Federal Trade Commission | consumer.ftc.gov

Background 

Checks

Tips For Job Applicants 

and Employees 
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Some employers check into your background 

before deciding whether to hire you or keep 

you on the job. When they do a background 

check, you have legal rights under federal law. 

Depending on where you live, your city or state 

may offer additional protections. It’s important to 

know whom to contact if you think an employer 

has broken the law related to background checks, 

and an equally good idea to check with someone 

who knows the laws where you live.

Questions About Your Background

An employer may ask you for all sorts of information 

about your background, especially during the hiring 

process. For example, some employers may ask about 

your employment history, your education, your criminal 

record, your financial history, your medical history, or 

your use of online social media.

It’s legal for employers to ask questions about your 

background or to require a background check — with 

certain exceptions. They’re not permitted to ask your 

for medical information until they offer you a job, and 

they’re not allowed to ask for your genetic information, 

including your family medical history, except in limited 

circumstances. 

When an employer asks about your background, they 

must treat you the same as anyone else, regardless 

of your race, national origin, color, sex, religion, 
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disability, genetic information (including family medical 

history), or age if you’re 40 or older. An employer 

isn’t allowed to ask for extra background information 

because you are, say, of a certain race or ethnicity.

If an employer treats you differently because of 

your race, national origin, color, sex, religion, 

disability, genetic information (including family 

medical history), or older age, or asks you 

inappropriate questions about your medical status, 

medical history, or family medical history, contact 

the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 

(EEOC) at eeoc.gov or at 1-800-669-4000.

Use of Background Reports

Some employers try to find out about your background 

by hiring someone to do a “background report” on 

you. Among the most common are criminal background 

reports and credit reports. But special rules apply when 

an employer gets a background report about you from 

a company in the business of compiling background 

information. 

1. Before getting the report, the employer must tell 

you that they might use the information to make 

a decision related to your employment, and must 

ask for your written permission. You don’t have 

to give your permission, but if you’re applying 

for a job and you don’t give your permission, 
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the employer may reject your application. If an 

employer gets a background report on you without 

your permission, contact the FTC at ftc.gov or at 

1-877-FTC-HELP.

2. If the employer thinks they might not hire, 

keep, or promote you because of something in 

the report, they must give you a copy of the 

report and a “Summary of Rights” that tells 

you how to contact the company that provided 

the report. That’s because background reports 

sometimes have mistakes. If you see a mistake 

in your background report, ask the background 

reporting company to fix it, and to send a copy 

of the corrected report to the employer. Tell the 

employer about the mistake, too.

Before you apply for a job, it’s a 

good idea to order a free copy of your 

credit report. That way, you can fix 

any mistakes before an employer sees 

it. To get your free credit report, 

visit annualcreditreport.com or 

call 1-877-322-8228. You don’t have to buy any 

products they offer, and you don’t have to pay to 

get mistakes corrected. 
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If the Employer Finds Something 

Negative in Your Background

If your background report has some negative 

information, be prepared to explain it — and the reason 

it shouldn’t affect your ability to do the job. Here is a 

description of your rights, depending on what type of 

negative information the employer finds:

Criminal History or Other Public Records:

If you don’t get hired or promoted because of 

information in your criminal history or other public 

records, the employer must tell you orally, in writing, 

or electronically:

● the name, address, and phone number of the 

company that supplied the criminal history or 

public records report;

● that the company that provided the information 

didn’t make the decision to take the adverse action 

and can’t give you specific reasons for it; and

● that you have the right to dispute the accuracy and 

completeness of any information in the report, and 

to an additional free report from the company that 

supplied it, if you ask for it within 60 days of the 

employer’s decision not to hire or retain you.

The company that provided the employer with negative 

information from a criminal history or other public 

records has certain obligations: it has to tell you that it 

provided the information and it has to take certain steps

to make sure the information is accurate.
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Some employers might say not to apply if you have a 

criminal record. That could be discrimination. If that 

happens to you, contact the EEOC at eeoc.gov or at 

1-800-669-4000. Find information on:

● arrest and conviction records in employment 

decisions (eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/qa_arrest_

conviction.cfm)

● arrest and conviction records as an automatic 

bar to all employment (csgjusticecenter.org/

wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Reentry_Council_

Mythbuster_Employment.pdf)

Credit Report/Financial Information:

If an employer decides not to hire, keep, or promote 

you based on financial information in a background 

report, it must tell you — orally, in writing, or 

electronically. Specifically, the employer must:

● give you the name, address, and phone number 

of the company that supplied the credit report or 

background information;

● give you a statement that the company that 

supplied the information didn’t make the decision 

to take the adverse action and can’t give you any 

specific reasons for it; and

● give you a notice of your right to dispute the 

accuracy or completeness of any information in 

your report and to get an additional free report 

from the company that supplied the credit or other 

background information if you ask for it within 60 

days.
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Race, National Origin, Color, Sex, Religion, 

Disability, Genetic Information, Age:

Sometimes, it’s legal for an employer not to hire 

you or keep you on because of information in your 

background, and sometimes, it isn’t. For example, it’s 

illegal when the employer has different background 

requirements depending on your race, national origin, 

color, sex, religion, disability, genetic information 

(including family medical history), or age, if you’re 

40 or older. It’s also illegal for an employer to reject 

applicants of one ethnicity with criminal records for 

a job, but not to reject other applicants with the same 

criminal records. 

Even if the employer treats you the same as everyone 

else, using background information still can be illegal 

discrimination. For example, employers shouldn’t use 

a policy or practice that excludes people with certain 

criminal records if it significantly disadvantages 

individuals of a particular race, national origin, or 

another protected characteristic, and doesn’t accurately 

predict who will be a responsible, reliable, or safe 

employee. In legal terms, the policy or practice has a 

“disparate impact” and is not “job related and consistent 

with business necessity.” 

If you think an employer discriminated against 

you based on information in your background 

report, contact the EEOC at eeoc.gov or at 

1-800-669-4000.
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Medical Condition:

If the employer makes a decision based on information 

about a medical condition, you can ask for a chance 

to show that you still can do the job. Find specific 

information on: 

● pre-employment medical inquiries (eeoc.gov/

policy/docs/preemp.html)

● medical inquiries during employment (eeoc.gov/

policy/docs/qanda-inquiries.html)

● genetic inquiries, including inquiries about family 

medical history (eeoc.gov/laws/regulations/ginabackground.cfm)

Where to Go For Help

The FTC enforces the Fair Credit Reporting Act 

(FCRA), a federal law that regulates background 

reports for employment. The EEOC enforces federal 

laws against employment discrimination.

FTC

If an employer got your background report without 

asking your permission, or rejected you without 

sending you the required notices, contact the FTC at 

ftc.gov or at 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or 

1-866-653-4261 (TTY). 

Why report it to the FTC? Because the FCRA allows 

the FTC, other federal agencies, and states to sue 

employers who don’t comply with the law’s provisions. 

The FCRA also allows people to sue employers in state 

or federal court for certain violations.
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To find out how to order free copies of your 

credit report and how to dispute errors, visit 

ftc.gov/FreeReports.

EEOC

If you think that a background check was 

discriminatory, you may contact the EEOC at eeoc.gov, 

or at 1-800-669-4000 or 1-800-669-6820 (TTY). The 

EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws that 

make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant 

or an employee because of the person’s race, color, 

religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age 

(40 or older), disability, or genetic information. The 

EEOC investigates, conciliates, and mediates charges 

of employment discrimination, and also files lawsuits in 

the public interest. 
Federal Trade Commission

consumer.ftc.gov

November 2014