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

Hawaii employers may run background checks, but Hawaii's employment discrimination law decides when and what they may consider. As of October 2026, an employer may inquire into and consider conviction records only after a conditional offer, only for the most recent seven years for felonies and five years for misdemeanors (not counting time in prison), and only where the conviction bears a rational relationship to the job. Arrest and court record is a protected basis, credit history may be checked only after a conditional offer, and fingerprint checks are required for schools, child care and health care facilities.

This page pulls those layers together for recruiters and hiring managers. The federal steps are on the FCRA background check process, and the timing rule, its full list of exempt employers and a recruiter script are on Hawaii's ban-the-box law. Here we add what those pages do not: how arrests and expunged records are treated, how employers can look up conviction records themselves, the credit check rule, and the state-run fingerprint checks.

What does Hawaii add to the federal FCRA?

In the Hawaii statutes we reviewed, we did not find a separate state consumer reporting law with its own employment disclosure or copy-of-report steps, so a report from a screening company follows the federal FCRA paperwork. What Hawaii adds is a discrimination rule that shapes the whole check. HRS 378-2(a)(1) makes it an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to refuse to hire because of "arrest and court record," for an employment agency to refuse to refer because of it, and for either to use an application form or "make any inquiry in connection with prospective employment" that expresses a limitation based on it.

The definition is wide. Under HRS 378-1, arrest and court record includes any information about a person having been "questioned, apprehended, taken into custody or detention, held for investigation, charged with an offense, served a summons, arrested with or without a warrant, tried, or convicted." The same section defines an employer as anyone with one or more employees, and includes an employer's agents, so the rule reaches small businesses and the recruiters who screen for them.

When can you ask about convictions, and how far back?

HRS 378-2.5 is the carve-out that lets employers use conviction records at all. Its rules:

• Timing. For prospective employees, inquiry into and consideration of conviction records "shall take place only after the prospective employee has received a conditional offer of employment" (378-2.5(b)).
• Relevance. The offer may be withdrawn only if the conviction record "bears a rational relationship to the duties and responsibilities of the position."
• Lookback. The employer may consider convictions within the most recent seven years for felonies and five years for misdemeanors, "excluding periods of incarceration" (378-2.5(c)).
• Release date. If the person says the time in prison was shorter than the record shows, the employer must let them present documentary evidence of the release date.
• Juvenile matters. A "conviction" does not include family court judgments that must be kept confidential under HRS 571-84.

The timing and lookback limits do not apply to employers "expressly permitted to inquire into an individual's criminal history for employment purposes pursuant to any federal or state law," and 378-2.5(d) lists examples, including the Department of Education, private schools, federally insured financial institutions, detective and security guard agencies, armed security services, insurers, airport screening employers and the Department of Human Services. Subsection (d) lifts only the timing and lookback limits; it does not mention the rational relationship test in subsection (a). The list and how to apply it are on the Hawaii ban-the-box page.

Note what this lookback is. Hawaii's seven and five year limits restrict what the employer may consider, whatever the report contains. The federal limit in 15 U.S.C. § 1681c restricts what a screening company may report (non-conviction items over seven years old, lifted for jobs paying $75,000 or more) and never limits convictions. For a Hawaii hire, tell the screening company to report only what the employer may consider, or have someone outside the hiring decision filter it.

Which records can Hawaii employers never use?

• Arrests that did not lead to a conviction. They fall within arrest and court record under 378-2, and 378-2.5 permits consideration of conviction records only.
• Expunged arrests. Under HRS 831-3.2, the Attorney General issues expungement orders for people arrested for, or charged with but not convicted of, a crime, subject to listed exceptions. The person is then "treated as not having been arrested in all respects not otherwise provided for," and the certificate authorizes them to state, in response to any question, "that the person has no record regarding the specific arrest." That statement may not make the person subject to "discharge from employment, or any other adverse action." Responses to inquiries about the record must be the same as for someone with no arrest record.
• Convictions outside the window. Felonies older than seven years and misdemeanors older than five, after excluding time in prison, unless the employer is exempt under 378-2.5(d).
• Confidential family court judgments, which are not convictions under 378-2.5(c).

Can Hawaii employers look up conviction records themselves?

Yes. HRS 846-9 limits who may receive nonconviction data, such as arrests that did not lead to conviction, to criminal justice agencies and other listed recipients, but states that "these dissemination limitations do not apply to conviction data." The Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center's name-based background check page says its check "will only include Hawaii's adult criminal conviction information," and that it can be obtained online through eCrim or in person. National records come from the FBI, and juvenile records from Family Court.

Two cautions. First, the 378-2.5 timing rule covers inquiry into conviction records, not just the screening company's report, so run your own search after the conditional offer too. Second, a name search can match the wrong person, so confirm identity before acting, and remember the search shows only Hawaii convictions.

Can Hawaii employers check credit or salary history?

Credit. HRS 378-2(a)(8) bars discrimination because of credit history or a credit report "unless the information in the individual's credit history or credit report directly relates to a bona fide occupational qualification." HRS 378-2.7 then sets the same timing as for convictions: inquiry into and consideration of a prospective employee's credit history or report "may take place only after the prospective employee has received a conditional offer of employment." The prohibition does not apply to employers that federal or state law permits or requires to check credit, to managerial or supervisory employees (both defined in the section), or to financial institutions whose deposits are federally insured. Hawaii is compared with other states on credit check laws for employers.

Salary history. HRS 378-2.4 bars employers and employment agencies from asking about or relying on it; see Hawaii's salary history ban, which also explains why searching public records for pay counts as asking.

Which Hawaii jobs require fingerprint background checks?

HRS 846-2.7 lists the agencies and entities that may run state and national fingerprint checks, which go to the FBI and to the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center and include nonconviction data. The entity must tell applicants their fingerprints will be retained, and the information must be used only for the stated purpose "in accordance with section 378-2.5." The main programs:

• Public schools and libraries. The Department of Education, including the state public library system, must check people employed or seeking employment in positions that place them in close proximity to children. It may refuse to employ someone convicted of a crime that shows a risk to children, but only after investigation, notice of the results and planned action, and a chance to meet and rebut the finding (HRS 302A-601.5).
• Child care. Applicants to operate a child care facility, their prospective employees, household members and later new employees are subject to criminal history, sex offender registry, child abuse and adult abuse perpetrator checks set by the Department of Human Services (HRS 346-154).
• Health care facilities. Prospective direct patient access employees and adult volunteers of facilities licensed or certified by the Department of Health, from hospitals and nursing facilities to home health and home care agencies, must consent to background checks that include criminal history under 846-2.7, sex offender, abuse and nurse aide registries, and an annual name inquiry (HRS 321-15.2).

An agency placing workers into these settings should agree with the client who submits the fingerprints and when the worker may start, since the facility's license depends on it.

Hawaii background check rules at a glance

What should recruiters and staffing agencies do in Hawaii?

1. Move every criminal and credit question after the offer. Remove them from applications, ATS knock-out questions and intake calls for Hawaii roles, unless the client is exempt and has told you which exemption in writing.
2. Never ask about arrests. Employment agencies are named in 378-2, so a client's request to send only candidates with "clean" records is one the agency cannot follow on arrests at any stage.
3. Brief the screening company. Tell it the role is in Hawaii so the report, or the person reviewing it, applies the seven and five year windows and leaves out non-conviction items.
4. Write down the rational relationship. For any conviction relied on, record why it relates to the duties of the job, and use the FCRA pre-adverse window to collect the candidate's release date evidence and explanation.
5. Keep volunteered history out of notes. If a candidate mentions a case, do not follow up or record it; see what not to write in interview notes. If you transcribe interviews with an AI note taker, remove the passage from any notes you share, and check Hawaii's recording consent law first.
6. Check the rest of the Hawaii file. Pay ranges in listings are on Hawaii's pay transparency law, agency licensing on staffing agency licensing in Hawaii, E-Verify and Form I-9 notes on E-Verify in Hawaii, and the full checklist on hiring employees in Hawaii. If the worker will be employed through a PEO or employer of record, see employer of record in Hawaii for what the client still owns.