Washington background check laws for employers

At a glance

The Washington rules on each topic, in one line. Federal law applies to every topic.

When you may ask about criminal history

Who it covers: All employers, public and private, including staffing and placement agencies (RCW 49.94.005(4)). The 2025 amendments phase in by employer size: 15+ employees since July 1, 2026; fewer than 15 on January 1, 2027.

In force since: July 1, 2026

The Washington Fair Chance Act (chapter 49.94 RCW) covers private employers of every size. Under the 2018 text, which still governs employers with fewer than 15 employees until January 1, 2027, an employer may not ask about or obtain an applicant’s criminal record until it first decides the applicant is otherwise qualified. The 2025 amendments (2025 c 71) go further: no inquiry or background check until the employer has decided the applicant is otherwise qualified AND has made a conditional job offer; no blanket exclusion policies; no adverse action based on arrest records or juvenile conviction records (except an adult arrest where the person is out on bail pending trial); adverse action on an adult conviction only for a legitimate business reason after notice that identifies the record, a hold of at least two business days for the applicant to respond, and a written decision that documents the assessment. Ads may not say ‘no felons’ or similar. The amendments apply to employers with 15 or more employees from July 1, 2026, and to employers with fewer than 15 employees from January 1, 2027.

Exceptions

• Employers hiring for positions with unsupervised access to children under 18, vulnerable adults (chapter 74.34 RCW), or vulnerable persons (RCW 9.96A.060).
• Employers, including financial institutions, expressly permitted or required by federal or state law to consider criminal records.
• General or limited authority Washington law enforcement agencies and criminal justice agencies.
• Employers seeking nonemployee volunteers.
• Entities required to comply with rules of a self-regulatory organization under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
• Positions under a federal contract that prohibits people with criminal records from working under it.

RCW 49.94.010(1) (as amended by 2025 c 71) · RCW 49.94.010(5)(b) (as amended by 2025 c 71) · RCW 49.94.010 note, Application: 2025 c 71 s 4 · EHB 1747, 2025 c 71 s 2 (struck 2018 text) · RCW 49.94.030(2)(b)

What a background check report may include

Who it covers: Consumer reporting agencies preparing reports on Washington consumers, including employment reports.

Washington has its own seven-year rule. A consumer reporting agency may not report suits and judgments, paid tax liens, collection or charged-off accounts, adult arrest, indictment, or conviction records (measured from disposition, release, or parole), or any other adverse item older than seven years. Bankruptcies drop after ten years. Juvenile records may not be reported once the subject is 21 or older. Medical debt may not be reported at all. The seven-year limits (but not the juvenile or medical-debt bars) do not apply when the job pays, or is expected to pay, $20,000 or more a year.

Exceptions

• Employment at an annual salary of $20,000 or more lifts the seven-year limits in (1)(a)-(e) and (h).
• Credit transactions of $50,000 or more and life insurance with a face amount of $50,000 or more.

RCW 19.182.040(1)(e) · RCW 19.182.040(2)(c) · RCW 19.182.040(1)(f)-(g)

Sealed and expunged records

Who it covers: Employers may not treat a vacated conviction as a conviction; the applicant may lawfully deny it.

Washington has no automatic (clean-slate) sealing or vacating of adult records. Relief is by motion to the sentencing court: felony convictions may be vacated under RCW 9.94A.640 and misdemeanors under RCW 9.96.060 after waiting periods, with violent, sex, and some other offenses excluded. Once vacated, the person may say on an employment application that they were never convicted of that crime, and the state patrol may not disseminate the conviction except to criminal justice agencies.

Exceptions

• Class A felonies and most violent offenses, crimes against persons, and sex offenses cannot be vacated (RCW 9.94A.640(2)).
• A vacated conviction can still be used in a later criminal prosecution and for firearm-rights purposes.

RCW 9.94A.640(4)(a) · RCW 9.96.060

Credit checks for employment

Who it covers: Anyone procuring a consumer report for employment purposes on a Washington applicant or employee.

A person may not obtain a consumer report for employment purposes that contains credit information (creditworthiness, credit standing, or credit capacity) unless the information is substantially job related and the employer discloses its reasons for using it to the applicant or employee in writing, or the information is required by law.

Exceptions

• Information that is substantially job related, with the employer’s reasons disclosed in writing.
• Information required by law.

RCW 19.182.020(2)(c)

Salary history questions

Who it covers: Every employer with one or more employees in Washington, public or private (RCW 49.58.010(5)); the posting rule in RCW 49.58.110 applies to employers with 15 or more employees.

An employer may not seek an applicant’s wage or salary history from the applicant or from a current or former employer, and may not require that prior pay meet any criteria. The employer may confirm pay history only if the applicant volunteered it or after the employer has negotiated and made an offer with compensation. Separately, employers with 15 or more employees must put the wage scale or salary range and a general description of benefits in every job posting (RCW 49.58.110).

Exceptions

• Confirming history the applicant volunteered.
• Confirming history after an offer of employment with compensation has been made.

RCW 49.58.100(1) · RCW 49.58.110(1)(b) (2025 c 383) · RCW 49.58.110(3)

Cannabis use and testing

Who it covers: Private and public employers making initial hiring decisions in Washington.

In force since: January 1, 2024

An employer may not refuse to hire someone because of off-duty, off-site cannabis use, or because a pre-employment drug test found nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites. Employers may still use tests that do not detect those metabolites, may keep drug-free workplace policies, and may test after accidents or on suspicion of impairment. The rule covers initial hiring only.

Exceptions

• Positions requiring a federal background investigation or security clearance.
• General authority law enforcement, fire departments and districts, other first responders including 911 dispatch and EMS.
• Corrections officers and custody positions.
• Airline and aerospace industry positions.
• Safety-sensitive positions where impairment presents a substantial risk of death, identified by the employer before the applicant applies.
• Testing required by state or federal law, federal funding, licensing, or federal contracts.

RCW 49.44.240(1) · RCW 49.44.240 note, Effective date: 2023 c 359 s 3

The state consumer reporting law

Who it covers: Persons procuring consumer reports for employment purposes and consumer reporting agencies, as to Washington consumers.

Washington’s Fair Credit Reporting Act is chapter 19.182 RCW. For employment: before obtaining a report on a non-employee, the employer must give a clear and conspicuous written disclosure that a report may be obtained, or the applicant must authorize it (the disclosure may sit inside the application materials); current employees must have received written notice at some point that reports may be used, except where the employer reasonably believes the employee broke the law. Before adverse action, the employer must give the consumer the reporting agency’s name, address, and phone number and a description of the consumer’s rights. Investigative consumer reports have separate rules (RCW 19.182.050). The chapter also carries the seven-year reporting limits (see reporting_limits) and the credit-information limit (see credit_checks). No state registration of consumer reporting agencies.

Exceptions

• The employee-notice rule does not apply when the employer has reasonable cause to believe the employee engaged in specific activity that violates the law (RCW 19.182.020(2)(b)).

RCW 19.182.020(2)(a)(i) · RCW 19.182.020(2)(b) · Chapter 19.182 RCW (section listing)

Where federal law alone applies

We found no Washington rule for private employers on these topics. The FCRA and other federal laws still apply.

• Drug testing procedures

Local rules

Some places in Washington add their own rules. A local rule applies on top of the state rule.

• Seattle (city). Fair Chance Employment Ordinance, in effect since November 1, 2013. Bars categorical exclusions in job ads; limits criminal-history questions and background checks until after an initial screening to eliminate unqualified applicants; requires a legitimate business reason to deny a job based on a conviction record; requires an opportunity to explain or correct the record. Does not apply to jobs with unsupervised access to children under 16, people with developmental disabilities, or vulnerable adults. Enforced by the Seattle Office of Labor Standards under SHRR Chapter 80. Seattle Municipal Code 14.17
• Spokane (city). Fair Chance Hiring ordinance (passed November 27, 2017; amended April 21, 2025 to add housing status). No ads that exclude people with records; no criminal-history question, inquiry, or background check before an in-person, phone, or video interview or a conditional offer; no disqualifying an applicant before the interview solely for a record unless the conviction relates to significant duties; no rejecting for failure to disclose before the applicant is found otherwise qualified. Exempt: unsupervised access to children under 18 or vulnerable adults; employers permitted or required by law to consider records; law enforcement agencies; checks required by state or federal law. Employer definition excludes the City, the State, Spokane County, the federal government, and tribes. Spokane Municipal Code chapter 09.02 (09.02.030-.050)

Coming changes

Laws already passed that take effect later.

• From January 1, 2027. Fair Chance Act amendments (EHB 1747, 2025 c 71) reach employers with fewer than 15 employees: conditional-offer timing, bar on arrest and juvenile records, notice plus two business days plus written decision. (Employers with 15 or more employees have been covered since July 1, 2026.) 2025 c 71 s 4; RCW 49.94.010 note
• From July 27, 2027. Pay-transparency posting rule: the five-business-day cure period before an applicant may seek remedies applies to postings from July 27, 2025 through July 27, 2027 and then ends. RCW 49.58.110(1)(b) (2025 c 383)

Every state’s changes, in date order: What changed.

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 Washington requirements where they apply.

Washington or a place in it sets its own waiting period. The waiting period calculator counts it.

Paperwork at hire

Besides the federal Form I-9 and W-4, Washington sets these for each new hire.

• State withholding. Washington has no state income tax on wages today, so there is no state withholding certificate; collect only the federal W-4.
• New hire report. Report each new hire to Washington within 20 days. State new hire reporting
• Notices at hire. Paid sick leave notice of entitlement.

Build the new hire checklist for Washington, with city rules, special cases and a due date for each item.

Sources

• RCW 49.94.010(1) (as amended by 2025 c 71)
• EHB 1747, 2025 c 71 s 2 (struck 2018 text)
• RCW 49.94.030(2)(b)
• RCW 19.182.040(1)(e)
• RCW 9.94A.640(4)(a)
• RCW 9.96.060
• RCW 19.182.020(2)(c)
• RCW 49.58.100(1)
• RCW 49.58.110(1)(b) (2025 c 383)
• RCW 49.44.240(1)
• Chapter 19.182 RCW (section listing)
• Seattle Municipal Code 14.17
• Spokane Municipal Code chapter 09.02 (09.02.030-.050)

Last reviewed October 20, 2026 · 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.