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

Kentucky employers may run background checks, and the state adds fewer rules to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act than most. As of October 2026, the Kentucky rules that matter most are KRS 367.310, which bars screening companies from keeping Kentucky criminal charges that did not end in a conviction, expungement laws that let candidates leave expunged records off applications, court and State Police record checks, mandatory checks for long-term care, child care, schools and other child-serving jobs, and a certificate of employability that can help an employer defend a negligent hiring claim. There is no statewide ban-the-box rule for private employers; Louisville Metro covers its own hiring and its vendors.

The federal steps (stand-alone disclosure, authorization, pre-adverse and adverse action notices) apply to every Kentucky hire that uses a screening company and are covered in the FCRA background check process. This page covers what Kentucky law adds, with each statute linked. The wider state picture is on hiring employees in Kentucky.

What does Kentucky add to the federal FCRA?

One rule about what screening companies may hold. KRS 367.310, in force since 1980, says: "No consumer reporting agency shall maintain any information in its files relating to any charge in a criminal case, in any court of this Commonwealth, unless the charge has resulted in a conviction." A violation is an offense under KRS 367.990(15). The statute has no exception for pending charges, and we found no official guidance on how it applies to them.

We found no Kentucky statute that adds disclosure, consent or copy requirements to the federal FCRA for employment screening. The federal stand-alone disclosure and authorization therefore carry the consent side, and Kentucky's State Police form adds its own signature requirement when you use that route (below).

How far back can a Kentucky background check go?

Kentucky has no time-based lookback statute, so the federal FCRA sets the outer limit: arrests and other non-conviction items older than seven years may not be reported for jobs paying under $75,000 a year, and convictions have no time limit (15 U.S.C. § 1681c). For Kentucky court cases, KRS 367.310 goes further than federal law by keeping non-conviction charges out of screening company files altogether.

The age of a record still matters in regulated jobs. For organizations that serve children, conviction reports under KRS 17.160 include felonies and certain sex and obscenity misdemeanors without a time limit, while drug misdemeanors and DUI convictions are limited to the five years before the application.

What happens to expunged records in Kentucky?

Kentucky has several expungement routes, and each tells candidates they may leave the record off a job application:

• Acquittals and dismissals. Since July 15, 2020, a court that acquits a person or dismisses all charges with prejudice (not in exchange for a plea) orders the record expunged after 30 days unless the person objects (KRS 431.076).
• Misdemeanors and violations. A petition may be filed five years after the sentence or probation ends (KRS 431.078).
• Class D felonies and pardons. Many Class D felonies (sex offenses, offenses against a child and other listed crimes are excluded) and fully pardoned convictions may be vacated and expunged on application (KRS 431.073).

The effect is the same in each statute: courts and agencies "shall reply to any inquiry that no record exists," and the person "shall not have to disclose the fact of the record or any matter relating thereto on an application for employment, credit, or other type of application." Expungement, as defined in KRS 431.079, keeps the matter off official state-performed background checks. A person who completed pretrial diversion likewise need not list the disposition on an employment application unless federal law requires it (KRS 533.258).

When can Kentucky employers ask about criminal history?

Kentucky has no statewide timing rule for private employers, and the Kentucky Civil Rights Act does not list arrest or conviction records among its protected categories (KRS 344.040). Federal Title VII still applies to how records are used, even though the EEOC rescinded its guidance on arrest and conviction records on October 28, 2026; a job-related review of the offense, the time since it and the job remains the safe practice.

Public employers are different. KRS 335B.020 says no one may be disqualified from public employment, which includes the state and its political subdivisions, solely because of a prior conviction unless the crime directly relates to the position, and HB 185 of 2026 rewrote the factors and added written findings and a hearing before a denial. Executive Order 2017-0064 directed executive branch agencies to remove conviction questions from state job applications and to wait until an applicant is contacted for an interview, unless the law requires otherwise.

Louisville and Lexington

• Louisville Metro. Louisville Metro Code § 112.30 bars Metro government from asking about conviction history until the applicant is found otherwise qualified, and requires vendors supplying $5,000 or more to Metro to keep the criminal history box off their initial employment applications. Private employers that are not Metro vendors are not covered.
• Lexington-Fayette. We found no fair chance ordinance in the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government's code; its rules require sex crime checks under KRS 17.160 for some jobs that supervise children.

How do you get a Kentucky criminal record yourself?

• Court records. The Administrative Office of the Courts sells criminal record reports covering District and Circuit Court cases in all 120 counties, according to its background checks page. Expunged and purged cases do not appear, and the AOC notifies the person who was searched and sends them a copy, so tell candidates before you order one.
• Kentucky State Police. The State Police run a name-based check by mail (KSP background checks). Its employment request form requires the applicant's signature, and results go to both the employer and the applicant.

A search you run yourself is not a consumer report under the FCRA, but the information is still subject to federal discrimination law, and a name match can be the wrong person, so confirm identity before acting on it.

Which Kentucky jobs require criminal record checks?

• Long-term care and assisted living. Long-term care facilities, assisted living communities and health care services agencies that provide staff to nursing facilities must request all conviction information from the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet for applicants, may employ them temporarily while waiting, and may not knowingly employ people with listed felonies in direct care (KRS 216.789). Applications must carry the notice in KRS 216.793 that state law requires a criminal record check. The fingerprint-based Kentucky National Background Check Program is voluntary and allows provisional employment for up to 60 days (906 KAR 1:190; CHFS KARES page).
• Child-serving professionals. Employers must request all conviction information before hiring someone to care for and supervise minors, and may not employ violent offenders or people convicted of sex crimes or crimes against minors (KRS 17.165).
• Schools. New certified and classified hires need a national and state criminal background check by the Kentucky State Police and the FBI and a clear child abuse and neglect check (KRS 160.380).
• Child care. Child care staff must submit to state and FBI fingerprint checks and may work on a probationary basis while waiting (KRS 199.896; KRS 199.8965; Division of Child Care).

Does Kentucky protect employers who hire people with records?

Partly. The Department of Corrections issues certificates of employability to eligible people on release under KRS 196.281. In a negligent hiring claim, the certificate "may be a defense for the employer" if the employer knew of it at the time, except where the employer knew or should have known the person should not have been hired, and it may be offered as evidence of due care. HB 5 of 2026 added a prison education route to qualify. For references, KRS 411.225 makes an employer that shares a current or former employee's job performance, professional conduct or evaluation immune unless the information was knowingly false, reckless or meant to mislead, or the disclosure was discriminatory. Background on the claim itself is in what negligent hiring is.

Can Kentucky employers check credit or salary history?

We found no Kentucky statute limiting employment credit checks or salary history questions for private employers, so the federal FCRA steps apply to a credit report from a screening company. Louisville Metro's § 35.012 bars salary history questions in Metro's own hiring only. State-by-state rules are compared in credit check laws for employers and salary history ban states.

Kentucky background check rules at a glance

What should recruiters and staffing agencies do in Kentucky?

1. Ask your screening company how it applies KRS 367.310 to Kentucky charges that did not end in a conviction, and do not rely on non-conviction items that reach you another way.
2. Leave expunged and diverted matters off your forms. If a client application asks about convictions, add that expunged records and completed diversion need not be listed.
3. Tell candidates before an AOC search. The AOC notifies the person and sends a copy, so a check the candidate did not expect damages trust.
4. Keep criminal history out of interviews and notes. If a candidate volunteers an arrest, do not follow up or record it. If you record interviews, check Kentucky's recording consent rules and remove the passage from notes you share.
5. Know the regulated settings. Agencies that supply staff to nursing facilities have their own duty under KRS 216.789; agency licensing itself is covered in staffing agency licensing in Kentucky.
6. Check vendor status in Louisville. If you or your client supply $5,000 or more to Louisville Metro, remove the criminal history box from initial applications.
7. Put it in a policy. A background check policy that names the checks by role keeps practice consistent. Work authorization is a separate process, covered in Kentucky E-Verify requirements.