Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are often the first ones to provide help to people sometimes facing life-threatening medical emergencies. If you’ve trained to become an EMT but had your certification denied because of a past criminal conviction, Unlock Legal wants you to know you have the opportunity to appeal your denial and get your certification — if you know what to say.
Unlike many professionals, who are licensed by individual states, all EMTs in the United States must first be certified by the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT). All denied NREMT certification applications can be appealed within 45 days that the decision was mailed, according to the NREMT appeals policy. Applicants can provide a statement and supporting documentation as part of their appeal, which a professional license defense attorney can help prepare to avoid over-or under-sharing information.
Even if an EMT applicant’s appeal is denied, they are allowed to make a second appeal to the NREMT. This time, if the board is considering granting the request, the applicant will have to appear before an NREMT hearing board and explain their appeal. The NREMT allows applicants to be represented at these hearings by a lawyer, including a professional license defense attorney.
What kind of convictions will lead to an EMT certification denial?
EMT applicants are required to disclose past criminal convictions on their applications. The NREMT doesn’t list specific convictions that it will deny certification for, but it says it will consider whether the applicant is a repeat offender, the seriousness of the crime, whether the crime relates to the duties of an EMT, and the time that has elapsed since the crime was committed, among other things.
Are you hoping to become an EMT but are afraid that you won’t be able to become certified because of a past criminal conviction? Did you study and train to become an EMT, only to have your certification application denied? The team at Unlock Legal can help you in both cases. We have experience helping professional license applicants get their dream jobs despite mistakes in their past. Give us a call at 949-988-4444 or email us here to see how we can help you unlock your license.