A background check in Texas for employment can pull your criminal history, driving record, credit file, past jobs, and education, but both Texas and federal law put real limits on what an employer sees and how they can use it. Texas Business and Commerce Code § 20.05 blocks reporting agencies from including most negative information older than seven years for jobs paying under $75,000 a year, and the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requires the employer to get your written permission first, show you the report if it’s going to cost you the job, and give you a chance to fix mistakes.
What Shows Up on the Report
Most employment screenings draw from a handful of record categories. Not every employer checks every category, and the depth depends on the role.
- Criminal history, including felony and misdemeanor convictions, pending charges, and sometimes dismissed cases. This is the core of most checks.
- Driving records, which matter when the job involves a company vehicle or driving on the clock.
- Credit history, usually only for positions with financial responsibility or access to sensitive data.
- Employment verification: former employers confirming titles, dates, and sometimes reason for departure.
- Education verification for degrees, certifications, and professional licenses.
Some employers also review social media, though the risk of exposure to protected-class information under Texas Labor Code Chapter 21 pushes most companies to outsource that piece to a third-party service that filters results.1State of Texas. Texas Labor Code Chapter 21 – Employment Discrimination
Your Consent Rights Before the Check Runs
Before an employer can order a background report through a consumer reporting agency, the FCRA requires two things. You must get a written disclosure in a standalone document explaining that a background check may be pulled. It cannot be buried inside the job application or mixed with other paperwork. And you must authorize the check in writing.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports
The Texas Workforce Commission publishes a sample authorization form that satisfies these requirements. It tells the applicant an outside firm will investigate their background and makes clear that refusing permission stops the application.3Texas Workforce Commission. Authorization for Background Check Employers who run their own checks through government databases rather than a third-party agency are not bound by this specific FCRA consent rule.
You’ll usually be asked for your full legal name, date of birth, and Social Security number so the agency can match records to the right person. Check the spelling and numbers before signing. Mixed files, where your report picks up someone else’s records, are one of the most common screening errors, and bad input data makes them likelier.
How Far Back Reports Can Go in Texas
Texas law and federal law both cap how far back a reporting agency can reach, but they differ, and the stricter rule wins.
The Texas Seven-Year Rule
Under Texas Business and Commerce Code § 20.05, a consumer reporting agency cannot include:
- Arrests, indictments, and convictions where the disposition, release, or parole date is more than seven years old.
- Civil suits and judgments older than seven years, or the statute of limitations, whichever is longer.
- Tax liens paid more than seven years ago.
- Bankruptcies where the filing or adjudication is more than ten years old.
- Any other adverse information older than seven years.
There’s a big exception. If the position pays $75,000 a year or more, these time limits disappear entirely, and reporting agencies can include older information regardless of age.4State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code Section 20.05 – Reporting of Information Prohibited
Where Federal Law Is Weaker
The FCRA sets similar seven-year limits on arrests, civil suits, and collection accounts, but it does not cap the reporting of criminal convictions at all. Convictions can be reported indefinitely under federal law.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports The same $75,000 salary exception applies federally.
For most Texas jobs, this means an old conviction that federal law would allow should still be blocked by Texas law from appearing on the report. The state rule gives applicants a layer of protection the FCRA alone does not.
What Happens If the Report Costs You the Job
When an employer decides to reject you because of something in your background report, federal law imposes a two-step process. Skipping either step is a common FCRA violation and gives the applicant grounds to sue.
Step One: Pre-Adverse Action Notice
Before finalizing the decision, the employer must send you a copy of the report along with a written summary of your FCRA rights. This exists so you can review the report and flag errors before anything is set in stone.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports The statute doesn’t set a required waiting period, but most legal guidance suggests allowing at least five business days for a response.
Step Two: Final Adverse Action Notice
If the employer moves forward with the rejection, a second notice is required. It must give you the name, address, and phone number of the reporting agency. It has to state that the agency did not make the hiring decision and cannot explain it. And it must tell you that you can request a free copy of your report from the agency within 60 days and dispute any inaccurate information.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681m – Requirements on Users of Consumer Reports
The Texas Workforce Commission gives the same instruction to employers: if an applicant is turned down over a check from an outside agency, the employer has to explain why, provide the report, and identify the service that produced it.7Texas Workforce Commission. References and Background Checks
If You Have a Criminal Record
A criminal record doesn’t automatically disqualify you. The EEOC has long held that blanket policies rejecting anyone with a conviction can amount to illegal discrimination under Title VII, because they disproportionately affect certain racial and ethnic groups. Instead, the EEOC directs employers to weigh three factors, known as the Green factors, before disqualifying anyone based on criminal history:
- The nature of the crime. A fraud conviction is more relevant to a bookkeeping role than to a warehouse role.
- The time elapsed. A conviction from fifteen years ago carries less weight than one from last year.
- The nature of the job. Positions involving vulnerable populations or high-security access justify stricter screening.
The EEOC also expects employers to conduct an individualized assessment, giving the applicant a chance to explain the circumstances before a final decision. An arrest that never led to a conviction should carry even less weight, because an arrest alone doesn’t prove anything happened.8U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Criminal Records
If a pre-adverse action notice arrives and your record is the reason, respond with context. Time elapsed, rehabilitation, and the distance between the offense and the job duties all matter.
Expunction
An expunction erases an arrest record as if it never happened. You qualify if you were arrested but never charged, if the charges were dismissed, if you were acquitted, or if you were convicted and later pardoned. Waiting periods run 180 days for a Class C misdemeanor, one year for a Class A or B misdemeanor, and three years for a felony, assuming no charges were filed during that time.9Justia Law. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55 – Expunction of Criminal Records After an expunction, you can legally deny the arrest ever occurred on a job application.
Orders of Nondisclosure
If you completed deferred adjudication or qualified for certain other dispositions, you may be eligible for an order of nondisclosure. This doesn’t erase the record, but it seals it from public view. Courts, clerks, law enforcement agencies, and prosecutors are prohibited from sharing information about the sealed offense, and DPS seals it within its system and notifies relevant federal agencies.10State of Texas. Texas Government Code Section 411.0765 With a nondisclosure order in place, you generally do not need to disclose the offense on a job application.
There are exceptions. Certain state licensing agencies and government entities, particularly those overseeing healthcare, education, and law enforcement, can still access sealed records. For most private-sector employers, though, a nondisclosure order effectively removes the offense from the results.
Fixing Errors on Your Report
Background reports are only as good as the data behind them, and errors are common. Mixed files, outdated records that should have aged off, and expunged convictions that still appear are the usual problems. The FCRA gives you a clear path to challenge them.
When you notify the consumer reporting agency of a dispute, it must conduct a free reinvestigation and resolve it within 30 days. If the disputed information turns out to be inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable, the agency has to delete or correct it and notify whoever originally furnished the data.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy
File disputes in writing with as much documentation as you can attach. Court records showing a dismissal or expunction, proof of identity for a mixed file, or official DPS records showing the correct disposition all carry weight. A vague letter gets less traction than one with evidence. If the agency refuses to correct a verified error, you can add a personal statement to your file, and you may have grounds for an FCRA lawsuit.
When Employers Break These Rules
Employers and reporting agencies that violate the FCRA face real financial exposure, and the statute treats intentional and careless violations differently.
For willful violations, a consumer can recover between $100 and $1,000 in statutory damages per violation without needing to prove actual harm. Punitive damages and attorney fees are available on top.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681n – Civil Liability for Willful Noncompliance For negligent violations, the consumer can recover actual damages, meaning provable financial harm like a lost job, plus attorney fees.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681o – Civil Liability for Negligent Noncompliance
The most common employment-context violations are failing to provide a standalone disclosure before running the check, skipping the pre-adverse action notice, and using a consent form that bundles the disclosure with other application materials. Class action lawsuits over these technical failures have produced multimillion-dollar settlements, because per-violation damages multiply across every applicant.
One Thing Texas Doesn’t Have: A Ban-the-Box Law
Unlike a growing number of states, Texas has no statewide law restricting when private employers can ask about criminal history on a job application. Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas County had adopted local ban-the-box ordinances, but the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act passed in 2023 effectively blocked local governments from imposing employment rules that exceed state law. The legal challenge to that act was still on appeal as of mid-2025.
The practical effect is that most private employers in Texas can put criminal history questions on the initial application and ask about your record at any stage of hiring. That makes the EEOC’s individualized assessment framework and the Texas seven-year reporting limit the real protections applicants with a criminal past should be leaning on.