One of the worst feelings in the world is being arrested whether you are guilty or not. The negative feelings can come from disappointment or fear of how your employer might react. If you are arrested for a serious crime, an employer might terminate an employee immediately. Most employers will not find out on their own about an arrest as they would have to be searching arrest records for every employee. Being terminated when another employee was arrested for a similar charge but was not terminated could be a sign of workplace discrimination. The following are tips to deal with an arrest when it comes to your employer.
Ask a Trusted Coworker What You Should Do
A coworker that has been at your company for years will have a decent amount of insight. They might have seen a person get fired after an arrest years ago. On the other hand, they could have seen a person arrested for a much more serious charge that kept their job. The coworker has to be someone you trust and are not in direct competition with for promotions or huge professional opportunities. The last thing you want is a coworker to tell your employer about an arrest that you are trying to hide.
Remote Work
There are a number of people that are working remotely for the foreseeable future. Not having to ask for a half day or a day off to meet with your attorney is a huge advantage. Asking to work remotely on days that you might have to go to court is important. A random Tuesday being taken off might raise some red flags for an employer. Certain arrests will hold a lot less weight especially if you are not in the office or have any physical interaction with coworkers.
Get The Best Legal Representation Possible
Settling for a public defender is a way to incur far more in terms of penalties from the court. These public defenders are often swamped by cases when compared to private attorneys. A criminal defense attorney that is experienced in the area most likely has connections with the prosecutor. You might see that you receive a plea deal that drops your charges down or gives you the opportunity to drop the charges all together. First-time offenders for drug possession are usually given the opportunity to complete a substance abuse diversion program. Those that have multiple arrests for the same crime will have a much lower chance of this being accepted. Judges tend to be far more lenient when it comes to sentences for those with relatively clean criminal records. An expert drug lawyer will take advantage of this so you would have a lighter or shorter sentence.
Being arrested does not automatically assume guilt so do not try to explain the situation to the officers. The statements that you make can be used against you so it is better to stay quiet. Let your attorney do the talking as they can actually get the charges dropped. The gift of gab only goes so far when an officer has already made a decision to arrest you for a crime.