An OVI conviction can result in numerous penalties, including a jail or prison sentence, payment of high fines and court costs, possible suspension of your driver’s license, and an almost guaranteed rise in your auto insurance rates.
What you may not have considered, however, are the potential negative employment consequences an OVI conviction could cause. Per the Houston Chronicle, an impaired driving conviction can not only limit your career choices, but could actually prevent you from working in your chosen field.
Professional license denial
If you currently attend a post-graduate school in preparation to practicing in medicine, law, engineering, architecture, etc., you already know that you need a professional license to actually practice. But did you know that your licencing board has no mandate to issue you a license just because you graduated from an accredited professional school?
It’s true. Professional practice represents a privilege, not a right. Many licensing boards refuse to issue a license to someone with a criminal record, especially if your record shows a conviction for something as serious as OVI.
General employment denials
Your OVI conviction can come back to haunt you in nonprofessional areas of employment as well. Why? Because virtually all employers run criminal background checks on their potential employees.
Such a criminal background check may well give your employer the following negative information about you:
- Your OVI conviction court records
- Your OVI conviction incarceration records
- Your DMV records reflecting the driver’s license suspension or revocation resulting from your OVI conviction
Not only will this information prevent you from getting any job that requires you to drive or have a commercial driver’s license, prospective employers also likely will pass you over for any job requiring you to work with children, the disabled, the elderly, or sensitive company information.
