HARRISBURG, Pa. – A recently renewed Pennsylvania law is now being challenged by school employees who has had some past run-ins with the law, and specially those who has had a criminal records. The new law states that any current school and educational facility employees must submit any arrests or convictions of serious crimes in their past and any future arrest or pending convictions within three days.

Some of the affected employees are now fighting to keep their current employments in light of the recent law. Currently, there are at least four lawsuits filed challenging the State Department of Education’s new rules for school employees. The State Department of Education has directed school administrators to terminate employees coming in contact with children who have been convicted of any of the 28 listed offenses including kidnapping, homicide, and sexual assault among others. This applies to teachers, administrators, school staff as well as contractors.

Lawsuits filed in Allegheny, Dauphin, Delaware and York counties take issue with the department’s interpretation that anyone convicted of the listed offenses should be barred from employment in a public or private school. The school employees argue that the wording of the law suggests that it applies only to future employees.

The employees also argue that even if the courts decide that the law applies to current employees, it is unconstitutional, violating the due process rights of employees through its retroactive application and penalizing them for crimes for which they were already punished.