Josephs

BACKGROUND

In late 1997, Josephs applied for a service technician posi- tion with PacBell. Service technicians perform unsupervised, in-home telephone installation or repair. Josephs had been employed for ten years in a similar position with Cox Com- munications. Josephs checked “NO” in answer to PacBell’s employment application question, “Have you ever been con- victed of, or are you awaiting trial for a felony or misdemea- nor?” He was hired for the position in January 1998.

Under California Penal Code § 11105(c)(9), PacBell is authorized to obtain the detailed criminal history of employ- ees who will have unsupervised access to customers’ homes. After Josephs had been working for approximately three months, PacBell obtained his criminal history. Following some initial internal confusion as to the contents of the report, PacBell determined that Josephs had been arrested in 1982 for attempted murder and was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and that Josephs had been convicted in 1985 for a 1982 misdemeanor battery on a police officer.

PacBell suspended Josephs pending further investigation. It confirmed the charge of attempted murder, the finding of not guilty by reason…