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

Indiana employers may run background checks on candidates and may ask about criminal history on the application, but the state controls what a check may show and how the question is worded. As of October 2026, the main Indiana rules on top of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act are a ban on discriminating against people with expunged or sealed records, a required wording for criminal history questions, limits on what screening companies may report, the Indiana State Police's limited criminal history report, a statute that stops cities from adopting ban-the-box rules for private employers, protections against negligent hiring evidence, and mandatory checks for schools, child care centers and health care workers.

The federal steps are in the FCRA background check process, and the rest of the Indiana hiring checklist (new-hire reporting, E-Verify, the end of agency licensing) is in hiring employees in Indiana. This page covers what Indiana law adds to the check, citing the 2026 Indiana Code published by the Indiana General Assembly.

What does Indiana add to the federal FCRA?

Indiana regulates the companies that sell criminal records. Under Indiana Code 24-4-18, a "criminal history provider" is a person or organization that compiles criminal history reports and provides them to others, or regularly publishes criminal history online (at least twelve people's records a year). A "criminal history report" is Indiana court criminal history information (convictions, charges, dispositions and related records) compiled primarily to evaluate a person's eligibility for employment in Indiana, wherever the compiler is located. A screening company that compiles reports for Indiana employers fits that definition. Section 8 makes a violation of the reporting rules a deceptive act actionable under Indiana's consumer protection statute, and says it does not stop a person from suing under the federal FCRA.

We did not find an Indiana statute requiring employers to use their own disclosure form or give a copy of the report beyond what the federal FCRA requires, or setting a lookback period. The federal limits apply: no time limit for convictions, and seven years for arrests and other non-conviction items on jobs paying under $75,000 (15 U.S.C. § 1681c).

What may a screening company report in Indiana?

Section 24-4-18-6 says a criminal history provider "may not knowingly provide a criminal history report" that includes:

• a record that has been expunged, either by marking it expunged or removing it from public access;
• a record restricted by a court or court rules and marked restricted or removed from public access;
• a Class D felony (crimes before July 1, 2014) or Level 6 felony (crimes after June 30, 2014) conviction that was entered as, or later converted to, a Class A misdemeanor;
• a record the provider knows is inaccurate.

The first three may be reported only if the requester is required by state or federal law to obtain them, or is the state or a political subdivision using them for a public bond. Section 24-4-18-7 adds that a provider may not knowingly report information that fails to reflect material changes to the official record made 60 days or more before the report is delivered. For employers, this means a reduced Level 6 felony should appear as the misdemeanor it became, and an expunged case should not appear at all; if it does, treat it as a dispute in the FCRA pre-adverse action window.

Can Indiana employers ask about expunged records?

Only in a form that leaves them out. Indiana Code 35-38-9-10 sets three rules:

• Wording. "In any application for employment, a license, or other right or privilege, a person may be questioned about a previous criminal record only in terms that exclude expunged convictions or arrests, such as: 'Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime that has not been expunged by a court?'"
• No discrimination. It is unlawful discrimination for any person to refuse to employ, or otherwise discriminate against, anyone "because of a conviction or arrest record expunged or sealed under this chapter." A violation is a Class C infraction, may be punished as contempt by any court of general jurisdiction, and the person is entitled to injunctive relief.
• Treated as never convicted. A person whose record is expunged "shall be treated as if the person had never been convicted of the offense," with exceptions for sentencing on a later offense.

The section does not apply to people to whom sealed records may be disclosed under section 6(a)(3) of the chapter, and its hiring rules do not bind law enforcement agencies and probation or community corrections departments hiring their own staff. Indiana's general limit on criminal history inquiries is in the wording, not the timing: copy the statute's example question onto your application.

What is an Indiana limited criminal history?

The Indiana State Police's Limited Criminal History is a name-based search of Indiana records only; the State Police say it contains felony and misdemeanor arrests within Indiana and suggest a fingerprint-based national check for a more complete picture. Under Indiana Code 10-13-3-11, a limited criminal history is information on an arrest or charge that must include a disposition, except that arrests or charges less than one year old are included even without one.

Section 10-13-3-27 lets law enforcement release a limited criminal history to a noncriminal justice organization or individual when the subject "has applied for employment" with it, among other listed reasons. Section 10-13-3-29 bars using it for purposes other than those stated in the request or to deny the subject a civil right, and section 27 makes knowing misuse a Class C infraction, or a Class A misdemeanor for a repeat within five years. Section 10-13-3-28 lets an individual who has applied for a job request a national fingerprint-based check on themselves for a $15 fee.

When can you ask about criminal history in Indiana?

Indiana has no ban-the-box law for private employers, and it stops local ones. Indiana Code 22-2-17-3 says that, unless federal or state law provides otherwise, a political subdivision may not prohibit an employer from obtaining or using criminal history information during hiring to the extent allowed by law, or, "at the time an individual makes an initial application for employment," from asking about it or requiring disclosure. So the application question is allowed statewide, as long as it uses the expungement wording above. Federal discrimination law still governs how a record is used, and the questions to keep out of interviews are in illegal interview questions.

Credit and salary history. We found no Indiana statute restricting employment credit checks or salary history questions, and Indiana is not on our lists of state credit check laws or salary history bans.

Does Indiana limit negligent hiring evidence?

Yes. Indiana Code 22-2-17-4 says an employee's or former employee's criminal history "may not be introduced as evidence" against the employer in a civil action based on that person's conduct if the history does not bear a direct relationship to the facts of the case, if before the events the record was sealed, the conviction was reversed, vacated, pardoned or expunged under Indiana Code 35-38-9, or if the history concerns an arrest or charge that did not result in a conviction. The expungement statute adds that an order of expungement may be introduced as evidence of the employer's "exercise of due care in hiring," and that an expunged conviction is not admissible in a negligent hiring action against someone who relied on the order (Indiana Code 35-38-9-10(g) and (h)). More on the claim is in what negligent hiring is.

Which Indiana jobs require background checks?

• Schools. School corporations, charter schools and nonpublic schools with one or more employees must adopt a policy requiring an expanded criminal history check on each applicant likely to have direct, ongoing contact with children, before or within 30 days after the start date, an Indiana expanded child protection index check within 60 days, and repeat expanded criminal history checks every five years. The policy covers contractors' employees too (Indiana Code 20-26-5-10), and section 20-26-5-11.2 bars employing or contracting with people convicted of listed offenses, with some allowed only by a separate vote of the governing body.
• Health care facilities and nurse staffing. A health care facility, or an entity in the business of contracting to provide nurse aides or other unlicensed employees to one, must apply within three business days of hiring for the person's state nurse aide registry report and a limited criminal history, and may not knowingly employ people with listed convictions, some only within five years (Indiana Code 16-28-13-3 and 16-28-13-4). A facility using a contracting entity's workers does not have to make the request itself.
• Home health and personal services agencies. They may not employ someone to provide services in a patient's or client's home if a national or expanded criminal history check shows listed convictions, including felony theft within ten years and misdemeanor theft within five (Indiana Code 16-27-2-5).
• Child care centers. Employees and volunteers who may be on the premises during operating hours must submit fingerprints for an FBI national criminal history background check before they are employed or volunteer, and every three years after (Indiana Code 12-17.2-4-3).

Staffing agencies should read the health care rule closely: when an agency supplies nurse aides or other unlicensed staff, the three-business-day request is the agency's job, not the facility's.

Indiana background check rules at a glance

What should recruiters and staffing agencies do in Indiana?

1. Copy the statute's question. Use "Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime that has not been expunged by a court?" or equivalent wording on every Indiana application and screen.
2. Read reports with Indiana's rules in mind. An expunged case or a Level 6 felony that should show as a misdemeanor is a reporting error to dispute with the screening company, not a reason to reject.
3. Track the health care clock. Agencies supplying nurse aides and unlicensed staff request the registry report and limited criminal history within three business days of hiring.
4. Keep criminal history out of interviews. If a candidate volunteers a case, do not follow up or note it in the ATS. If you transcribe interviews with an AI note taker, remove the passage from any notes you share.
5. Use the FCRA steps for every report. Disclosure, authorization, pre-adverse action notice and a real chance to respond; templates are in background check notification emails, and a background check policy keeps the steps consistent.

Other Indiana rules for the same hire: E-Verify in Indiana, Indiana non-compete law, staffing agencies in Indiana and recording interviews in Indiana. Drug testing follows its own rules, summarized in drug testing laws in hiring.