OWI and Your Job in Michigan: Background Checks and Driving Jobs

An OWI can affect a job in three ways: through criminal background checks, through the driving record, and through the license itself when the job requires driving. A first OWI is fingerprinted and reported to the State Police, the conviction stays permanently on the Secretary of State driving record, and after most first OWIs the 180-day license suspension allows no driving at all for the first 30 days and, after that, only the trips a restricted license permits if the Secretary of State issues one.^[1][8][9][3] Michigan law also limits what employers may ask about arrests that did not end in a conviction.^[2]

This page covers the general rules. Jobs with their own regulators are covered on OWI and commercial driving careers, OWI and professional licenses and security clearances and military service.

What a criminal background check can show

The criminal record starts at the arrest. For a felony, or a misdemeanor whose maximum penalty exceeds 92 days, the arresting agency must collect fingerprints and other biometric data and send them to the State Police within 72 hours; the State Police forward them to the FBI.^[1] A first OWI carries up to 93 days, so it is covered.^[10]

The State Police's public name search, ICHAT, searches public criminal history record information maintained by the State Police.^[11] According to the State Police, ICHAT does not include suppressed records, federal records, tribal records, traffic records, juvenile records, local misdemeanors or other states' records.^[11] The page does not say how it classifies an OWI conviction, so this guide does not say whether a given OWI appears in an ICHAT search. Private background-check companies use their own sources, which this guide did not research.

If OWI charges were dismissed before trial, the arrest record must be removed from ICHAT, and the arrest record and fingerprints are destroyed if the prosecutor agrees or nobody objects within 60 days.^[12]

What Michigan employers may ask

The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act sets one specific limit. An employer, employment agency or labor organization, other than a law enforcement agency, "shall not" in connection with an application or the terms of employment "request, make, or maintain a record of information regarding a misdemeanor arrest, detention, or disposition where a conviction did not result."^[2] Its limits, from the same section:

• It covers misdemeanor matters that did not end in a conviction; it does not bar questions about convictions.^[2]
• It does not apply to information about a felony charge before conviction or dismissal.^[2]
• Law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Corrections, are excluded.^[2]
• A person is not guilty of perjury for not reciting information they have a civil right to withhold under it.^[2]

The domestic violence guide's page on jobs and background checks discusses the same statute in another setting.

Jobs that involve driving

The restricted license

After most first OWI convictions the license is suspended for 180 days, and a restricted license may be issued for part of that time but never during the first 30 days.^[9] A restricted license under section 319 must permit driving in the course of the person's employment or occupation, and to and from work, among other listed destinations.^[3] The driver must carry proof of the destination and the hours of work and show it to an officer on request.^[13] Violating a restriction is a misdemeanor and can cost the license.^[14] See the restricted license.

A restricted license issued after an OWI-type suspension cannot permit driving a commercial motor vehicle.^[4]

Commercial drivers

A CDL holder convicted of OWI, or who refuses a chemical test, in either a commercial or a personal vehicle, loses CDL privileges for 1 year; a second violation from a separate incident means revocation for life, with possible reissue after at least 10 years.^[6][15] Federal rules impose the same 1-year, 3-year (hazardous materials) and lifetime structure.^[5] A state may not mask a CDL holder's traffic conviction so that it stays off the national CDL record.^[16] Employers must report certain workplace drug and alcohol program violations, such as an alcohol test of 0.04 or more or a refusal to test, to the federal Clearinghouse, and those entries stay visible for at least 5 years and until return-to-duty steps are done.^[17][18] Employers may get a commercial driver's record after notice to the driver.^[19] The details are on OWI and commercial driving careers and CDL disqualification.

Licensed professions, schools and government jobs

• Health professionals. Licensees under the Public Health Code must notify the state of any criminal conviction within 30 days.^[20]
• Other occupational licenses. A licensing board may not treat a conviction by itself as conclusive proof of lack of good moral character, and most boards may consider only certain felonies.^[21]
• Teachers and school employees. A felony conviction can lead to teaching-certificate suspension proceedings, and a school employee charged with a felony must report it within 3 business days of arraignment.^[22][23]
• Federal jobs. The federal job application asks about convictions during the last 7 years, including misdemeanors.^[24]
• Security clearances. The federal guideline at 32 CFR 147.9 lists alcohol-related incidents such as driving under the influence as a possible concern, with mitigating conditions.^[25]

See OWI and professional licenses and security clearances and military service.

After a set-aside

If a first OWI is later set aside, the person is considered not to have been previously convicted, for purposes of the law, with exceptions.^[26] The State Police keep a nonpublic record, which the Department of Corrections and law enforcement agencies may consider when the person applies to work for them.^[7] A set-aside conviction cannot be used as evidence in a negligent-hiring lawsuit.^[27] Divulging set-aside information is a misdemeanor for most people, but a company is not liable for reporting a record that was public on the date of its report.^[28][29]

The set-aside does not change the driving record, which employers verifying a commercial or chauffeur's license may obtain.^[30][31] The federal job form tells applicants to omit convictions "expunged under Federal or state law"; whether that reaches a Michigan set-aside is a question for the hiring agency.^[24] See what a set-aside does and how long an OWI stays on your record.