Employed 9yrs with same company now prior Felony an issue

At the age of 24 1996 I plead guilty to 1 offense and Alfred plead the remaining. I was sentenced in 1997 and as a result I spent 14 months in prison and served my time.
In 1998 I had several jobs, but landed one with outsourcing firm working in a warehouse and worked temp-to-perm from July to November. I was offered a FT slot in the company. I explained my felony to my boss and HR, they were OK with it. February 1999 I applied for another position in the IT department, April 1999 transferred to IT/Engineering job. I was doing so well they asked to take on another job to back fill a slot since on of my peers was recently promoted (I filled his vacant slot), so in June 1999 I took over running the IT infrastructure of the division and took on a major beta corporate mail migration in August 1999; and I acquired my Microsoft Certification. July 2000 I was offered a corporate position in IT. During this time my felony was brought up again and the SVP of HR of the enterprise states that they have based my employment on my work record and achievements.
In July 2001 I was offered another position in Corporate Engineering to assist and facilitate the Company's National Network Operations Center, I was involved in many successful projects that has assisted the company monitoring key revenue generating products. During this time they paid for me to acquire my CCNA. I was once again in 2003 offered a position in the new VoIP department to assist with the deployment in certain markets which required me to travel across the US to assist with deployments.
In June 2005 I was requested to come back to the Corporate National Network Operations Center as Tiered support for the monitoring of the VoIP products. In July 2005 I was approached by a division leader if I would consider moving to launch my own VoIP switch. So I agreed and the company paid to relocate my entire family (my wife and I and six children) in November 2005. The launch was successful and we have been making great progress in my coverage area.
Recently it has been discovered by the local/area HR that I have a felony. My felony has warranted them request a background check... they will only find my felony conviction. The director of HR states I have an impeccable work history... and has concerns that I have access to customers information,(but I expressed I have had more access when I was in Corporate IT & Engineering….so I am wondering where is the liability….. ) The Director of HR tells me I am free to go back to work.
I have made contact with the former SVP of HR (who is now SVP of one of our competitors) who knew about my felony and he has instructed me to give the area HR Direct his direct number if they have any questions. I have nearly 10 years of excellence with this Fortune 500 giant... I believe that they are thinking of a strategy to let me go and it has possibly made its way to corporate legal…in spite of my work record.
What should I do..
• Do I have any recourse if I am released because of my felony (which they had prior knowledge) and not due to my job performance...?
• Contact a lawyer
• Contact ACLU
• Wait to see what they comeback with.
I have informed 2 of my close coworkers and my boss of this issue. Others (friends & family) believe I have a case if they release me with out a nice severance package.

Any feedback/criticism is welcomed

I am ashamed and I am not proud of my pass conviction or its circumstances….but it's in my pass. What ever happened to giving people a second chance?

As long as your personnel file is documemted, if your application shows that you answered yes that you had a felony conviction, and the prior HR people noted your criminal record, then there should be no problem at all.
And if they now do something you may have a case.

If your new job is restricted, they may have to move you back to your previous position if there is a written job description stating there can be no criminal record.

There is no case unless they do something,

If on your orgianal application you lied, they can use that as cause to fire you, there is little you can do if you lied on the application many years ago.

Thanks for the advise... I left felony question blank... the previous HR generalist at that time knew about my felony. My personnel file does not have anything about my felony... however my record was brought up in 2000 when I transferred to corporate. The SVP of HR pulled me into his office to discuss my felony...

They actually had my original application from 1998.

I left the answer blank... would they still have a just cause to release me for something I verbally acknowledge?

If they move me back to my old position I would be back at corporate and having significantly more access then I have now. When I took this job I gave up a lot of security access to revenue generating products... so it would be very confusing to comprehend how I might be a liability with significantly less access to data.

Hello da:

I disagree with my friend the Padre. In the absence of a union or employment contract, they can fire you for any reason, unless you are a member of a protected class. Unfortunately, excon's or longtime employees aren't a member of that class.

So, I think you'll lose on those grounds. However, you may still have some ammo. Certainly, your record indicates that you have overcome your past. Very possibly the PR resulting from your discharge might do the company damage. You'll certainly let your bosses know that you won't go quietly. You might also have some proprietary secrets that they might want to protect.

So, you have some leverage - not much. If it were me, I'd hire a heavy weight gunslinger (lawyer). That alone might intimidate them into submission. This is hard ball, Buddy. Play it for all it's worth.

excon

I am a salaried employee, so if they released me would I be prevented from collecting unemployment.. I have prepaid legal but this looks like I may need to bring in the big shots and contact the ACLU.


Thoughts..

Hello again:

Sure, you'll get unemployment. If they let you go, you should get a huge severance and a great recommendation, too. But don't be so quick to give up. Prepaid legal aren't big enough guns, and the ACLU doesn't do this kind of work.

I'd fight for my job.

excon

I was informed that they might severence me out with 9 pay checks and sign away might rights not to hold them liable (sp) and not sue for wrongful termination. I am seeking to engage a law firm to weigh my option that specialize in employment law and litigation.

We will find out... stay tuned... this will hit the news media and cause bad PR. This only became an issue after the Tennessee law changed and became effective July 1st. Now I am listed, prior its was not an issue.