A convicted felon can keep his job at a private school, the Utah Court of Appeals has ruled, turning aside a challenge by the state Department of Human Services.
State law prohibits felons from providing care or counseling at child care businesses. But Shaun Sorenson, a plumber and maintenance worker, provided none of those services and can keep his job, the court ruled.
Sorenson was convicted in California for drunken driving in a hit-and-run crash.
He works at Sorenson's Ranch School, run by his father in Koosharem, about 150 miles south of Salt Lake City in Sevier County. The Utah Department of Human Services, through a routine background check, learned of Sorenson's convictions. The department said the school would lose its license unless Sorenson left.
A lower court agreed with the school, saying the law barred felons only from caregiver positions. The Appeals Court upheld that ruling.
The tribunal agreed with the Human Services Department that the state has an interest in keeping felons away from kids but that it would be up to the Legislature to amend the law.
Current law supports Sorenson's continued employment, the ruling says.