Is a DUI a showstopper?
 

G'day all,

I'm looking at applying for airline jobs in Australia (Virgin/Tiger).

Only snag is, I had a mid range DUI in 2000, perfect driving record since then.

Is this something I'm likely to be asked about at interview, and if so, is coming clean likely to a showstopper?

Any views welcome!

Check with a lawyer but I think legally at that sort of time frame you are entitled to never mention it or deny it and it won't show up on a search and they won't be able to ask. I think it is covered by the spent convictions laws or something similar.

Worth noting that they changed the laws so that for a ASIC that Law is waivered, even though there is a act of parliament to protect people from these sorts of problems.

Check it out and have a look at the fine print especially on the ASIC as you may get snagged there, but I don't know what crimes are included on that search.

This is only my opinion, and there may be others more conversant with current hiring procedures, but I would like to think that your 13 years since with no problems would demonstrate to them that you learnt your lesson from the experience and that you're not intending for it to ever happen again. On that basis I would go ahead, try your best and see how you go, as nothing ventured nothing gained. All the best for your flying career!

Thanks for the responses guys, I've actually already held an ASIC in order to upgrade the license to ATPL since the misdemeanour so that's no problem, more just keen to hear if its an absolute red flag from the airlines perspective..

Cheers!

Gone after 10 years

Esso had a chap flying as a contractor (Captain) and when looking to make him staff asked the question, to which he admitted 20 years prior. Given the boot. If they ask own up, otherwise keep stumm.

That sounds pretty rough. My stance is usually anti-litigation, but if there were no other factors against him in that situation, I'd think there would be a good case and justification for him taking them to court over it.

More than 10 years = 'spent conviction'. The records won't be available to anyone in the airline, so I would be inclined to say nothing.

The risk is that if you do 'fess up, someone on the interview panel may be a bible-bashing hell-and-brimstone teetotaller and will scuttle your chances.

Should you get hired and some time down track they did find out, given that it was a spent conviction, they would find it very hard to dismiss you. And whoever gave them the information would be in trouble too.

The people who run our country tell blatant lies almost daily, so your minor omission of a total irrelevance does not even rate.

I suspect the person in question may have withheld the info on his application prior.

If they don't ask, don't voluntarily offer up the info. The key is that you have been able to hold an ASIC post - conviction.

All you need is the ability to hold, and continue to be able to hold, an ASIC. Same goes for the Class 1 Medical. You may have medical issues, but generally the prospective employer doesn't care - providing you can continue to hold a Class 1. In a previous life I interviewed several guys with medical conditions on their licence. I couldn't have cared less, as they were classed by AVMED as medically fit. They continue with their airline careers today :ok:

Another thing to consider is previous Workcover claims. Both the airlines I've worked for asked the question in the application form, to which I answered honestly. (My payout helped kick me off with flying). If you subsequently have reason to make a Workcover claim, there is the question about previous claims or injury. Unless you're consistent, you might give your employer grounds for disciplinary action, if you know what I mean ;)

In summary - if it's not asked, don't offer. If it is, best be honest about it. In other words, don't give your (prospective) employer reason to give you the boot in the future.

Good luck!

I wouldn't say it's a show stopper. I know heaps of ppl with ASICs who have/had DUI convictions, some of them work at the airlines you mentioned applying to.

As they say in the classics, stick it in and see what happens. If you have a spent conviction the case is dead and buried.

Not so. The question never arose.

Yes, it's a show stopper. The night is ruined right there.

Not condoning the behaviour but a DUI was almost a rite of passage in the NT back around that year, and that crowd are almost all flying mainline jets now.

You were young(er), silly, learned a harsh lesson, moved on.

Just about everyone has done it, most havent been caught.

I've never been asked, nor did I ever get caught!

Good luck :)

How you handle the question "Have you been convicted of a DUI?" is up to you, but were it me - knowing the slate has been wiped clean - I would answer "no".

I would be very suspicious if the question was framed "Have you EVER been convicted........." Only a real pr!ck would ask it like that. The legal people here can answer whether or not anyone is entitled to ask it that way, and whether you are under any obligation to reply truthfully.

After all, prospective employers are no longer permitted to ask about your religious or sexual orientation so why should they be permitted to ask about civil or traffic offences that have been discharged by time?

'Spent' means 'all gone, done with, exhausted, finito'......So your spent conviction does not exist. You have every right to have conveniently 'forgotten' it.

Take a cue from Bill Clinton, who famously said: "Ah never had a sexual relationship with that woman" and got away with it, because technically, he hadn't. A blow-job is scarcely a relationship. It was the answer his followers wanted to hear.