State law · For employers
Minnesota background check laws for employers
What Minnesota law says about background checks for employment, beyond the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Each section shows the rule, who it covers, its exceptions and the law it comes from.
Reviewed
Primary sources
18 laws cited
At a glance
The Minnesota rules on each topic, in one line. Federal law applies to every topic.
| Topic | Minnesota rule |
|---|---|
| Criminal history questions | A private or public employer may not ask about, consider, or require disclosure of an applicant’s criminal record or history until the applicant has been selected for an interview, or, if there is no interview, until before a… |
| Limits on what a report includes | No state 7-year rule of its own; the federal FCRA limits apply. |
| Sealed and expunged records | Minnesota’s Clean Slate Act expunges eligible records automatically, with no petition, through the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. |
| Credit checks | No state rule. Federal law applies. |
| Salary history | An employer, employment agency, or labor organization may not ask about, consider, or require disclosure of an applicant’s pay history from any source to set that applicant’s pay. |
| Cannabis | Cannabis is a lawful consumable product. An employer may not refuse to hire an applicant, or discipline or discharge an employee, for using cannabis off the employer’s premises during nonworking hours. |
| Drug testing procedures | The Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace Act (DATWA) constrains every employer that tests. |
| State consumer reporting law | Minnesota Statutes chapter 13C (Access to Consumer Reports). |
When you may ask about criminal history
Who it covers: All public and private employers in Minnesota (Minn. Stat. 364.021).
In force since: January 1, 2014
A private or public employer may not ask about, consider, or require disclosure of an applicant’s criminal record or history until the applicant has been selected for an interview, or, if there is no interview, until before a conditional offer is made. Employers may still tell applicants that a law or company policy bars people with certain records from certain positions. The rule does not apply to employers with a legal duty to run criminal background checks or consider criminal history, or to the listed exempt occupations and licenses in 364.09. No written individualized-assessment factors apply to private employers; the ‘directly relates’ test in 364.03 covers public employment and licensing only.
Exceptions
- 364.021(b): the Department of Corrections; employers with a statutory duty to conduct criminal background checks or consider criminal history
- 364.09(a): peace officer licensing, law enforcement and fire agencies, private detective and protective agent licenses, chapters 245A and 245C background studies, chapter 240, school bus and special transportation endorsements, commercial driver training instructors, EMS personnel, and taxicab licensing for listed offenses
- 364.09(b): school districts and educator licenses; (d)-(g): medical, chiropractic, nursing, and health commissioner license denials
- 364.09(h): the chapter does not supersede a legal requirement to run a background investigation or consider criminal history for particular employment
Minn. Stat. 364.021(a) · Minn. Stat. 364.021(c) · Minn. Stat. 364.021 history · Minn. Stat. 364.09(h) · Laws 2013 c 61 s 7 (effective date of the private-employer extension) · Minn. Stat. 181.53 as amended by Laws 2013 c 61 s 1
What a background check report may include
Who it covers: Business screening services (Minn. Stat. 332.70) that furnish criminal records to employers.
No state 7-year rule of its own; the federal FCRA limits apply. Minnesota adds a rule for background screening companies: a business screening service may report a criminal record only if it is complete and accurate, meaning updated within 30 days of receipt or verified with the source within the past 90 days. It must promptly delete any record it learns has been sealed, expunged, or pardoned, and reports must carry a notice that records collected since July 1, 2010 may include records that have since become inaccessible to the public.
Minn. Stat. 332.70 subd. 2 · Minn. Stat. 332.70 subd. 3a · Minn. Stat. 332.70 subd. 4
Sealed and expunged records
Who it covers: All employers (expunged records leave the public record and must be deleted by screening services).
In force since: January 1, 2025
Minnesota’s Clean Slate Act expunges eligible records automatically, with no petition, through the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Covered: cases dismissed or resolved in the person’s favor; completed diversions and stays of adjudication; and convictions for petty misdemeanors, most misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors, and listed low-level felonies. Waiting periods after discharge of the sentence with no new non-petty conviction: 2 years for petty misdemeanors and misdemeanors, 3 years for gross misdemeanors, 4 years for a felony under 152.025, 5 years for other eligible felonies. The law took effect January 1, 2025 and applies retroactively. A separate law automatically expunges certain cannabis offenses through the BCA. Background screening companies must delete expunged records (332.70).
Exceptions
- 609A.015 subd. 3: listed excluded misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors, and felonies; a new non-petty charge or conviction during the waiting period
Minn. Stat. 609A.015 subd. 1 · Minn. Stat. 609A.015 subd. 3(c) · Minn. Stat. 609A.015 history · Minn. Stat. 609A.055 subd. 3(a) · Laws 2026 c 70 s 5 (amends 609A.015 subd. 5)
Salary history questions
Who it covers: All employers, employment agencies, and labor organizations (363A.08 subd. 8). Pay-range postings: employers with 30 or more employees at one or more sites in Minnesota (181.173).
In force since: January 1, 2024
An employer, employment agency, or labor organization may not ask about, consider, or require disclosure of an applicant’s pay history from any source to set that applicant’s pay. Pay history means prior or current wages, salary, earnings, benefits, or other compensation. The ban does not apply when pay history is a public record under federal or state law, unless the employer went to the public record to get it. An applicant may volunteer pay history to negotiate, and the employer may then use it to support a higher offer. Employers may state the pay offered and ask about the applicant’s pay expectations. Separately, employers with 30 or more employees in Minnesota must put the starting salary range and a general description of benefits and other compensation in every job posting (effective January 1, 2025).
Exceptions
- 363A.08 subd. 8(b): pay history that is a matter of public record, unless sought for the purpose of setting pay
- 363A.08 subd. 8(c): pay history the applicant volunteers without prompting
- 363A.08 subd. 8(e): stating the pay offered; asking about the applicant’s expectations
Minn. Stat. 363A.08 subd. 8(b) · Minn. Stat. 363A.08 recent history · Minn. Stat. 181.173 subd. 2(a) · Laws 2024 c 110 art 7 s 2 (effective date) · Laws 2023 c 52 art 19 s 56 (effective date of 363A.08 subd. 8)
Cannabis use and testing
Who it covers: All employers (181.938 subd. 2; 181.951 subd. 8).
In force since: August 1, 2023
Cannabis is a lawful consumable product. An employer may not refuse to hire an applicant, or discipline or discharge an employee, for using cannabis off the employer’s premises during nonworking hours. Employers may still act on use, possession, impairment, sale, or transfer during working hours, on work premises, or while operating an employer’s vehicle or equipment, and when federal or state law or a federal benefit requires it. On testing: an employer may not require a job applicant to take a cannabis test as a condition of employment, and may not refuse to hire solely because a test shows cannabis, unless state or federal law requires it. Cannabis testing may not be arbitrary or capricious and must follow the DATWA safeguards. Safety-sensitive positions, peace officers, firefighters, face-to-face care of children, vulnerable adults, or patients, CDL and regulated driving positions, federally funded positions, and positions where law requires cannabis testing are carved out and may treat cannabis as a drug.
Exceptions
- 181.938 subd. 2(b): use, possession, impairment, sale, or transfer during working hours, on work premises, or while operating employer vehicles, machinery, or equipment; when a failure to act would violate federal or state law or cost a federal monetary or licensing benefit
- 181.938 subd. 3: bona fide occupational requirement; conflict of interest; substance use disorder program conditions; job performance
- 181.951 subd. 9: safety-sensitive positions, peace officers, firefighters, care of children, vulnerable adults, or patients, CDL and regulated driving, federal grant-funded positions, positions where state or federal law requires cannabis testing
Minn. Stat. 181.938 subd. 2(a) · Minn. Stat. 181.938 subd. 2(b) · Minn. Stat. 181.951 subd. 8(a) · Minn. Stat. 181.951 subd. 8(b) · Minn. Stat. 181.938 history · Minn. Stat. 645.02 (default effective date; 2023 c 63 art 6 ss 26 and 33-37 carry no section date and were signed May 30, 2023)
Drug and alcohol testing procedures
Who it covers: All employers in Minnesota that test employees or applicants (181.950-.957).
The Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace Act (DATWA) constrains every employer that tests. An employer may not request or require testing except under a written drug and alcohol testing policy with the contents required by 181.952, using a laboratory in an approved program (181.953) or the oral-fluid procedure, and never on an arbitrary and capricious basis. Job applicants may be tested only after a job offer has been made, and the same test must be required of all applicants conditionally offered that position; if the offer is withdrawn for a positive confirmed test, the employer must tell the applicant why. Cannabis testing of applicants is barred except where law requires it (see cannabis). Employees have rights to confirmatory retests and to explain positive results (181.953-.954). The written policy must state who is tested, when, the right to refuse and its consequences, and the actions that may follow a confirmed positive (181.952 subd. 1). No adverse action may rest on an unconfirmed screening test (181.953 subd. 10). Employees and applicants may get the test result report (subd. 8) and a confirmatory retest at their own expense (subd. 9). Oral-fluid testing is allowed as an alternative, with a free lab retest on request within 48 hours (181.953 subd. 5a).
Exceptions
- 181.951 subd. 1(a): testing authorized by the section and performed under a conforming written policy
- 181.951 subd. 9: positions where cannabis is still treated as a drug (safety-sensitive and listed positions)
Minn. Stat. 181.951 subd. 1(a) · Minn. Stat. 181.951 subd. 1(b) · Minn. Stat. 181.951 subd. 2 · Minn. Stat. 181.951 history · Minn. Stat. 181.952 subd. 1 · Minn. Stat. 181.953 subd. 10(a) · Minn. Stat. 181.953 subd. 8
The state consumer reporting law
Who it covers: Every person obtaining a consumer report for employment purposes.
Minnesota Statutes chapter 13C (Access to Consumer Reports). A person may not obtain a consumer report on a consumer for employment purposes without first giving the consumer a written disclosure, before the report is obtained, that includes a box the consumer may check and return to receive a copy. If the box is checked, the requester must ask the preparer to send the consumer a copy, and the preparer must send it within 24 hours of sending it to the requester. Adverse-action notice is 13C.03. Enforcement and remedies are 13C.04. No investigative-report rule and no CRA registration.
Minn. Stat. 13C.02 subd. 1 · Minn. Stat. 13C.02 subd. 2 · Minn. Stat. 13C.02 subd. 2 · Minn. Stat. ch. 13C section list
Where federal law alone applies
We found no Minnesota rule for private employers on these topics. The FCRA and other federal laws still apply.
- Credit checks
Local rules
Some places in Minnesota add their own rules. A local rule applies on top of the state rule.
- Minneapolis (city). The Minneapolis Civil Rights Ordinance made ‘justice-impacted status’ a protected class for every employer with employees working in the city, with no size threshold. Complaints may be filed for conduct on or after August 1, 2025. The state timing rule (364.021) and consumer-report rules (13C.02-.03) still apply.
Minneapolis Code of Ordinances Title 7 chs. 139 and 141, as amended by Ord. No. 2025-022 (passed May 1, 2025; mayor approved May 5, 2025; applies to charges filed on or after August 1, 2025)
Adverse action notices
Before you reject or act against someone because of a background check report, the FCRA requires a pre-adverse action notice, a wait, and then a final notice. The adverse action letter generator writes both notices and adds the Minnesota requirements where they apply.
The waiting period calculator gives the date under the federal rule.
Paperwork at hire
Besides the federal Form I-9 and W-4, Minnesota sets these for each new hire.
- State withholding. Have each new hire complete Form W-4MN when they start. If none is given before the first paycheck, withhold as single with zero allowances. Form W-4MN
- New hire report. Report each new hire to Minnesota within 20 days. State new hire reporting
- Notices at hire. Employee wage notice (start-of-employment notice), signed by the employee; Earned sick and safe time (ESST) employee notice; Minnesota Paid Leave employee notice, with acknowledgment.
Build the new hire checklist for Minnesota, with city rules, special cases and a due date for each item.
Sources
- Minn. Stat. 364.021(a)
- Minn. Stat. 364.09(h)
- Laws 2013 c 61 s 7 (effective date of the private-employer extension)
- Minn. Stat. 332.70 subd. 2
- Minn. Stat. 609A.015 subd. 1
- Minn. Stat. 609A.055 subd. 3(a)
- Laws 2026 c 70 s 5 (amends 609A.015 subd. 5)
- Minn. Stat. 363A.08 subd. 8(b)
- Minn. Stat. 181.173 subd. 2(a)
- Laws 2024 c 110 art 7 s 2 (effective date)
- Laws 2023 c 52 art 19 s 56 (effective date of 363A.08 subd. 8)
- Minn. Stat. 181.938 subd. 2(a)
- Minn. Stat. 181.951 subd. 8(a)
- Minn. Stat. 645.02 (default effective date; 2023 c 63 art 6 ss 26 and 33-37 carry no section date and were signed May 30, 2023)
- Minn. Stat. 181.952 subd. 1
- Minn. Stat. 181.953 subd. 10(a)
- Minn. Stat. 13C.02 subd. 1
- Minn. Stat. ch. 13C section list
- Minneapolis Code of Ordinances Title 7 chs. 139 and 141, as amended by Ord. No. 2025-022 (passed May 1, 2025; mayor approved May 5, 2025; applies to charges filed on or after August 1, 2025)
Last reviewed · General information, not legal advice.
After the hire
Once a background check clears, payroll and onboarding come next. Rippling (paid link) runs payroll, benefits and onboarding from one employee record.