Good Afternoon. I am currently pending a shoplifting charge from December (misdemeanor) and have a court date scheduled for next month. I was selected for a federal position which requires a “Q” non-sensitive background investigation. I am thinking of turning down the offer as I don’t want the embarrassment of an unfavorable adjudication. Especially, because the place that I will be working at— is at my current place of employment (I am currently a government contractor with a favorable NACI investigation). Do you think I should accept the tentative offer and take the chance of denial? Or just play it safe and turn down the position, that way everyone and their dog at work doesn’t know of my criminal past? Any advice/comments will be appreciated. Thanks!
I would go for it if I were you. A shoplifting charge isn’t a dealbreaker I don’t think. It doesn’t look good but hopefully you don’t have a habit of breaking the law and/or other adjudicative issues. I have issues from my past that isn’t fun to talk about but it made me who I am today and in your situation I say it is worth a shot.
Your terminology is confusing and it is hard to discern what you are really needing investigation-wise. A “Q” level clearance is the equivalent to a Top Secret and is definitely “sensitive”. That would require a Tier 5 National Security investigation. As stated by Mike, it is not a deal breaker, but a pending misdemeanor charge may definitely hold it up.
I’m sorry–it’s actually just a public trust background investigation. I was looking at the wrong document. Since it’s not a clearance, do you think I would be denied CAC access? Thanks for responding.
As you noted, Public Trust is not a clearance. However, the hiring agency will need to make a suitability determination. Without knowing the agency (even if you mention it), it is difficult to answer that as suitability determination is at the discretion of the said agency.
Is it worth the risk? it is up to you. I would advise you to seek advice from the agency’s security office, which means you will probably need to accept the tentative offer first and fill out OF-306.
OPM makes the recommendation to the agencies on suitability 99 percent of the time the agency will follow this guidance.
Can you elaborate on that? I’m pretty sure that OPM doesn’t do recommendation or suitability determination for non-OPM personnel.
Just to clarify, OPM only adjudicates investigations done on employees working for OPM. For investigations requested by other agencies they provide a issue seriousness charaterization on the final report of investigation to make the agency aware of what to look for when adjudicating it.
An exception to the above is when there is material falsification for appointments of civil service employees.
Thanks does the OPM have any influence on the Agency’s decision?
No. It lies strictly on the agency to mitigate any issues and adjudicate. They are , however, required to provide a justification back to OPM when favorably adjudicating serious issue cases.
I currently have a PTMR. Have not had a re investigation since 2007. Been told that re investigations are to resume in July. Two questions please,
- How long will the re investigation take?
- I was selected to move to another agency requiring a PT. Is there reciprocity for the receiving agency?
Are credit issues such as unpaid debts considered serious issues if in a repayment plan? Unpaid debt total 16k making monthly payments to cure the debt of 156 per month for 99 months.
Your PT investigation is out of scope, therefore, you will have to undergo an initial Tier 2. With the backlog it could take up to a year.
For Tier 5, can it be obtained with credit issues such as a recent chapter 7?
Thanks so if I understand correctly in my current position my re investigation is going to take at a minimum one year, and should I move to another agency, since my PTMR is out of scope, I will have to undergo an initial Tier 2.
Can I start working at the new agency before the initial Tier 2 is completed?