An employee who has been convicted of a crime may not want to share this information with his or her boss, and is not always legally required to do so. However, it is sometimes necessary to tell the employer when time off is needed to deal with the situation. The discovery of a criminal record does not mean that an employee will be immediately fired; factors such as how serious the crime was and whether it is related to the job must be taken into account. Some employers work with the needs of the employee offering a leave of absence as well as requiring that the employee seek treatment if appropriate.
See "To tell or not to tell", T. Shawn Taylor, Chicago Tribune, September 9, 2003