Steve Palmer [00:00:00]:

Alright. Lawyer Talk off the record on the air. Here with another q and a. And by the way, everybody, thank you. It you know, we ramped back the Lawyer Talk podcast. You were of course, you can check it out at lawyertalkpodcast.com, and we're ramping up the q and a, and the questions are pouring in at an alarming rate. It's even hard for me to keep up with them, and I love it. So if you got your own question, lawyer talk podcast.com, go and submit it.

Steve Palmer [00:00:23]:

I get it right here on my email. I can look it out on my laptop. And guess what? If it's a good actually, even if it's a dumb question, I'll read it on here. Don't worry about it. Anyway, this one comes from Richard. And he says, hey, Steve. If you're found guilty of a DUI in a different state to where you live and are employed, do you have to inform your employer? Is it a legal obligation to tell them, asking for a friend? I I added the asking for a friend part, actually, but it's, so it's a good question. I get this a lot.

Steve Palmer [00:00:48]:

If I get convicted of a DUI now how do we call it OVI? But if I get convicted, do I have to tell my employer? And the answer is, it's sort of like the old risky business. Yes, no, maybe. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't, and sometimes it's not so clear. Some jobs, if the contract of your employment if the, the rules and regulations of your employer handbook require you to disclose such things, then you have to disclose such things or you risk losing your job. Doesn't mean you break the law, though. So I always leave this to my client's discretion. So if somebody wants to disclose, if somebody doesn't wanna disclose, I'm like, look, you do do so at your peril or lack of peril. It's up to you.

Steve Palmer [00:01:26]:

And most people know their supervisor, and they know their rules and regs, anyway. Now if this is out of state, I don't think my answer changes. So if you get a DUI in Ohio, do you have to tell us your job or your employer in Arizona or wherever you're from? The answer is the same, maybe. And sometimes it just makes sense. Like, look, I know if I'm gonna tell my employer I'm gonna get fired for a DUI. So I'm just not gonna tell them. And if they find out, well, I'll take that consequence when it comes. Other people are gonna try to take the bull by the horn and say, well, look, if I'm gonna get fired anyway, I might as well take that, take that hit right now and get it over with.

Steve Palmer [00:01:56]:

As my grandma used to say, let's just drink the castor oil now and be done with it. And then some jobs you have to. So if you have security clearance, for instance, you're working at a government lab, if you're working, in law enforcement or whatever, if you've got a license. I know a lot of physicians have issues. But I will tell you this. Most of the time, people don't get fired for OBIs. Most of the time, if people disclose it and, they talk about it with their supervisor and they're taking steps to remedy the problem. If there's an alcohol problem, here's what I'm doing.

Steve Palmer [00:02:26]:

If it's a random event, you explain it. If it's a legal issue, you think you can beat it, hire me. Of course, I'll help you do that. And then, most employers will let it pass. The problem comes when you have 2, 3, 4 OVIs, and then that starts to, to reek of an alcohol problem. No pun intended. At any rate, the answer is yes, no, maybe. I hope that answered it, but I there's another component to this I think is worth a little bit of discussion.

Steve Palmer [00:02:48]:

What does another state do with an Ohio OBI or vice versa? There's something out there called the interstate compact where certain states, most of states frankly, subscribe to a compact. They're they have an agreement that they're going to count the other states OVI as if it happened in their state. It doesn't mean you're gonna get, like so in Ohio, you get 3 days in a driver's intervention program, a license suspension of 1 year for a conviction of OVI. Doesn't mean that the other state will do it, but what they would do is treat it they'll they'll impose whatever license restrictions that that state would have imposed if it happened there. So if it's a 6 month there, that's what they might do, And it creates all sorts of havoc. I get calls all the time from lawyers all over the country or clients all over the country saying, hey, look, I got an OVI in my home in Arkansas and or in Ohio, and I live in Arkansas. What do I do? And we try to hack through those problems for them. So it gets complex.

Steve Palmer [00:03:40]:

I know that wasn't part of your question, but implicitly, I thought it made some sense. Anyway, thanks for the question, Richard. Thanks for listening. We are lawyer talk off the record on the air answering your questions at least until now.