Wisconsin is one of a limited number of states that prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of arrest or conviction records. The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act (WFEA) protects “properly qualified individuals” from unlawful discrimination “by reason of their … arrest record[s] [or] conviction record[s].” Employers defending against claims of arrest- or conviction-record discrimination under the WFEA may raise a defense to liability that asks whether an employee’s or applicant’s charge or conviction “substantially relate[s] to the circumstances of the particular job[.]” That is, the WFEA provides that an employer is not prohibited from suspending an employee who is charged with a felony, misdemeanor, or other offense, or from refusing to employ an individual who is convicted of a crime that is substantially related to his or her position.
A limited number of decisions by the Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission (LIRC)—the administrative agency that reviews appeals of WFEA decisions—suggest that administrative law judges may consider whether the facts underlying a charge or conviction occurred in a domestic setting and involved a personal relationship with the offender in order to determine whether the charge or conviction is substantially related to the position. Briefly, the reasoning described in these LIRC opinions holds that the likelihood of any reoffense in an employment setting with a coworker or other member of the public is minimized when the...
A Cuban national who became a U.S. citizen in 2015 has had her citizenship revoked after a federal court in Florida found that she had concealed her role in a money laundering scheme when she appl...