one of our better techs just went through almost the exact same situation when we instituted crim shield certification for all techs. he hired a lawyer and tried about all that he could and still we were not allowed to have him on staff, even with 100% backing of the local office, we had to let him go. his was also about 7-8 years ago and as i recall they said they would be willing to look again at the 10 yr mark.
This is CABL.com posting #336368. Tiny Link: cabl.co/mbzFs