Having a charge dismissed– even winning at trial–does not mean you won’t be punished! Even if you’re innocent, there are penalties.
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear arguments about Ramsey County’s practice of charging people “booking fees” when they are arrested, whether or not they are ever found guilty of anything!
If you work in health care, education, or child or adult care, and you are charged with any of approximately 150 crimes, the DHS will send your employer a letter disqualifying you from your position.
Just being suspected of wrong-doing, even if later found “not guilty” still can mean losing your job, your driver’s license, and your property. I will address each in separate blog posts this week.
Part I: Your Job
If your job involves contact with people through a facility licensed by the Department of Human Services (DHS), the Department of Health, or through a child care facility, your employer will receive a letter saying that you have been disqualified from that job due to a criminal charge, even if you were found not guilty!
Put more simply, if you work in health care, education, or child or adult care, and you are charged with any of approximately 150 crimes, the DHS will send your employer a letter disqualifying you from your position. These crimes range from murder and assault to harassing phone calls. The letter is sent whether or not you did the thing you were accused of.
How can this be? Well, the DHS determines whether you are a danger by whether they find “a preponderance of the evidence” that you did the act.
This is a lower standard than the criminal charge, which requires a finding that you did it “beyond a reasonable doubt.” That makes sense: just because there wasn’t enough evidence to convict you does not mean you didn’t do it. O.J. was acquitted.
However, the DHS determines “preponderance of the evidence” based on whether the police found probable cause to arrest. That is a very low bar for being banned from your career — and having your employer notified that you were accused of this conduct.
Two examples:
Mohamed disqualified from contact with children
Mohamed was charged with threatening someone with a gun. The alleged victim had a history of convictions for false 911 calls, and the arresting cop testified that she was going to arrest the first Somali man she saw that night.
After extensive pretrial motions and hearings, I got the State to dismiss the charges. Nevertheless, the DHS disqualified Mohamed from having contact with children. This disqualification ended Mohamed’s career in child care — which was focused on helping immigrant Muslim children adapting to and integrating into the dominant American culture.
Leslie disqualified from contact with patients
Leslie was accused by Child Protection Services (CPS) of sexually abusing her young child. She is an MD. The father of the child has thrown every conceivable accusation at Leslie since the child was born. This is the latest, and the allegations will be dismissed because they are baseless.
But based on the CPS finding of probable cause, Leslie will never work as an MD again. Because CPS found enough to investigate, which basically means that a phone call was made, a report was made. And because a report was made, the DHS will disqualify Leslie from contact with patients.
Obvious due process problems
There are obvious due process problems here.
And I solved Mohamed’s situation by having his charges expunged, and the disqualification was rescinded. But every place he had worked or applied for a job had already been told that he was disqualified.
Tomorrow: How You Can Lose Your Driver’s License Even When You’re Not Guilty of DWI
[…] got the case thrown out in 2013, but the collateral consequences took years to overcome. “Mohamed” struggled to get a job and to get his property […]