Federal Employment After ch 7 bankruptcy

[CaptinPlanet]

I am currently a contractor for a federal agency. I am applying for a civil servant job at another federal agency. Will my bankruptcy (ch7, discharged about 6 months ago) disqualify me at the security check?

I will most likely get the job due to my experience and education, however, after a couple months when my background check is completed, i am concerned that my security clearance will be denied and i will be let go.

It would only be the first level of security clearance, not serect or anything like that. I would not be handling money or anything, just an entry level engineering position.

My lawyer reassured me that i could not be let go due to bankruptcy, however, i am still concerned. Has anyone had a similar experience where they either got a civil servant job after bankruptcy or were denied clearance due to bankruptcy????

[ForTheBest]

My bankruptcy was discharged about five months ago and I was recently hired by a federal agency.

I disclosed my filing on the form I filled out when I was fingerprinted and "processed" for the position, before actually being hired, although it wasn't required. (It's the form that asks if you have a criminal record and if you're in default on any federal debts... Sorry I can't remember the number of the form at the moment!)

I did it only because I figured that if my bankruptcy was going to be a problem, I'd rather have them know about it up front, before they made me an official job offer and before they did the background check.

If you're nervous about not passing the security investigation because of your bk, you might want to disclose it up front like I did. You can also call the contact person listed on the job posting and ask them outright if bk would disqualify you. (Just be sure you're talking to someone who really knows!)

For even more info, you can go to the Web site of the agency you've applied to and research the question there. I did that on my agency's site and found a list that showed which jobs require which type of security checks, as well as a description of what each type of check entails.

Best of luck!

[ForTheBest]

Form 306, the Declaration for Federal Employment, was the form on which I disclosed my bk. I put it on line 16. However, as I mentioned above, disclosing a bankruptcy was not required.

http://opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/of0306.pdf

[Flamingo]

Bankruptcy can be a reason for nonrenewal of security clearances but since you are a contractor and not a federal employee there could be be a problem unless they decide to run another security clearance with the change (I am assuming you already have clearance as a contractor at the site). My husband had a higher clearance due to past contract work at a federal site and could not get the clearance renewed due to our filing Chapter 13. He was not working at the site at the time of our filing but he wanted to renew the clearance for possible future work. They would not renew due to the BK - stated flat out and it is in the information provided as to requirements for obtaining clearances.

Your best bet, as with anyone applying for any job, is to be forthright and honest about your situation, do your homework on the hiring practices for that agency and whether or not they will require another security clearance if you already have one. Usually all contractors at federal sites are required to have some sort of security clearance.

[jdbrew222]

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