Georgia background check laws for employers (2026): what you can check and when

Georgia adds few rules to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act for private employers: there is no statewide ban-the-box law, credit check limit or reporting lookback that we found. The Georgia-specific rules attach to Georgia criminal history records themselves. An employer may get a candidate's state record with signed consent, felony convictions without consent, and if it rejects someone because of that record it must tell them what the record said and how it was used. Restricted, sealed and completed first offender records are not released for employment. This is the position as of October 2026.

This page covers how employers get Georgia records, what is left out of them, the notice rule, the 2020 law that protects employers who hire people with restricted records, the jobs that need fingerprints, and Atlanta's rule. For the federal disclosure and adverse action steps, see our FCRA background check process; for the rest of Georgia hiring, see hiring employees in Georgia.

Georgia background check rules at a glance

How do Georgia employers get a candidate's criminal record?

The Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC), part of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, holds the state repository. The GBI's criminal history FAQ describes three routes:

• With consent. Under O.C.G.A. 35-3-34, "private persons and businesses may obtain the Georgia criminal history record of another person by providing a signed consent of the person whose records are requested on a form prescribed by the center," including full name, address, Social Security number and date of birth. The GCIC does not run name-based checks itself; local law enforcement agencies handle those requests.
• Felony convictions without consent. Section 35-3-34(d.2) provides "public access to felony conviction records without consent." The state's Georgia Felon Search charges $15 per search, even when no record is found, and returns only felony convictions reported to the GCIC. A completed First Offender sentence does not appear.
• Fingerprints. Any agency or business wanting a fingerprint-based check on Georgia applicants for employment must use the Georgia Applicant Processing Service (GAPS) and get a GAPS account number. The GBI says results are usually available within 24 to 48 hours of fingerprinting.

A name-based search can return the wrong person. Georgia.gov's FAQ warns that "without a fingerprint card, it is impossible to positively verify the identity of an individual." Check identifiers before acting on a match.

What must you tell a Georgia applicant you reject?

Georgia has its own adverse decision rule for state criminal history. Georgia.gov's guidance says that when "an adverse employment decision is made," the decision maker "must inform the applicant whose record was obtained of all information pertinent to the decision," including "that a criminal history check was conducted, the specific contents of the record, and how the record affected the decision." Under O.C.G.A. 35-3-34(b), failing to give that information is a misdemeanor.

This applies to records obtained from the GCIC. If a screening company's report includes GCIC data, its federal pre-adverse action packet (a copy of the report and the summary of rights) covers most of it, but add a sentence that explains how the record affected the decision. Your background check emails are the natural place for that line.

Which Georgia records are left out of employment checks?

The GBI says Georgia criminal history released for employment or licensing excludes:

• Juvenile records, meaning felony arrests at 16 or younger where the person was not treated as an adult;
• Restricted records, arrest records restricted under O.C.G.A. 35-3-37, which remain available to criminal justice agencies for their own hiring; and
• Sealed records, including successfully completed First Offender sentences. A first offender who completes the sentence "shall be exonerated of guilt and shall stand discharged as a matter of law" (O.C.G.A. 42-8-60), and O.C.G.A. 42-8-63.1 lists the limited cases where such a record may still be disclosed for employment.

The 2020 Second Chance law

Senate Bill 288, signed in 2020, let people petition to restrict and seal up to two misdemeanor convictions, with listed exclusions, and added O.C.G.A. 24-4-419 to protect employers. In a civil case against an employer based on an employee's conduct, criminal history "shall not be admissible" if it is not relevant to the facts, if it was restricted, sealed or pardoned before the act in question, or if it "is for an arrest or charge that did not result in a conviction." That narrows the negligent hiring risk of hiring someone with a restricted record.

Does Georgia limit criminal history questions, lookbacks or credit checks?

For private employers, we found no statewide Georgia law on any of these as of October 2026:

• Timing of criminal history questions. No statewide ban-the-box rule for private employers. Federal law still governs how a screening company's report is ordered and used, and multi-state teams often hold the question until after an offer anyway; see ban-the-box laws and interview questions.
• Lookback. The federal FCRA applies: screening companies may not report arrests and other non-conviction items older than seven years unless the job pays $75,000 or more, and convictions have no federal limit (15 U.S.C. § 1681c).
• Credit checks. Georgia is not among the states in our credit check laws guide; the FCRA disclosure and notices apply.
• Salary history. No statewide ban; our salary history ban list tracks the states that have one.

Does Atlanta add anything?

Yes. The City of Atlanta's Human Relations Commission lists criminal history among the "prohibited forms of discrimination" under the city's Human Relations Code, which covers equal employment opportunity, and it takes complaints. For a job in Atlanta, read the city's human relations chapter for the employers it covers and any job-related defense before turning someone down over a record, and document how the record relates to the job.

Which Georgia jobs require fingerprint background checks?

• Licensed child care. The Department of Early Care and Learning requires a valid satisfactory fingerprint records check determination or comprehensive records check determination for "all employees, provisional employees, potential employees, administrators" and other adults present when children are, combining an FBI fingerprint check with national and state registry searches. A satisfactory determination is generally good for five years (DECAL).
• Long-term care. The Department of Community Health says its rules require state and federal "fingerprint-based criminal history background checks for prospective owners, owners, administrators, directors, managers, and job applicants who have direct access to clients," processed through its Georgia Criminal History Check System (GCHEXS).

What this means for staffing agencies

• Long-term care placements need a contract on file. DCH says staffing agencies providing employees to long-term care facilities must submit a copy of their contract with the facility before they can use GCHEXS.
• Decide who gives the Georgia notice. If the client rejects a candidate based on a GCIC record you obtained, the person making the decision must give the 35-3-34(b) explanation. Settle in the contract who sends it.
• Do not treat Felon Search as a full check. It returns only Georgia felony convictions reported to the GCIC; misdemeanors, other states and federal records are not in it.
• Keep records out of interview notes. See what not to write in interview notes.

A Georgia background check checklist

1. Federal stand-alone disclosure and written authorization signed before ordering a consumer report; GCIC consent form if requesting the Georgia record.
2. Identifiers matched before relying on any name-based result.
3. Restricted, sealed and completed first offender records not requested or considered.
4. Before a decision: federal pre-adverse action notice with the report and summary of rights.
5. If the decision rests on a Georgia record: a written note that a check was run, what the record said and how it affected the decision.
6. Child care and long-term care roles run through DECAL or GCHEXS fingerprinting.

Hiring in nearby states? See the companion pages for North Carolina and Virginia.