that a petty misdemeanor isn't even a crime so there was no need to include that with my job application. I have never had any problems obtaining employment with this petty misdemeanor on my record, until now. I have worked for this company twice before and no issue at all. I started there again three weeks ago and consented to a background check. Two weeks after my start date I was informed by Human Resources that I did not pass the background check and was to be immediately terminated. I was told by HR that effective 1/1/2009 anyone with anything other than a traffic violation or DWI on their record would be terminated. Is this legal?? A petty misdemeanor is considered a non-crime in the state of Minnesota and not punishable by jail time. I cannot return to work unless I can get this expunged from my record which will take a lot of time and work. Can my employer legally fire me for having a petty misdemeanor from 1999?? I don't know what I should or can do about this. Any advice will be much appreciated. Thank you.

