OWI and professional licenses in Michigan: reporting duties and discipline

Whether you must report an OWI to a Michigan licensing body depends on the license. Health professionals licensed under the Public Health Code must report any criminal conviction to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) within 30 days, and Michigan lawyers must report a conviction within 14 days.^[1][2] Teachers face certificate proceedings after a felony conviction, while a misdemeanor OWI is not on that statute's list.^[5]

This page covers the reporting duties and discipline rules that the statutes and court rules spell out. It does not cover every occupation; if your license is not discussed here, read your own licensing act and the rules of your board. For the effect of an OWI on ordinary jobs, see OWI and your job, and for truck and bus drivers, see OWI and commercial driving careers.

Which OWI convictions are misdemeanors and which are felonies?

Licensing rules often turn on whether a conviction is a felony. In Michigan, a first OWI is a misdemeanor with up to 93 days in jail, and a second OWI within 7 years carries 5 days to 1 year in jail or 30 to 90 days of community service.^[6][7] An OWI after 2 or more prior convictions, no matter how old, is a felony.^[8] OWI causing death and OWI causing serious impairment of a body function are also felonies.^[9][10] The full penalties chart lists every OWI offense, and third-offense OWI: the felony explains the lifetime look-back.

Health professionals: the 30-day reporting rule

Under MCL 333.16222(3), a licensee or registrant must notify the department of any criminal conviction within 30 days after the date of the conviction, and failure to notify results in administrative action under sections 16221 and 16226.^[1] "Department" in this part of the Public Health Code means LARA.^[1] The duty covers "any criminal conviction", so a misdemeanor OWI is included, not only felonies.^[1]

A common mistake is to assume that only felonies need to be reported. The statute's words do not support that reading.^[1]

What can lead to discipline

MCL 333.16221 lists grounds for discipline. The grounds most relevant to an OWI are:^[3]

• Substance use disorder, subject to the health professional recovery program provisions in sections 16165 to 16170a.^[3]
• Conviction of a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of 2 years, a misdemeanor involving the illegal delivery, possession or use of a controlled substance, or any felony not listed elsewhere in the section.^[3]
• Conviction of a misdemeanor that is reasonably related to, or adversely affects, the licensee's ability to practice in a safe and competent manner.^[3]

By the numbers in the statutes, a first OWI (up to 93 days) and a second OWI (up to 1 year) are below the 2-year misdemeanor line, while a felony OWI is "any felony".^[3][6][7][8] The statute does not say when a misdemeanor OWI is "reasonably related" to a particular person's practice.

Reporting colleagues

The Public Health Code also requires a licensee or registrant who has reasonable cause to believe that another licensee, registrant or applicant is impaired to report it to the department; a report to the health professional recovery committee or its program consultants counts as a report to the department.^[11] This duty does not apply to a licensee who is in a bona fide health professional–patient relationship with the impaired person.^[11]

Lawyers: the 14-day rule under MCR 9.120

When a lawyer is convicted of a crime, Michigan Court Rule 9.120(A)(1) requires the lawyer, the prosecutor and the defense attorney to notify the Attorney Grievance Administrator and the Attorney Discipline Board in writing within 14 days after the conviction.^[2] A conviction occurs when a guilty verdict is returned or when the court accepts a guilty or no-contest plea.^[2] On a felony conviction the lawyer is automatically suspended until a hearing panel enters its order.^[2]

Teachers and school employees

If a Michigan teaching-certificate holder is convicted of any felony or of a listed misdemeanor, the Superintendent of Public Instruction must notify the person that the certificate may be suspended, and of the right to a hearing.^[5] If the person does not request the hearing within 15 working days after receiving that notice, the certificate is suspended; if a hearing is held, the Superintendent decides within 120 working days of the request and may suspend the certificate on the evidence presented.^[12] The listed misdemeanors include furnishing alcohol to a minor but not misdemeanor OWI.^[5] So the certificate process discussed here is tied to a felony OWI, such as a third offense.^[5][8]

School employees, applicants who have had a background check, and regular contractors who are charged with a listed crime (which includes any felony) must report the charge to the Department of Education and to the school's superintendent or chief administrator within 3 business days after arraignment.^[13] Failing to report a felony charge is itself a felony punishable by up to 2 years or $2,000.^[13]

Licenses that require "good moral character"

Many Michigan occupational licenses require good moral character. MCL 338.42 says a licensing board may not treat a criminal conviction, in and of itself, as conclusive proof that a person lacks good moral character.^[4] For most boards, a conviction may be considered only if it is a felony and the board finds one of the statute's tests met, such as a direct and specific relationship to the licensed activity.^[4] Boards also may not use arrests that did not lead to a conviction, or misdemeanor convictions for which the person could not have been jailed.^[4]

Some agencies are exempt from the felony-only limit: the departments licensing child care organizations, nursing homes and homes for the aged, and adult foster care, as well as MCOLES (the police licensing body) and the Board of Law Examiners.^[14] Even these may not treat a conviction by itself as conclusive.^[14] Every board must also consider any certificate of employability and evidence of current circumstances, such as how long ago the offense occurred, whether the sentence was completed, and other evidence of rehabilitation.^[14]

Where the reporting deadlines sit side by side

License	What triggers it	Deadline
Health professional under the Public Health Code	Any criminal conviction, including a misdemeanor OWI	30 days after conviction[1]
Michigan lawyer	Conviction of a crime	14 days after conviction[2]
School employee, background-checked applicant or regular contractor	A charge for a listed crime, which includes any felony	3 business days after arraignment[13]
Teaching certificate holder	Conviction of any felony or a listed misdemeanor; the state notifies the holder	15 working days after notice to request a hearing, or the certificate is suspended[12]

Practical points

• Keep a copy of the judgment of sentence and the register of actions from the court; a licensing body may ask for court records. The papers and records to keep page lists what to request.
• Write down the date of conviction (the plea or verdict date), since the health-professional and lawyer reporting clocks run from it, and calendar the deadline the same day.
• If you are unsure whether your occupation has its own reporting rule, look at your licensing act and your board's website, or ask a lawyer who handles licensing matters.
• Treatment and recovery steps may matter to a board looking at substance use. The getting help for alcohol or drug use page lists free referral lines.

Does a set-aside help with licensing?

Michigan now allows one first-offense OWI per lifetime to be set aside on application, but a second or later OWI, and an OWI that caused injury or death, cannot be set aside.^[15][16][17] What a set-aside means for a particular licensing board's questions is not addressed in the statutes covered on this page; see setting aside an OWI conviction and what a set-aside does and does not do, and how long an OWI stays on your record.