Should dishonorably charged "veterans" be LEGALLY REQUIRED disclose that on job applications? Would you hire a dishonorably charged "veteran"?

[DrPepper12]

FYI: USA Employment lawyers recommend that companies DO NOT ask about discharge status. However it is LEGAL to do so and almost all USA employers do.

FYI: "According to the USA Veterans Administration and federal law, the term "veteran" means a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable." Technically, they are not even veterans. If that's the case, should you say "Thank You for your service"?

Yes they should be REQUIRED to says so. It's relevant.

Yes they should ONLY IF RELEVANT to the job. (Who determines that?)

No they shouldn't. If they're qualified for the job it doesn't matter.

No they shouldn't. It's nobody's business how discharged.

[razelove]

It's a big nothing burger. If it's relevant to the job a background check will show a dishonorable discharge. Granted you have to really piss some people off to get one. I knew a marine who blinded another marine with bleach because of a fight while cleaning the barracks and he got bad conduct. Another who stabbed his CO and got a med sep...

If you kill someone or something you'll likely get civilian charges that won't go away, and your get out of jail free card won't cover it with brig time until your contract expires.

On applications you're only a veteran if you have a campaign badge or did your four with an honorable. Even an OTH or some med seps won't make you a veteran as we technically haven't been at war since the last time we were technically at war was WWII.

[DrPepper12]

TY I didn't know HALF of that!

[razelove]

If you're that worried about it just ask to see the DD-214, it's a legit question if someone says they're a veteran, it'll say honorable, other than honorable, which can have some explanations, bad conduct, which is self explanatory, then dishonorable.

In any explanation other than honorable, the reenlistment code will tell the tale if it isn't medical, re1, we want you back, re2, we'll take you back, re3, you need to convince us hard, re4, no fucking way.

If there isn't a DD-214, then either they never served, are still serving, are AWOL, or they lost it and the fuck fuck games of our wonderful government can take months to never for a new one to get mailed.

[exitseven]

One of the most important thing a manager can do is hire the right people. Nothing should be off the table. Getting dishonorable discharged usually means that somebody has no regard for the rules of the organization. Not a good fit for most companies. Same thing with ex cons

[DrPepper12]

I agree but disclosing felonies bothers me because it's like a death sentence for jobs. I think that employers should ask if it was violent or non violent felony. The answer may have no bearing on the potential job.

[exitseven]

@DrPepper12 If they are tax cheats or on Biden's enemy list it is okay anything else I would really have to check into.

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

No, they shouldn't

[blueonblack22]

It’s “dishonorably discharged”.

I know there are different levels of “dishonorably discharged” depending on what the veteran did. There is “bad conduct” discharge which is a lower level of the discharge.

But usually a dishonorably discharged veteran did something criminal while they were in the service (e. g. sexual assault, grave bodily injury, etc). While a “bad conduct” discharged veteran might of just been over the top insubordinate, mentally unstable, got in trouble for sexual harassment (but not sexual assault) or aggravated assault (but didn’t seriously harm the victim).

Anyway I can’t speak for veterans since I’m not one. But I guess one analogy would be if someone is a felon vs having a misdemeanor on their record when it comes to discharge status. Also depending on how long ago the discharge happened might come into play to.

However one thing I do know is a dishonorably discharged veteran gets ZERO credit for being in the service. None whatsoever. Some of them still try to milk the “veteran status” while hiding their discharge status.

[blueonblack22]

lawforveterans.org/.../497-military-discharge

[RebelinSteel]

No because reasons you get a dishonourable discharge for can be very varied and a lot would confuse a civilian employee. You can also have multiple minor charges building up that result in a courts martial and they then give you an Administrative discharge or if you did something like getting drunk and doing a naked streak across a parade square find yourself out on a DD. The common ones are drug offences. Not sure about other militaries however for the UK serious offences result in a discharge and then jail sentence in a civilian prison, less serious will result in jail time at a military correctional facility unit and then discharge.

[AviatorTom]

People are not required to explain why they left a previous job (they may have been fired). A dishonorable discharge is like getting fired from the military, and the reason (like leaving a previous job) may have nothing to do with the qualifications for this job. If a person is qualified for a job, their past is only marginally important.

[bobby_bush_eater]

They shouldn't have to do anything. As a vet I would withhold judgement but definitely have a short leash.

I worked with a lot of good dudes who got fucked over discipline wise and with paperwork and there are a lot of dirt bags who get off free. An actual dishonorable discharge is rare nowadays though

[msc545]

I see a lot of vets in my practice, some of whom have one these kinds of discharges:

Under Honorable Conditions (General)
Under Other than Honorable Conditions
Bad Conduct
Dishonorable
Uncharacterized

I ask about the reasons for these things and just a very few are awful - most are not. The guys with serious crime histories don't see me - they are in prison.