Western Railroad Discussion > Hiring of felons

Will BNSF or UP hire individuals with felonies for track maintenence or any other kind of jobs? The UP website indicates only that they will not hire people who previously worked for them.

That is the most incomprehensible sentence I have ever read. What the heck do you mean?

Dick

ecm Wrote:
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> Will BNSF or UP hire individuals with felonies for
> track maintenence or any other kind of jobs? The
> UP website indicates only that they will not hire
> people who previously worked for them.


If not, Rentzenberger specializes in hiring these individuals.

Sorry, couldn't resist . . .

FS

ecm Wrote:
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> Will BNSF or UP hire individuals with felonies for
> track maintenence or any other kind of jobs? The
> UP website indicates only that they will not hire
> people who previously worked for them.


I've never know anybody that the UP hired anytime recently to have one, that doesn't mean there aren't any. I know of only 1 CNW man that was a felon, don't recall what it was for. Generally a felony conviction is disqualifying. I don't think they can come out and say it, because it's considered discrimination, but if someone has one on their record, it's pretty much all over for them.

THay allreddy dew.


tCs - theirs no tea in rancidberger

James1 Wrote:
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> ecm Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Will BNSF or UP hire individuals with
> felonies for
> > track maintenence or any other kind of jobs?
> The
> > UP website indicates only that they will not
> hire
> > people who previously worked for them.
>
>
> I've never know anybody that the UP hired anytime
> recently to have one, that doesn't mean there
> aren't any. I know of only 1 CNW man that was a
> felon, don't recall what it was for. Generally a
> felony conviction is disqualifying. I don't think
> they can come out and say it, because it's



> considered discrimination, but if someone has one
> on their record, it's pretty much all over for
> them.

The UP hired an ex felon in '98 (I think it was 98) in Bakersfield. He didn't last long as he couldn't get along with people.


SLOCONDR

Amtrak hires felons..

Sure glad they are politically correct!

>I don't think they can come out and say it, because it's
>considered discrimination

I think you mean to say that it's illegal discrimination but I'm not sure that it is. Discrimination by itself simply means to make a judgement and that's fine as long as it's not for certain protected classes (race, gender, religion etc.). Surely it's perfectly legal to discriminate against persons who, just to use an example, have been fired from their last 5 jobs.

Is being a felon a protected class? I don't think so but I really don't know.

TopcoatSmith Wrote:
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> THay allreddy dew.
>
>
> tCs - theirs no tea in rancidberger

"Rancidberger" would send some guys to come beat the stuffing out of you, but some here would suspect they'd get lost on the way...

Hiring and staffing is dicrimination through and through. Finding the right person for the job required everybody in the process to discriminate between candidates. Discrimination = choosing.

So do the UP or BNSF decide that they will choose candidates who have not been convicted of felonies over those candidates who have been convicted of felonies.

I would bet that the actual question on the application is "Have you ever been convicted of any crimes, other than minor traffic violations?" "Please provide details.. " (usually in a sealed envelope, not always)

That envelope may never get opened unless everything else indicates that the person is going to be a possible fit for a position.

Discrimination or choosing based on race, age (over 40 only), creed, color, national origin, sex or veterans status are the statutory no-nos. Case law in many jurisdictions can include sexual orientation and ARRESTS. 30-40 years ago when certain minority groups tended to get arrested in some areas all out of proportion to other groups, asking about arrests became a de facto method of racial screening. And some class action suits based on arrests were big winners, so smart companies everywhere dropped the question arrests. HOWEVER, discriminating on CONVICTIONS is definitely legal.

The question comes up about physical abilities. If the job has definite and measurable physical requirements you can ask during the hiring process. If you are hiring linemen, you can ask if they can climb poles and towers. However many companies wait until all the other hirng decisions are made and the job is offered and accepted before determining physical abilities. Testing after an offer is made and accepted is not discriminatory. The test does have to be job related, but clearly if the offer was made and accepted you were not discriminated against.

From all the responses I would say that you should go ahead and put in your application. What have you got to lose?

Larry

n6nvr Wrote:
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> Hiring and staffing is dicrimination through and
> through.

"We're not conducting interviews for the summer intern position until the Boss' daughter finishes her current school term.....". :D

> HOWEVER, discriminating on CONVICTIONS is
> definitely legal.

The Teaching Associate that was running my Soc 102 class in college (back in '76) was bemoaning the fact that he had a felony conviction from Texas on his record. He was found guilty of littering, which was a felony offense in Texas at the time, when him and his buddy was pulled over one night and he poured his beer out onto the road.....

Kennedy

In the early 90's the SP hired several brakeman that were convicted felons... one person had multiple convictions. the reason why these people "fell thru the cracks" was that the SP Police forgot to do background checks... Two people in particular made themselves known by doing some "boneheaded" things! and were promptly fired and never returned!

With proven felony skills, you'd do better to consider elected office.

--Mark J

Apply at 1600 Pennyslvania Ave, Washington, DC... Ask for George or "Rummy"

If the Penn Central was still in business.. that would be the place to apply.. Or maybe the UTU headquarters in Cleveland?? LOL

Thanks to all for your views. I realized after I posted that it would be unlikely to get a definitive answer. Those in charge of hiring would not state the company policy in public, and a felon who had been hired would probably not want to advertise the fact. Like a previous poster suggested, go ahead and apply - nothing to lose. And by the way it really is for a friend and not for myself.

You know aside from all the comments, if the guy is trying to go straight in his life and make up for all the things he had done wrong, more power to him. It takes alot of commitment to turn ones life around, regardless of the situation, hopefully if he's really serious about wanting to straighten out his life maybe someone will give him a chance.

When I was working down the valley (Oakland to Bakersfield), we would get alot of the graduates going home from the prisons along the route, for the most part these were guys that just made a few mistakes in their life and paid for it. Most of them were pretty nice fellows, and just wanted to get home to their families w/o causing anyone problems or getting into trouble.

Then you had the real bad asses, the ones who were career criminals, the ones you had to watch your back around. Occassionally they would get out of hand, and right back to prison they went, it usually involved alcohol which their release notice indicated they weren't to have.

I have never been in any kind of serious trouble in my life, and I'm thankful I had parents who cared enough about my doings to keep me out of trouble and raise me right.

Most job applications will ask
only if you have ever have been con-
victed of a crime.
A crime is either a misdemeanor or
a felony conviction.
If you have only been convicted of a
"violation" you can honestly answer
"no" to that question.
Examples of violations would be
simple trespass, minor traffic offenses,
etc..

lol the van driver i had one night was only out 3 days and i guess Rentzenberger has hiring both at all the jails..