To be fair, a lot of contracts have a clause to confirm that you don't have any unspent convictions. Granted, you can lie and indeed it probably will never be discovered but that's fraud.
I just checked 5 contracts I had from around 2015, and only one mentioned convictions. Specifically:
> The Supplier warrants:
> that the Consultant has no criminal convictions which would reasonably affect the
Company's and/or the Client's decision to allow the Consultant access to the
Location(s), the Client's Systems or to provide the Services;
And in Germany, it would be illegal to ask unless it was specifically relevant to the job – and courts have specifically decided that you can lie if you're asked and it's not relevant. The US tends to really overreach on that sort of thing, but it's not universal. It may even be that picking contracts in the EU would be useful.
Thanks - this is a very good point and looks hopeful for the OP. To the OP I suggest to confirm this with a lawyer; if it's indeed not criminal and the worst outcome of a lie is termination and a civil lawsuit (which requires proving damages) it might be worth betting on it.
yea, definitely struck me as odd too, most people bullshit a bit on CVs so whether there was more to it I don't know: TBH you don't usually ask people for details of why they're inside - it can get ... problematic.
> The Supplier warrants:
> that the Consultant has no criminal convictions which would reasonably affect the Company's and/or the Client's decision to allow the Consultant access to the Location(s), the Client's Systems or to provide the Services;