QUESTION
Is there any legal steps that can be taken when you worked for a guy who is a felon
Asked on May 04th, 2012 on Employment Contracts - Ohio
More details to this question:
I worked for a guy who owned a company. All of my civil rights were violated. I have filed a charge with the EEOC, and that takes a long time. Should I also get a lawyer while it''s being investigated. I also want to go after two individuals individually who work for the company. Can I sue them separate from the company?
Also after I got fired I found out and confirmed that the owner is a felon. My other question is : is there anything I can do legally to the owner because in the same way an employer wouldn''t hire a felon - If I had known he was a felon I would not have agreed to work there in the first place.
1 ANSWER
I cannot speak specifically to Ohio law or specific employment issues, but there is one area where being a felon is specifically relevant.
If your boss offered any qualified benefit plans, he was probably the fiduciary or administrator of that plan. According to ERISA, the federal statute that regulates most employee benefit plans, any person convicted of most felonies (the statute includes a pretty exhaustive list) cannot serve as a fiduciary, administrator, advisor, or nearly any other position of authority in an employee benefit plan. See 29 USC 1111(a).
The penalty for a violation of the statute can be a $10,000 fine and five years in prison. See 29 USC 1111(b).
Answered on May 04th, 2012 at 2:00 PM