Can Your Employment Records Affect a Police Investigation?

When the police seek to prove that you have committed a crime, they may investigate every area of your life. If you won’t just cooperate and give them access to your home, they might get a search warrant to come into your house or to go through your vehicle.

If they can’t get you to answer their questions, they could question your neighbors to glean information that will help them build a case against you. They might also try to disrupt you at your place of employment.

Can the police come into your place of work without a warrant and demand access to your employment records or talk to your co-workers about your habits and life?

Some employment records have protection

The bigger the company that you work for is, the more likely it is that they have internal policies about the confidentiality of employment records. Companies have to maintain certain records, but they don’t always have an obligation to disclose that information to the police without a warrant.

Your employer may choose to protect your confidentiality by not providing certain employment records. In the event that employment records would exonerate you by showing where you were at the time of a crime, you may be able to get your employer to cooperate. Other times, their protection of your privacy could benefit you.

The police could also speak to your co-workers about your work activity as part of their investigation.  Learning more about your rights as soon as you know the police suspect you of a criminal offense can help you avoid mistakes that could hurt your ability to defend yourself.