Can pending felony charges be held against you when applying for a job in Wisconsin?

In Wisconsin, discrimination based on a conviction record or arrest record is prohibitted unless the employer can show that the conviction and the job are substantially related. This means that the job would put a person in a situation where there is a substantial likelihood of reoffending. When there is a pending arrest, the employer may not refuse to hire you based on the pending arrest unless this "substantial relationship" between the charged offense and the job is satisfied. If a substantial relationship does exist, then the employer may essentially put your application in a pending status until your charges are resolved. So if the substantial relationship does not exist, an employment may not hold the pending charges against you in its employment decision. The Equal Rights Division, Department of Workforce Development, for Wisconsin can take a complaint for a decision that violates this law. You must file it promptly, though, as you only have 300 days from the discriminatory act to do so.