Criminal history question on a job application: what to answer

The criminal history question on a job application is the checkbox that asks some version of "Have you ever been convicted of a crime?" If you have a record, it can feel like the form ends there. Often it does not. The wording varies, the law varies by place, and you have more room than the box suggests.

This page is general information, US-focused, and current as of 2 October 2026. It is not legal advice. These laws differ by state and city and they change. If the answer matters for you, talk to a legal aid office or a reentry program near you before you answer.

It depends on where the job is. At the federal level, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recommends, as a best practice, that employers not ask about convictions on job applications.^[2] That is a recommendation, not a ban. The limits that bind come from your state or city, which may decide if or when an employer can ask.^[3]

Those rules are often called ban-the-box or fair chance laws: they limit when an employer can ask about a record during hiring.^[9] Three examples:

• California. Employers with five or more employees generally may not ask about conviction history before making a job offer.^[4] Jobs where a background check is required by law, such as some in healthcare, banking, education and law enforcement, are excepted.^[5]
• New York City. Once an employer offers you a job, it can ask about and consider your record. Some employers that are required by law to check are exempt.^[6]
• Federal jobs. Federal agencies, and contractors acting on their behalf, may not request an applicant's criminal history record before a conditional offer. Positions involving classified information, sensitive national security duties and federal law enforcement are excepted.^[8]

We give no national count of these laws. The trackers we read disagree with each other. The practical step is the one the Labor Department's career site suggests: search for "ban the box law" plus your state or city.^[9]

Start with the words on the form. A question may ask only about felonies and not misdemeanors, or only about convictions from the past seven years.^[9] If it asks about any conviction, a misdemeanor conviction is a conviction. If it asks about felonies, it is not asking about your misdemeanor.

Arrests. An arrest is not a conviction. The EEOC says an employer cannot refuse to hire people simply because they have been arrested, because an arrest is not proof that a person committed a crime.^[1] In New York City, employers cannot ask about or consider an arrest where you were never convicted.^[6]

Sealed and expunged records. This is state law, and it is often on your side:

• In California, most employers cannot ask about or consider convictions that have been expunged, sealed or dismissed.^[5]
• In Illinois, you do not have to tell employers about expunged or sealed records. You may answer "no" to a conviction question if your entire Illinois record was expunged or sealed, or all convictions were sealed, and you have no convictions in another state. Employers that require fingerprint checks, such as schools, healthcare providers and law enforcement, may still see sealed records.^[7]
• In New York City, sealed convictions are off limits to employers.^[6]

Other states have their own rules, and some have fewer protections. Do not assume. If you are unsure whether your record was actually sealed, get the court paperwork before you rely on it.

The Labor Department's career site puts it in one line: be honest, but only offer the necessary information.^[9] In practice:

1. Check whether the question should be there. Look up the law for the place where the job is. If the employer may not ask yet, that is worth knowing before you type anything.
2. Read the question twice. Felony or any crime? Ever, or within a number of years? Convictions, or arrests too?
3. Answer exactly that question, truthfully. Not a wider one. If your state lets you leave out a sealed or expunged record, you may.
4. If there is a text box, keep it to a line. The offense, the year, that the sentence is complete. The longer conversation belongs later, with a person.
5. Write your answer down. Keep one version for "any conviction" and one for "felony", so every form gets the same facts.
6. If you are unsure, ask before you submit. A local reentry program can help with exactly this.^[9]

This is a field to answer yourself. A form-filling tool should not guess it for you: Final Resume's Prefill leaves a question empty and marked when your saved details do not decide it.

Employers may check criminal and other public records, so a false "no" can surface later. Federal law gives you rights in that check, wherever you live. According to the Federal Trade Commission:^[3]

• The employer must tell you in writing, in a standalone document, and get your written permission before a background reporting company runs the check.
• Before it decides not to hire you because of something in the report, it must give you a copy of the report and a summary of your rights.
• Afterwards, it must tell you which company produced the report. You can dispute anything inaccurate or incomplete with that company, and ask it for a free copy within 60 days of the decision.

Reports can contain mistakes. Read yours. In New York City the employer must also share its written evaluation and hold the job open for at least three business days so you can respond.^[6]

Sometimes, yes. The EEOC states that employers can consider criminal records when they make the final hiring decision. What they cannot do is treat people differently because of race or national origin, or apply a policy that screens out far more applicants of one group when it is not closely related to the job.^[1]

The EEOC says an employer should weigh three things: the nature and seriousness of the offense, the time that has passed, and the nature of the job.^[1] That is also your outline. Be ready to say, briefly, what happened, how long ago, and why it does not bear on this work. Have evidence of what you have done since: jobs, training, references.

None of this makes the box easy to tick. It does mean a yes is the start of a process with rules, not the end of one.