Scope: This overview concerns U.S. employment background checks and provides general information, not individual legal advice.
A background check can show criminal records, employment and education history, credit reports, driving records, and professional licenses. What actually disqualifies you depends on the job and applicable law. When an employer plans adverse action based on a third-party consumer report, the FCRA generally requires the report and a written summary of rights before the action, followed by an adverse-action notice if it proceeds. This procedure does not itself determine whether a record can lawfully disqualify you.
That sequence gives applicants an opportunity to review the report before an adverse decision. Below is what a report can contain, the main lookback rules, and the usual FCRA adverse-action process for third-party consumer reports.
What categories of records does a background check pull?
A background check isn’t one search. It’s a bundle of separate lookups that the employer selects and pays for, which is why two candidates at two companies can get wildly different reports. The common components:
- Criminal history. County court records, statewide repositories, federal district court records, and sometimes a national multi-jurisdictional database. County-level searches are the most accurate because that’s where cases are actually filed.
- Employment verification. Employers, dates of employment, job titles, and sometimes eligibility for rehire. Many former employers will only confirm dates and title as a matter of policy.
- Education verification. Degrees awarded, dates attended, and the institution’s accreditation status.
- Credit reports. Used for roles with financial authority or access to cash. This is an employment credit report, not a credit score, and it requires its own disclosure and consent.
- Motor vehicle records. Required for anything involving a company vehicle. Pulled from the state DMV, not from a credit bureau.
- Professional licenses and certifications. Current status, expiration date, and any disciplinary actions on file with the licensing board.
The credit piece deserves a closer look because it surprises people. An employment credit report typically shows accounts, payment history, collections, liens, and judgments, but not your score. Open collections and garnishment-related judgments can appear, so it helps to know how wage garnishment actually works before you walk into that conversation. Several states and cities restrict employment credit checks to specific job categories entirely.
Social media screening sits in a gray zone. If an employer idly looks at your public Instagram, that’s not a consumer report. If a third-party vendor compiles a formal social media report and sells it to the employer, the FCRA applies, and so do the disclosure and adverse action rules. The joint FTC and EEOC guidance on background checks for employers explicitly groups social media use alongside work history, criminal records, and financial history as background information subject to anti-discrimination law.
Does a dismissed or expunged charge show up?
It depends on three things: whether there was a conviction, whether the record was properly sealed, and whether the screening company pulled live court records or queried a stale database.
Non-conviction records and convictions have different federal age limits. A nine-year-old dismissed charge is not automatically barred from every employment consumer report: 15 U.S.C. 1681c(b)(3) exempts positions with expected annual salaries of at least $75,000 from the federal limits in subsection (a)(1)-(5). Convictions have no age cap under subsection (a)(5), but applicable state law and other reporting restrictions still matter. Reporting a record and lawfully using it to reject an applicant are separate questions.
Expunged or sealed records should not show up at all. The problem is mechanical rather than legal. Court clerks update their own records, but commercial database vendors buy bulk data periodically and don’t always refresh it. A sealed case can linger in a national database long after the courthouse file is closed, which is exactly the kind of error the dispute process exists to fix.
Pending charges are a separate category. In several states, including California, an arrest that didn’t lead to conviction can’t be reported at any age, but a case that is currently open and awaiting resolution can. That distinction catches people who assume "not convicted" means "not visible."
How far back do background checks go by state?
Federal law sets a floor. States can go further, and the ones that do matter more than the federal rule for most candidates.
The federal seven-year rule under the FCRA
Under 15 U.S.C. 1681c(a) and (c), the time limits differ by record. Civil suits, judgments, and arrests generally have a seven-year limit from entry, or the governing statute-of-limitations period if longer. Paid tax liens run seven years from payment. The seven-year collection/charge-off period begins 180 days after the delinquency that immediately preceded collection or charge-off. Bankruptcies generally run 10 years from entry of the order for relief or adjudication, as applicable. Convictions are excluded from subsection (a)(5)’s age cap. These federal limits are subject to the salary exception below.
There’s also a salary exception that is widely misunderstood. Section 1681c(b)(3) lifts those federal age limits when the report is used for a position with an expected annual salary of $75,000 or more. Screening industry analysis of the seven-year limit discusses this exception, but the statutory text controls. The exception is not a waiver of accuracy requirements or applicable state restrictions. Older civil judgments, liens, and non-conviction records may therefore be federally reportable for a $90,000 role, without necessarily being lawful grounds for rejection.
States with stricter limits or salary thresholds
This is where the real variation lives. Several states cap conviction reporting itself, and many of those caps come with their own salary thresholds that are far lower than the federal $75,000.
| State | Conviction reporting limit | Salary carve-out | Non-conviction records |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 7 years (Civ. Code 1786.18) | None – applies at every salary level | Arrests without conviction not reportable at any age; pending cases are |
| New York | 7 years (Gen. Bus. Law 380-j) | Lifts at roughly $25,000, so most full-time roles are exempt | Non-convictions not reportable |
| Massachusetts | 7 years from disposition, release, or parole (ch. 93, sec. 52(a)(5)) | No employment-salary exception stated in sec. 52(b) | Separate employer inquiry and recordkeeping restrictions apply under ch. 151B, sec. 4(9) |
| Washington | 7 years (RCW 19.182.040) | Lifts at roughly $20,000 | 7-year cap; state fair chance law further limits use |
| Colorado | State statute: 7 years from disposition, release, or parole (C.R.S. 5-18-109(1)(e)) | No employment-salary exception stated in sec. 5-18-109(2) | State statute bars sealed, expunged, and non-conviction records (sec. 5-18-109(1)(e.5)) |
| Texas | State statute states 7 years from disposition, release, or parole (sec. 20.05(a)(4)); the Texas State Law Library flags possible FCRA preemption, so this is not an assured cutoff | Statutory exception for annual salary that is or may reasonably be expected to be $75,000 or more (sec. 20.05(b)(3)) | Sec. 20.05(a)(4) also covers arrests and indictments; federal age limits and exceptions must also be considered |
| Maryland | 7 years | Under $75,000 | 7-year cap |
| Kansas | 7 years | Under $20,000 | 7-year cap |
| New Mexico | Credit-bureau statute: 7 years from release or parole (NMSA 56-3-6(A)(5)) | No employment-salary exception stated in sec. 56-3-6 | Reporting must stop once the bureau learns an arrest or indictment did not result in conviction; pending cases are treated separately |
Two warnings about this table. First, reporting limits and employer-use restrictions are different rules. In Massachusetts, ch. 93, sec. 52(b) lists credit-transaction and life-insurance exceptions, not an employment-salary threshold; ch. 151B, sec. 4(9) separately restricts employer inquiries and recordkeeping. Second, Checkr’s lookback guide points out that the governing rule usually follows where the candidate lives and works, not where the employer’s headquarters sits.
Clean slate laws add another layer. Roughly 10 states now automatically seal or expunge certain convictions after a waiting period, and a sealed conviction can’t be reported even if it falls inside the state’s seven-year window. Ban-the-box laws, meanwhile, don’t change what’s reportable. They change when an employer may ask, typically pushing the criminal history question to after a conditional offer.
What is the adverse action process employers must follow?
For an adverse employment decision based even partly on a third-party consumer report, the FCRA generally requires pre-adverse disclosures and a later adverse-action notice. The table summarizes the general process, not statutory exceptions for certain transportation applications or national-security investigations. SHRM’s FCRA compliance overview describes the purpose plainly: the pre-adverse notice exists so you can discuss the report with the employer before anything is final.
| Step | What happens | Timing | Your move |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Pre-adverse action notice | A copy of the report and the prescribed written summary of FCRA rights, generally accompanied by a pre-adverse-action notice | Before any final decision, under 15 U.S.C. 1681b(b)(3) | Read the report line by line. Identify anything wrong, outdated, or belonging to someone else |
| 2. Waiting period | The employer holds the decision open while you review and respond | The FCRA sets no fixed interval here. A nonbinding 1997 FTC staff opinion found a proposed five-business-day period reasonable, depending on the facts; state/local requirements may differ | File a dispute with the screening company, and send the employer a short written explanation or correction |
| 3. Final adverse action notice | Formal notice of the decision, naming the screening company, stating it did not make the decision, and explaining your right to a free report copy and to dispute | After the waiting period, under 15 U.S.C. 1681m(a) | Request the free copy within 60 days; keep the notice |
Five business days is not a fixed FCRA statutory minimum. The 1997 FTC staff opinion described a proposed five-business-day interval as reasonable while noting that circumstances can require a different period; the opinion is nonbinding. The existing compliance analysis of adverse action timing discusses that history. Where their Fair Chance laws apply, California and New York City require at least five business days to respond. California provides additional time for a timely accuracy challenge supported by steps to obtain evidence.
A dispute does not by itself establish a universal FCRA requirement that the employer wait until the screening company finishes its reinvestigation. The reporting agency’s reinvestigation deadline under 15 U.S.C. 1681i is separate from the employer’s pre-adverse-action process; applicable state or local law may provide additional response rights. For a separate example of a notice-and-review process, see how federal agencies review disability claims; that process does not set employment-screening deadlines.
What can you do if the report has an error?
Start with the copy of the report attached to the pre-adverse action notice. You also have the right to a free copy from the consumer reporting agency within 60 days of an adverse action notice.
Dispute with the screening company that produced the report, not with the employer. The employer didn’t compile the data and can’t correct it. The statutory machinery sits in 15 U.S.C. 1681i: the agency must conduct a free reinvestigation and complete it within 30 days of receiving your notice, extendable by up to 15 additional days if you send relevant new information during that window. Within five business days of receiving your dispute, it must notify whoever furnished the information, and if an item turns out to be inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable, it must delete or correct it.
Send supporting documents with the dispute, not after. Certified copies of a dismissal order, a sealing order, or a court docket showing the real disposition move a reinvestigation faster than a narrative explanation does. For covered adverse public-record employment reports, 15 U.S.C. 1681k(a) requires either notice to the consumer when the information is reported or strict procedures designed to keep it complete and up to date.
Tell the employer in writing that you’ve filed a dispute, and date everything. If the dispute resolves in your favor but the employer already sent the final notice, a corrected report plus a polite follow-up sometimes reopens the position, particularly if the role is still posted.
Frequently asked questions
Does a background check show salary history? Generally no. Verification confirms employer, dates, and title. Some former employers will confirm compensation, but a growing list of states and cities prohibits employers from asking about salary history at all.
Can an employer see juvenile records? Usually not. Most juvenile records are sealed or confidential by default under state law, and sealed records are not reportable. Exceptions exist for cases transferred to adult court.
How long does a background check take? Two to five business days is typical. Delays come from county courts that require in-person retrieval, international education verification, and employers that have gone out of business.
Does bankruptcy show up? It can. The usual federal reporting limit is 10 years from entry of the order for relief or adjudication, as applicable, not invariably the filing date. The employment-salary exception described above and applicable state restrictions must also be considered.
The practical distinction is between accuracy, reportability, and lawful use. An accurate, reportable record does not remove all legal protections: the EEOC explains that criminal-history exclusions may violate Title VII through discrimination or unjustified disparate impact. Applicable fair-chance laws may add protections, while some job-related or legally required exclusions remain lawful. If the report is wrong, use the dispute process promptly. Laws on reportability and fair chance hiring vary by state and change often, and an employment attorney or your state labor agency can explain which rules apply to a particular situation.