While there are laws that prohibit Florida employers from firing a person for an illegal reason (like discrimination or retaliation), it is legal to fire someone who is facing allegations of committing an illegal offense in.
What this means is that you can lose your job if your boss finds out you are facing criminal charges. Even if your employer does not care about the offense itself, the fact is that certain elements of criminal charges can jeopardize your employment, among other relationships.
To begin with, after an arrest, you could wind up spending days or even weeks in jail. You will need to attend court appearances and meetings with your attorney. All this can seriously cut in to your work schedule, requiring you to take more time off than you have or than your boss is prepared to offer.
Further, certain offenses can be violations of workplace policies. For example, an officer in Florida was recently terminated after he was charged with soliciting a prostitute. According to news reports, being accused of the crime (and failing to provide a satisfactory explanation) was a violation of two workplace policies: conforming to the law and acting in ways that are appropriate for police officers.
There is no guarantee that you will get fired if you are facing pending charges, but it can and does happen for reasons that may have nothing to do with the specific allegations.
The fear of losing your job is just one of the many consequences you can be dealing with if you have recently been charged with a crime. Jail time, a stain on your criminal record, restitution and registering as a sex offender are some of the others.
In some cases, you may be able to mitigate some of the damage done to your professional life or find a new job on your own. But when it comes to defending against the other potential consequences of a criminal charge, having help of a criminal defense attorney can be essential.