What Jobs Can’t You Get With a Felony Record?

A felony conviction permanently closes a narrow set of careers and temporarily blocks many more, but it does not shut you out of the job market. The jobs you can’t get with a felony fall into two groups: positions with hard statutory bars (federal law enforcement, military enlistment, certain childcare and healthcare roles, some transportation credentials), and positions where a licensing board or employer has discretion to say no. Most private-sector work stays available, with the hiring decision shaped by federal and state fair-chance laws and by how closely the offense relates to the job.

Federal Law Enforcement

Federal law enforcement is a flat no. Under 5 U.S.C. § 7371, any federal law enforcement officer convicted of a felony must be removed from the role by the end of the first pay period after the conviction notice.¹ The statute targets current officers, but the practical effect reaches hiring: agencies like the FBI, DEA, and Secret Service will not bring on someone they would have to fire immediately.

A second barrier reinforces the first. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison is federally prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.² Because carrying a firearm is a baseline requirement for virtually all federal law enforcement jobs, the firearms ban alone forecloses them.

Civilian federal work is a different matter. Most non–law enforcement federal positions remain open to applicants with records, with carve-outs for treason, certain national security roles, and positions requiring firearms or security clearances.³

Military Enlistment

Enlistment in any branch of the armed forces is prohibited by default for anyone with a felony conviction. 10 U.S.C. § 504 bars enlistment, though the Secretary of the relevant branch may authorize exceptions in meritorious cases.⁴ These waivers are rare and usually limited to older, nonviolent offenses. Sexual assault, drug trafficking, and offenses involving serious harm to others are widely treated as non-waivable across all branches.

The federal firearms ban under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) adds a second obstacle, since military personnel must bear arms.² Even where a branch would grant an enlistment waiver, firearms rights must be restored separately, through a process that varies by jurisdiction and is often difficult.

Banking and Financial Services

Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act is one of the broadest industry-specific bars in federal law. Under 12 U.S.C. § 1829, anyone convicted of an offense involving dishonesty, breach of trust, or money laundering is prohibited from working at any FDIC-insured bank or savings institution without the FDIC’s prior written consent.⁵ It covers any role in which the person could influence, advise, or control the institution’s affairs, not just tellers and officers. Penalties for violation run up to $1,000,000 per day and up to five years in prison.⁶

For the most serious financial crimes — bank fraud, embezzlement from a financial institution, money laundering, and related federal offenses — the FDIC cannot consider granting consent for at least ten years after the conviction becomes final.⁵

The Fair Hiring in Banking Act amended Section 19 to carve out several categories of offenses that no longer require FDIC consent at all:⁷

Offenses where seven or more years have passed since the offense, or five or more years since release from incarceration.
Offenses committed when the person was 21 or younger, once 30 months have passed since sentencing.
Designated minor offenses — shoplifting, trespass, fare evasion, use of fake identification, driving with an expired license — after one year.
Misdemeanor dishonesty offenses committed more than one year before applying, not counting time incarcerated.
Convictions that a court has expunged, sealed, or dismissed with intent to remove them from the record.

These exceptions do not reach the serious financial crimes subject to the ten-year mandatory waiting period. For older or lesser offenses, though, the Act has reopened bank employment to many people it previously blocked.

Healthcare

Healthcare employment is governed by the federal exclusion system. Under Section 1128 of the Social Security Act, the Office of Inspector General must exclude certain convicted individuals from participating in any federal healthcare program.⁸ Because almost every hospital, clinic, and pharmacy bills Medicare or Medicaid, exclusion effectively closes the industry for the duration.

Mandatory exclusion applies to convictions for:

Fraud related to delivering items or services under Medicare, Medicaid, or a state healthcare program.
Patient abuse or neglect connected to healthcare delivery.
Felony healthcare fraud, theft, embezzlement, or other financial misconduct tied to a healthcare program.
Felony offenses involving the unlawful manufacture, distribution, prescription, or dispensing of controlled substances.

The minimum exclusion is five years, and a second qualifying conviction extends that to ten.⁸ The OIG publishes a List of Excluded Individuals and Entities, and healthcare employers are expected to screen against it before hiring.⁹

Childcare and Elder Care

Federal law requires background checks for anyone working in a childcare program that receives federal funding. Under 42 U.S.C. § 9858f, a childcare worker is ineligible for employment with a felony conviction for murder, child abuse or neglect, crimes against children (including child pornography), spousal abuse, rape or sexual assault, kidnapping, arson, physical assault or battery, or any drug-related offense within the preceding five years.¹⁰

Most of these disqualifications are permanent; only the drug-related bar has a time limit. A violent misdemeanor against a child, such as child endangerment or sexual assault, is also disqualifying even though it is below the felony threshold.¹⁰

Nursing homes and long-term care facilities operate under a parallel regime. Federal regulations at 42 CFR 483.12 require them to screen employees for disqualifying offenses involving abuse, neglect, exploitation, or misappropriation of resident property.¹¹ Applicants whose checks turn up those offenses cannot be hired.

Transportation

Commercial Driver’s License

FMCSA regulations impose a lifetime disqualification from holding a CDL for anyone who uses a commercial vehicle to commit a felony involving the manufacture, distribution, or dispensing of controlled substances. That bar has no reinstatement path. For other felonies committed using a commercial vehicle, the disqualification is also lifetime, but a state may reinstate privileges after ten years if the driver completes an approved rehabilitation program. A second major offense permanently eliminates reinstatement.¹²

TWIC and Airport Security Credentials

Working in secured areas of airports or seaports requires a Transportation Worker Identification Credential or airport security badge, both issued after a TSA background check. The TSA uses two tiers.¹³

Permanent disqualifiers apply regardless of when the offense occurred: espionage, treason, terrorism, murder, crimes involving explosives, and crimes causing a transportation security incident. There is no path back from any of these.

Interim disqualifiers apply if the conviction occurred within seven years of the application date, or if the person was released from incarceration within five years. The interim list includes robbery, arson, kidnapping, fraud, firearms offenses, drug distribution, sexual assault, assault with intent to kill, bribery, and voluntary manslaughter. Once the lookback window has passed, these offenses no longer automatically disqualify an applicant, though the TSA retains discretion to deny credentials based on factors like extensive criminal history or imprisonment exceeding 365 consecutive days.¹³

Defense Contracting

Anyone convicted of fraud or any other felony arising out of a Department of Defense contract is barred from serving in a management, supervisory, consulting, or advisory role on DoD contracts for at least five years from the date of conviction. The contractor itself faces criminal penalties of up to $500,000 for knowingly employing a prohibited person or seating that person on its board, and the government can suspend, debar, or terminate the contract.¹⁴

State-Licensed Professions

Law, medicine, nursing, accounting, education, real estate, and pharmacy are all licensed at the state level, and licensing boards have broad authority to deny applications based on criminal history. The standard varies, but most boards evaluate whether the applicant demonstrates “good moral character,” a deliberately vague test that gives the board room to weigh a felony conviction against the rest of the file.

For aspiring attorneys, the state bar’s character and fitness review is particularly searching. Felonies involving dishonesty, fraud, or violence make admission exceedingly difficult, because those traits are seen as directly incompatible with the duties of a lawyer. Medical and nursing boards take a similar view, with added weight for offenses involving controlled substances or patient harm. An embezzlement conviction would be nearly fatal to an accounting license application, because the core of the profession is financial trust.

These reviews are case-by-case. A board can weigh the age of the offense, evidence of rehabilitation, conduct since conviction, and the connection between the crime and the profession. Some licensing statutes impose absolute bars for specific offenses; others leave the whole call to the board. A felony does not guarantee denial, but it guarantees a harder path, with the outcome shaped by the state and the offense.

Private Employers and Fair-Chance Laws

For jobs outside the categories above, hiring is at the employer’s discretion. Most employers run background checks. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission advises against blanket policies that automatically reject anyone with a felony, and recommends an individualized assessment based on the nature and gravity of the offense, time elapsed, and the nature of the job.¹⁵ The EEOC’s position is that blanket exclusions can constitute unlawful disparate impact discrimination under Title VII, exposing employers to complaints and litigation.¹⁶

Fair-chance hiring laws limit when the question comes up. The federal Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act prohibits most federal agencies from asking about criminal history before extending a conditional offer, with exceptions for law enforcement, national security, classified-access positions, and jobs where a separate statute requires pre-offer inquiry.¹⁷ Roughly 37 states and over 150 cities and counties have adopted ban-the-box or fair-chance policies of their own. Scope varies — some cover only public employers, others reach private employers above a size threshold — but the question “Have you been convicted of a felony?” is leaving initial applications in more jurisdictions every year.

Restoring Eligibility

A felony record is not always permanent in effect. Several mechanisms can reduce the employment barriers above, with availability driven by state law and offense type.

Expungement destroys a record; sealing hides it from most background checks while keeping it accessible to law enforcement. Court filing fees typically run from nothing to $500. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have passed clean slate laws that automate sealing for qualifying offenses after a waiting period; most other states offer a petition process. Expungement and sealing have real teeth in regulated industries: a sealed, expunged, or dismissed conviction no longer triggers the Section 19 banking prohibition.⁷ Outside banking, the effect depends on whether state law allows the employer to consider sealed records.

Some states issue certificates of rehabilitation or relief that officially recognize rehabilitation. They do not erase the conviction, but they can lift automatic licensing bars and give a board grounds to approve an application it might otherwise deny. A few states also issue certificates of employability aimed at reassuring private employers and reducing their exposure to negligent-hiring claims.

Two federal programs encourage employers to hire applicants with records. The Federal Bonding Program provides free fidelity bonds, typically $5,000 with no deductible, protecting the employer against theft or dishonesty by the bonded employee for the first six months; coverage up to $25,000 is available when justified. The Work Opportunity Tax Credit has historically offered employers up to $2,400 for hiring a qualified individual with a felony conviction, calculated as 40 percent of the first $6,000 in wages for someone who works at least 400 hours in the first year.¹⁸ WOTC was authorized only through December 31, 2025; as of early 2026, Congress had not extended it, so employers cannot claim the credit for 2026 hires unless the program is renewed.

1
U.S. Government Publishing Office. 5 USC 7371 – Mandatory Removal From Employment of Law Enforcement Officers Convicted of Felonies
2
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Identify Prohibited Persons
3
USAJOBS. Can I Work for the Government if I Have a Criminal Record
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 504 – Persons Not Qualified
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 1829 – Penalty for Unauthorized Participation by Convicted Individual
6
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Section 19 – Penalty for Unauthorized Participation by Convicted Individual
7
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Fair Hiring in Banking Act Report to Congress
8
Social Security Administration. Social Security Act 1128 – Exclusion of Certain Individuals and Entities From Participation in Medicare and State Health Care Programs
9
Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Background Information
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 9858f – Criminal Background Checks
11
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Background Checks for Nursing Home Employees
12
eCFR. 49 CFR 383.51 – Disqualification of Drivers
13
Transportation Security Administration. Disqualifying Offenses and Other Factors
14
eCFR. 48 CFR 252.203-7001 – Prohibition on Persons Convicted of Fraud or Other Defense-Contract-Related Felonies
15
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
16
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Questions and Answers About the EEOCs Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII
17
Federal Register. Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs
18
Internal Revenue Service. Work Opportunity Tax Credit