Theft By Deception

What is the name of your state? kentucky
I have a misdemeanor charge of Theft by Deception dating back to 1996 from an uncleared $4 personal check I wrote at a local Service Station that I had attended frequently and never bounced a check there before. I have worked for the same company for 14 years and I have an excellent work record. I have no other criminal history, not even a speeding ticket. I know this is still on my record because around spring of the year, the company I work for did background checks to meet inspection regulations and a copy of it was sent to me in the mail and I was asked to verify if the information was correct and send it back to them. My problem is how much of an impact can this have on obtaining a job? I am interested in changing careers, specifically working for the state. I have not applied for another job since this happened. Can they just throw my application out because of this because I have to put it on my application. What are my rights? Any advice would be appreciated.

"Can they just throw my application out because of this because I have to put it on my application."
Yes, a potential employer has the right to consider your prior history in his consideration for offering you a job.

Your best bets are:
1) Be absolutely 'up-front' about this at the time of the interview and give them the full details. The worst thing is for a potential employer to be 'surprised' by finding this during his check.

2) Assuming that you have resolved this entire problem (paid the check, penalties, fines, etc.) try to go back and have the charge expunged from your record. In some states this is a relatively minor process that you could do yourself, and major in others requiring specific legal expertise.

Whether or not your criminal history will have any impact on your employment prospects depends entirely on the employer and what type of job you are pursuing. On the whole though, this is a very minor situation and should not have any significant adverse impact.

What WILL have an impact on your employment prospects is if you lie on an application form or during the interview. Every application I have ever seen asks "Have you ever been convicted of a crime?" or words to that effect. If you answer "no" your candidacy or employment will be terminated when the employer uncovers the falsehood. Most employers will overlook a foolish and/or minor offense such as yours but most will not overlook dishonesty.

Halket is absolutely correct that you need to be upfront about this misdemeanor and explain the details. I've heard lots more serious things in interviews and hired the person anyway. You have every reason to be optomistic about your prospects as long as you are truthful.

Thanks for replies

I would like to thank those who have posted comments to my situation. I appreciate the advice and now have a more confident outlook. I would like to know if anyone knows about the process of expungement of a criminal record and if I can implement this process on my own or do I need a lawyer? Also, I have read that you should refrain from going into too much detail when answering questions regarding criminal records on job applications. As I said before I had never filled out a job application since this incident so I strictly followed the guidelines which asked for the name of the charge, the date and the county of the charge so that is all I put on the application. Any opinion on this would be appreciated.

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I'm shocked they pressed charges on a 4.00 check!!!! That is absurd!!!