Background Check for a Job: Your Rights in Plain Words

The steps on this page come from a federal law. It is called the Fair Credit Reporting Act. People often shorten it to FCRA.

These steps apply when an employer gets a background report about you from another company. That other company is in the business of putting background information together. The law calls it a consumer reporting agency.

That kind of report can cover things like your work history, your schooling, your criminal record, or your credit history.

If an employer looks into your background entirely on its own — for example, by calling your past jobs itself — that is a different matter. The FCRA steps on this page are about reports bought from a reporting company.

Before an employer can get a background report about you from a reporting company, two things must happen.

1. The employer must tell you, in writing. The writing must say the information might be used for decisions about your employment. That means decisions about hiring you, keeping you, or promoting you.
2. That writing must stand alone. It must be in a stand-alone document. It is not just a line buried inside a job application.
3. The employer must get your written permission first. No permission, no report.

Read the document before you sign it. You are allowed to take your time.

You do not have to give permission. Saying no is your right.

So the choice is real, but it can cost you the job you applied for. Knowing that ahead of time helps you decide with open eyes.

Sometimes an employer reads a report and thinks it might not hire you, keep you, or promote you because of something in it.

Before the employer acts on that thought, the employer must give you two things:

1. A copy of the report the employer relied on.
2. A document called “A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.” It tells you your rights and how to contact the company that made the report.

If the employer does go ahead — it does not hire you, keep you, or promote you because of the report — that is called an adverse action.

After taking that action, the employer must tell you five things. The employer can tell you out loud, in writing, or electronically.

1. That you were turned down because of information in the report.
2. The name, address, and phone number of the company that sold the report.
3. That the reporting company did not make the decision and cannot give you the specific reasons for it. The decision was the employer’s.
4. That you have the right to dispute the accuracy or completeness of the report with that company.
5. That you have the right to get another free copy of your report from that company — if you ask within 60 days.

If you want that free copy, do not wait. Ask within the 60 days.

Mistakes happen. A report might mix you up with someone else. It might list something that is not yours. It might leave out facts that matter.

Here is what you can do:

• Dispute it with the reporting company. Contact the company that made the report. Follow its instructions for disputing information. Explain what is wrong, and include any papers you have that support you.
• The company must look into it. Under the FTC guide, the reporting company must investigate your dispute. If information is wrong or cannot be supported, it must be corrected or deleted.
• You get the corrected results. The company sends you the results of its work. Read the new report to make sure the mistakes are gone.
• Tell the employer, too. You can ask the reporting company to send a copy of the corrected report to the employer. Telling the employer about the mistake yourself is also a good step.

Fixing a mistake helps even if that one job is gone. The corrected report is the one the next employer should see.

An employer must apply background-check rules the same way to everyone.

It may not treat you differently because of your race, national origin, color, sex, religion, disability, or age if you are 40 or older.

Two more limits from the EEOC and FTC guide:

• Employers generally may not ask medical questions until after a job offer.
• Employers may not ask for genetic information — including your family medical history — except in very limited cases.

If you think a background check was used to treat you unfairly for one of these reasons, that is discrimination. The EEOC handles those complaints. You can reach the EEOC at eeoc.gov or at 1-800-669-4000.

People often ask for one number. Here is the honest answer.

How long a check takes depends on the job, the employer, and the reporting company. If you need to know, ask the employer directly.

There is one fixed timing rule in federal law on this page. It is the 60-day window above: after an adverse action, you have 60 days to ask the reporting company for your extra free copy of the report.

That 60-day clock is real. Put it on your calendar if it ever applies to you.

If an employer got your report without your permission, that breaks the rule.

If an employer turned you down and skipped the required notices, that breaks the rule too.

The FTC guide says to contact the Federal Trade Commission:

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

You can also read the FTC’s own page on this topic: Employer Background Checks and Your Rights at consumer.ftc.gov.

This page covers federal law only.

State and city laws may add more protections on top of the federal rules — for example, laws often called “ban-the-box” that change when an employer may ask about criminal history.

It is a good idea to check the rules where you live, or to ask someone who knows the laws in your area.