Criminal record and Google

[elvis1958]

My son has a criminal record for assault. It was a stupid one-off incident for which he received a suspended sentence and fine. This has affected his prospects but finally after hundreds of applications he is in a job where he can pursue his chosen career and study for professional qualifications. At the time of the offence he was (and still is) a student member of a professional body and they charged him with misconduct for which he has been reprimanded and fined. By the end of next year the conviction will be spent and he will not be obliged to mention it on job applications. However I was dismayed to find that a Google search on his name brings up a news release from the professional body giving full details not only of their internal disciplinary proceedings but the original assault conviction! So far as I can gather, this search result will be there permanently, even after the conviction is spent, and available to any companies that he might apply to in the future. What can he do? Seems very unfair.

Hello
Yes it is unfair really. I don’t have any advice however this is a charity that deals with criminal records: www.unlock.org.uk/
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I would get your son to contact the professional body and remind them of their obligations under GDPR. They need to permanently remove that data off their web server so that Google doesn't pick it up in their search algorithm.

@daisychain01

I would get your son to contact the professional body and remind them of their obligations under GDPR. They need to permanently remove that data off their web server so that Google doesn't pick it up in their search algorithm.

I don't think this would be covered under GDPR, probably more the rehabilitation of offenders act.

There's something about 'right to be forgotten'in GDPR. I don't know enough about it myself but this might help gdpr-info.eu/art-17-gdpr/

@LAlexander7 GDPR relates to data privacy. The OPs son has a right to privacy of his data, and the professional body has a duty to protect his source data from privacy breach.

This is not GDPR - it is "the right to be forgotten" and EU law. So you would need to ask quickly because I don't know if it will apply to the UK now, or after the end of the year. You can apply to Google to scrub an individuals history from the search here: transparencyreport.google.com/eu-privacy/overview

I would have to point out also that even if a conviction is spent, that is no guarantee that it does not have to be declared. Certain professions and certain convictions would never deem convictions spent and they still have to be declared. So you need to check whether that is the case. If it is, lying about it could result in dismissal.

Afaik you can't apply for the right to be forgotten until the conviction is spent.

Depending on the type of job however, some applications ask for convictions including spent ones, and if it's a position where a DBS is required, spent convictions will come up anyway.

And, as pp says, even though technically, some offences are spent, employers also have the right to decide that a conviction for X precludes the candidate on the grounds of good character whether the offence is spent or not. Drink driving for example is a big one that often falls into that category.