Good editorial Steve, but a point not mentioned...

I have had two major incidents in my career where people I hired turned out to be, well, criminals. In one case a fellow I hired who seemed a decent great worker, turned out to be addicted to oxycontin and heroin, and he stole from the company and fellow employees to feed his habit. In another case, I had an employee who was stealing data and selling it to marketing companies.

What enrages me even to this day, is that after we pressed charges in both cases (and both these chaps were arrested, one winding up in prison for a year), we were NOT allowed to mention any of this in any reference requests.

I can remember one reference phone call for the guy who had the addiction problem... The lady asked me "good worker", and I answered "Yes, great". And then other questions followed like that. The guy was talented after all... But then came, "would you hire this worker again?" and I answered "NO!". She said "Why?" - and I said I cannot divulge that information.

This just seems totally stupid to me - if someone has the ilk to commit crimes, that should be mentioned. But our lawyers said no, you cant do that. Really? As it turned out with the addict, when I checked his references, they were all stellar, but we later came to find out he had done the same stealing at other companies - no one ever mentioning it. They too were not allowed to do so.

To me, if you have any kind of criminal 'bent' you don't belong in any decent workplace and people should be allowed to say so. To tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth - but Human Resource Directors tell me time and time again, no, you cant do that. Everyone deserves a second chance.

But when the second chance is actually the third, fourth, fifth, tenth, (who knows) chance... Whats the point?

Yes, all of us at some time are going to run into people with a non-functioning moral compass - but why is it that we as employers, managers, and directors have to pretend, in fact lie by omission, that these people are something they are not - honest! To me, that stupidity just perpetuates a very big problem.