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

Ohio has no statewide ban-the-box, credit check or lookback law for private employers that we found as of October 2026. Its rules focus on sealed and expunged records: an application may ask only about convictions that are not sealed, unless the question bears a direct and substantial relationship to the job, and never about an expunged conviction or a sealed acquittal or dismissal. A court-issued Certificate of Qualification for Employment protects an employer from negligent hiring claims, and schools, nursing homes and child care programs must run state BCI checks.

This page covers what you may ask, the Certificate of Qualification for Employment, the public employer rule, and the jobs with mandatory checks, including the route for staffing agencies supplying direct care workers. The federal steps are in our FCRA background check process guide, and other Ohio hiring rules are in hiring employees in Ohio.

Ohio background check rules at a glance

Can Ohio employers ask about sealed or expunged records?

Ohio's 2023 rewrite of its sealing law, Senate Bill 288 of the 134th General Assembly, renumbered and expanded the sections, and the rules on what employers may ask now sit in R.C. 2953.34. There are three tiers:

1. Sealed convictions: only if directly related

R.C. 2953.34(N)(2)(a) says that "in any application for employment, license, or other right or privilege," a person "may be questioned only with respect to convictions not sealed" (and certain bail forfeitures), "unless the question bears a direct and substantial relationship to the position for which the person is being considered." If you ask about sealed convictions for a specific role, write down why the relationship is direct and substantial before you ask.

2. Expunged convictions: never

R.C. 2953.34(N)(2)(c): a person "may not be questioned" in an application or inquiry "with respect to any conviction expunged." No job-related exception applies.

3. Acquittals, dismissals, no bills and pardons

Under R.C. 2953.33, people found not guilty, whose case was dismissed, who were no-billed by a grand jury, or who were pardoned may apply to seal or, in most cases, expunge the records. R.C. 2953.34(L)(1) then bars questioning them about those records "in any application for employment." If an employer asks anyway, the person "may respond as if the arrest underlying the case to which the sealed official records pertain and all other proceedings in that case did not occur" and "shall not be subject to any adverse action" because of it.

A practical wording for Ohio applications, if you ask at all: "Have you been convicted of a crime? You do not need to include convictions that have been sealed or expunged, or any case that ended in a dismissal, acquittal or no bill." Have counsel confirm it for your roles.

How does Ohio's Certificate of Qualification for Employment protect employers?

A Certificate of Qualification for Employment (CQE) is issued by a court under R.C. 2953.25 to relieve some collateral consequences of a conviction. Two parts matter to employers:

• Negligent hiring immunity. "In any proceeding on a claim against an employer for negligent hiring, a certificate of qualification for employment issued to an individual under this section shall provide immunity for the employer as to the claim if the employer knew of the certificate at the time of the alleged negligence."
• Retention. If the person later shows dangerousness or is convicted of a felony and the employer keeps them on, the employer is liable for retention only if it is proved that the person with hiring and firing authority actually knew and willfully retained them.

The certificate also creates a rebuttable presumption, for licensing agencies, that the convictions are insufficient evidence the person is unfit. If a candidate tells you they hold a CQE, ask for a copy and keep it with the hiring record, because the immunity turns on what you knew at the time. Our page on negligent hiring explains the underlying claim.

When can you ask about criminal history in Ohio?

For private employers, we found no statewide timing rule. R.C. 9.73 says "no public employer shall include on any form for application for employment with the public employer any question concerning the criminal background of the applicant," and defines public employers as state agencies and political subdivisions. Public employers may still state on the form that a law disqualifies people with a particular criminal history from a particular position.

Private employers are left with the sealed and expunged record limits above, the federal FCRA and Title VII. Check the ordinances of the city where the job is before adding a criminal history question, and see ban-the-box laws and interview questions for the multi-state approach.

Does Ohio limit lookbacks, credit checks or salary history?

• Lookback. We found no Ohio statute; the federal FCRA bars reporting arrests and other non-conviction items older than seven years unless the job pays $75,000 or more, and sets no limit for convictions (15 U.S.C. § 1681c). Sealed and expunged records should not appear.
• Credit checks. Ohio is not among the states in our credit check laws guide; the FCRA disclosure and notices govern.
• Salary history. No statewide ban; our salary history ban list covers the Cincinnati and Columbus city ordinances.

Which Ohio jobs require BCI and FBI background checks?

• Schools. The hiring officer of a school district, educational service center or chartered nonpublic school must ask the superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI) to check "any applicant who has applied ... for employment in any position," including FBI information unless listed conditions apply, such as a five-year Ohio resident in an adult education role without routine child contact (R.C. 3319.39).
• Nursing homes, residential care and adult day care. The chief administrator must request a BCI check on each applicant under final consideration for a position "that involves providing direct care to an older adult," with FBI records if the person has not lived in Ohio for the past five years. The applicant completes the BCI form and a fingerprint impression sheet; conditional employment is allowed if the check is requested within five business days (R.C. 3721.121).
• Child care. Applicants and employees of licensed child care centers, family child care homes and similar programs are checked at initial application and every five years, and the initial check includes FBI fingerprint-based checks of national crime databases (R.C. 5104.013).

What this means for staffing agencies

• Direct care placements have their own route. R.C. 3721.121(I)(1) says a home or adult day-care program need not request its own BCI check on an applicant referred by "an employment service that supplies full-time, part-time, or temporary staff for positions involving the direct care of older adults," if the home receives from the agency or the applicant a BCI report from within the past year that shows no disqualifying offense. Under (I)(2), the home may also employ the person conditionally on a signed letter from the agency stating that it has requested the BCI check. Agree in writing which of you requests the check and who keeps the report.
• Strip sealed-record questions from your forms. R.C. 2953.34 applies to "any application for employment," including an agency's own.
• Collect CQEs when offered. Pass the certificate to the client with the candidate's permission so the client's immunity is preserved.
• Keep notes clean. See what not to write in interview notes.

An Ohio background check checklist

1. Applications ask, if at all, only about unsealed convictions, and say that sealed and expunged records need not be disclosed.
2. Any question about sealed convictions limited to roles with a documented direct and substantial relationship.
3. Federal stand-alone disclosure and written authorization signed before ordering a report.
4. A candidate's CQE, if offered, copied into the hiring file before the decision.
5. Before a decision: federal pre-adverse action notice with the report and summary of rights, then the final notice.
6. School, direct care and child care roles run through BCI, with FBI records where required.

Hiring in neighboring states? See the companion pages for Michigan and Virginia.