Alabama ban-the-box rules: no state law, expunged records and negligent hiring protection

Alabama has no ban-the-box law, as of October 2026. No section of the Code of Alabama restricts when a private employer, or a state or local government, may ask a job applicant about criminal history, and we found no ban-the-box provision in the Birmingham or Montgomery codes of ordinances. What Alabama does have is a set of rules around the question: candidates need not disclose expunged records on job applications (Code 15-27-6), employers get immunity in some negligent hiring cases, and state criminal history checks through the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency need the person's express permission. Federal law sets the rest.

Does Alabama have a ban-the-box law?

No, for either private or public employers. We searched the Code of Alabama for a rule on when employers may ask about criminal history and found none for private employers and none for state or local government hiring. The state goes the other way in at least one setting: Code 41-27-10 requires a state department or agency to have each applicant for a position with access to federal tax information state in writing whether they have ever been convicted of a crime or have charges pending, and to be fingerprinted for state and national checks.

So an Alabama employer may ask on the application under state law. That leaves three questions a recruiter still has to get right: what the candidate may leave out, how the employer weighs what it learns, and how the check itself is run.

Do Alabama cities ban the box?

Not in the codes we checked. Searches of the Birmingham and Montgomery codes of ordinances, current as published in October 2026, found criminal history checks for city licenses such as taxi and towing permits, but no rule on when the city or private employers may ask job applicants. A city may follow a fair chance practice in its own hiring through personnel policy rather than ordinance; if you recruit for a city or county, ask its human resources office. We did not check Huntsville, Mobile or other cities for this page.

What may an Alabama candidate leave off an application?

Expunged records. Code 15-27-6(b), from the 2014 expungement act, says that after expungement "the proceedings regarding the charge shall be deemed never to have occurred," courts and agencies reply that no record exists, and "the petitioner whose record was expunged 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."

The exception matters for some clients. The person must still disclose the record "to any government regulatory or licensing agency, any utility and its agents and affiliates, or any bank or other financial institution," and those bodies may inspect the expunged records after filing notice with the court. If your client is a bank or a utility, its application may ask about expunged matters; everyone else should word the question to exclude them. Eligibility for expungement and the 2021 changes are covered in Alabama background check laws.

How does Alabama protect employers who hire people with records?

• Expunged records the employer did not know about. Code 15-27-16(c) says an entity that employs, hires or contracts with a person and "is unaware of the existence of a criminal record due to an expungement" is immune from civil liability for damages the person causes, absent unreasonable, wanton, willful or intentional conduct.
• Orders of limited relief. Under Code 12-26-9, an order of limited relief may be introduced as evidence of due care in hiring, and in a negligent hiring claim based on the employee's prior conviction it provides immunity if the employer knew of the order when it hired. It does not cover other claims about the employee's conduct.
• Certificates of employability. Code 15-22-24.1(e), in its current form from Act 2025-388, gives the same evidence and immunity rules for a certificate of employability issued by the Board of Pardons and Paroles, if the employer knew of it at the time.

Each protection depends on the employer knowing about the order or certificate, so it is worth inviting candidates to share one at the background check stage and noting it in the hiring file. The claim itself is explained in what negligent hiring is.

What does the Alabama Background Check Service require?

Code 41-9-650.1, created by Act 2026-374, lets the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency provide a background check to "any public or private employer to screen a prospective employee or contractor or for other employment purposes." Two conditions affect hiring teams:

1. Except as otherwise provided by law, the person "shall provide express permission for the release of information" before ALEA releases anything, and the requester must keep that permission, on paper or digitally, for three years or the length of the person's association with the requester, whichever is longer.
2. Information may be used only for the listed purposes, and a recipient may not pass it on to any other person or entity. Recipients may be audited.

The second point matters for agencies: a report you obtain for your own hiring is not something to forward to a client. If a screening company prepares the report instead, the FCRA's disclosure, authorization and adverse action steps apply.

What federal rules still apply in Alabama?

• Title VII. The EEOC rescinded its 2012 guidance on arrest and conviction records on October 28, 2026, but Title VII and its disparate impact provision, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(k), still apply. A job-related review using the Green factors from the 1975 Eighth Circuit case (the nature and gravity of the offense, the time since it and the nature of the job) is still the safe practice in a state with no rule of its own.
• Federal contractors. The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, 41 U.S.C. 4714, bars contractors from requesting criminal history before a conditional offer for positions related to work under a federal contract, for contracts awarded under solicitations issued after its effective date, with exceptions.
• The FCRA. Screening company reports need a stand-alone disclosure, written authorization and the adverse action steps in the FCRA background check process.

Alabama criminal history rules at a glance

What should staffing agencies and recruiters do in Alabama?

• Word the question for expungement. Unless the client is a bank, utility or licensing body, ask only about records that have not been expunged.
• Keep checks with the right party. If you run ALEA checks for your own hires, collect and keep the express permission; do not forward results to clients.
• Federal contract roles: ask whether the job relates to work under a federal contract before any criminal history question.
• Multi-state candidates: if the job is located in a state with a ban-the-box law, that state's rule applies. Neighboring Tennessee limits state government jobs only.
• The rest of Alabama's hiring rules, including the wage history rule in Code 25-1-30(c), are on hiring employees in Alabama and Alabama salary history rules; agency licensing is in Alabama staffing agency licensing.

Questions to settle with an Alabama client at intake

• Is the client a federal contractor, a state agency, a bank, utility or licensing body, or another private employer?
• Does any law disqualify people with specific convictions from this job, or require a check? Which law?
• Does the client's application exclude expunged records?
• Who runs the background check (ALEA directly or a screening company), and who keeps the candidate's permission?
• Will the client consider an order of limited relief or a certificate of employability, and where is it recorded?

A script for Alabama screens

Candidate asks whether to list an expunged case: "For most employers in Alabama, no; an expunged record doesn't have to be disclosed on a job application. I don't ask about records on my screen anyway."

Client wants "no felons" in the ad: "Alabama law doesn't stop you asking, but a blanket exclusion is hard to defend under federal law. Is there a law that disqualifies people for this job? If not, let's review records case by case at the background stage."

Candidate mentions a certificate of employability: "That's worth sharing with the employer when they run their background check. It can matter to them, so keep a copy handy."

An Alabama checklist for recruiting desks

1. Reword criminal history questions to exclude expunged records, except for financial, utility and licensing clients.
2. Collect express permission before any ALEA check and keep it for at least three years.
3. Keep criminal history out of recruiter screens and submittals; see what not to write in interview notes.
4. Route screening company reports through the FCRA steps and write down the job-related reason for any decision.
5. For the federal picture and scripts used in stricter states, see ban-the-box laws and interview questions.