Should working at McDonalds be an issue?
Last week, a registrant in Mooresville, North Carolina was arrested after conducting on-the-job training of two teenage co-workers at a McDonald’s. There were no allegations of sexual misconduct, no claims of inappropriate behavior, and no suggestion that the instruction was anything other than routine workplace training. The arrest raises a simple but important question: should working at McDonald’s be a problem at all? With no disrespect to fast-food workers—who work hard and keep communities running—jobs like these are commonly viewed as entry-level, widely available, and among the few places willing to hire people with barriers to employment. If a person is legally permitted to work, has complied with registration requirements, and is doing nothing inappropriate, what exactly is the rationale for criminalizing ordinary workplace interaction?
FAC has written repeatedly about this same issue in other contexts. We’ve covered recent stories where bars were pressured or shut down after learning a registrant worked there, despite no allegations of misconduct, as well as cases where even hauling trash or performing basic labor became problematic once someone’s status was discovered. The pattern is clear: employment itself becomes the offense. But the reality is unavoidable. If someone is going to be free to live and work in the community, they are going to interact with the community, and the community is made up of people of all ages, backgrounds, and circumstances. Turning ordinary jobs into criminal liability doesn’t enhance safety; it drives people out of lawful employment, increases instability, and undermines reentry. The question isn’t whether people like the job or the worker the question is whether we believe in a system where lawful work is possible at all for someone on the registry.
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Everyone released from prison with a sex offense record should automatically be given Social Security, SNAP, and Medicaid/Medicare.
I rather enjoy not having to deal with looking fotr a job anymore.
Can’t live anywhere, can’t work anywhere. We’re going to have to do something drastic for our survival.
I was thinking the same thing. Some SORs, such as in NC, ban PFRs from obtaining EMT or funeral licenses. Can’t work around others, can’t live around others, can’t help the living, and can’t tend to the dead. Then, states/fed expect PFRs to give them high praise.
The only thing that I can think of is that this guy failed to report the job. North Carolina laws aren’t quite as onerous as Florida’s (that’s not saying much) but they’ll still gleefully come after a registrant. That being said, I haven’t been able to get a job in my area of North Carolina.
Who or what precipitated the cops arrival to arrest the registrant at his job? Was the registrant on parole or not? In most cases, a condition of parole is to have gainful employment. Even if not on parole, how is any member of society, registrant or not, supposed to pay their bills, earn their keep, stay out of jail, satisfy the court orders, become productive citizens, if they are not permitted to work in an entry level job, especially where the employer is gracious enough to offer them an opportunity where few others will?
This whole incident is Bravo Sierra. Now we go to jail if we have a job! How absurd is that? This all goes to show how every aspect of the criminal justice system is punitive against the registrant, regardless of what SCOTUS has previously ruled.
After my release, I spent 9 months looking for a decent job. I tried mentioning my situation upfront to recruiters, which usually lead to immediate rejection. Some companies didn’t want to discuss it until later in the process. In several of these instances where I was offered a job (and one time even had equipment shipped to me to work from home) I had those offers rescinded after a background check was completed. Again, these were “work from home” jobs. I had 2 decades of experience and was never going to come into personal contact with a co-worker or a customer.
In order to make a living, I was forced to become self-employed. And that took another 10 months before showing any profit. That was over 3 years ago, and I continue to have anxiety every day worrying whether THIS will be the day that my business is destroyed by someone posting a review on Google or some other platform.
The Registry is Punishment. This is unquestionable and undeniable. For the life of me, I do not understand how the courts are allowed to bury their heads in the sand and call it anything other than that.
Self Employment is the only way many on the registry survive. Unfortunately it also comes with many pitfalls that can cause loss of business. The fear of Business being tanked by one vigilante running their mouth is tremendous. The registry is nothing but extra punishment and they know it.
What law was broken here? Was he still on probation or parolled? Sex offender laws alone don’t say you can’t talk to a teenager although I personally try to avoid these situations if possible. What gives?
It appears he was on probation at the time.
Yeah the article wasn’t clear. However if he was he still would have been required to notify the probation officer.
Article says offense was in 2023 and he took a plea and got probation. This was more of a probation issue than a registration one. He probably had a condition of probation of “no contact with anyone under 18”. His lawyer (and the judge) should have foreseen this as something that could happen at any job and should have asked the judge for the condition to be waived for non-inappropriate work purposes as part of his plea.
Exactly. And again something that his probation officer should have been aware of.
I avoid talking to anyone. But especially people under 18. I just want to live my life without having to always be on guard. That being said some interactions cannot be avoided and it is those interactions that I fear the most.