If you are facing a domestic violence charge in Florida, your whole world may be turned upside down. You may wonder if everything in your life will be impacted, including your employment. Unfortunately, there is no clear answer. It depends a lot on your employer and equal employment laws.
According to the Bureau of National Affairs, your employer has to ensure the safety of other employees when considering your domestic violence incident. They also have to follow the same guidelines for every employee. If someone at your workplace has been fired before for a domestic violence charge, then the employer will likely also have to let you go. This helps to protect the employer against discrimination claims.
In most cases, if you have not been convicted, your job is likely safe. Again, though, if you are violating company policy by missing too much work or having to take off days when other employees would not, you could be fired to avoid claims of discrimination by other employees. For example, let’s say you were arrested and had to miss work for two days without giving your employer notice. If the employer has a strict policy that says you must call in if you will miss work and other employees have been fired in the past for violating this policy, then you will probably lose your job.
If you have been convicted, an employer may decide to terminate your employment on the grounds of protecting other employees. You now have a violent criminal charge on your record. If an employer would not hire someone with such a charge due to safety concerns, then it is not likely they will keep employing someone with such a charge. This information is only intended to educate and should not be interpreted as legal advice.
