Kansas City ban-the-box ordinance for employers (2026): Code 38-104, the interview rule and the final pool

Kansas City, Missouri's ban-the-box rule is section 38-104 of the city's Code of Ordinances, "Criminal records in employment," added by Ordinance 180034 and in effect since June 9, 2018. It applies to employers with six or more employees and bars them from asking about an applicant's criminal history until the applicant has been found otherwise qualified and has been interviewed, and then only of the final selection pool. It also bars basing a hiring or promotion decision on a record unless the employer can show it weighed the frequency, recentness and severity of the record and that the record is reasonably related to the job. As of November 2026 the section reads as it did in 2018.

It is a timing-and-reasons rule: no notice letters or waiting periods, but a burden on the employer to show its work.

What does Kansas City Code section 38-104 say?

The section, as published on the city's code host, Municode, opens "Except as provided in subsection (b), it should be unlawful" (the code's own wording) and names two practices:

1. Decisions. "For an employer to base a hiring or promotional decision on an applicant's criminal history or sentence related thereto, unless the employer can demonstrate that the employment-related decision was based on all information available including consideration of the frequency, recentness and severity of a criminal record and that the record was reasonably related to the duties and responsibilities of the position."
2. Timing. "For an employer to inquire about an applicant's criminal history until after it has been determined that the individual is otherwise qualified for the position, and only after the applicant has been interviewed for the position. Such inquiry may be made of all applicants who are within the final selection pool of candidates from which a job will be filled."

Subsection (b) says these requirements "do not apply to positions where employers are required to exclude applicants with certain criminal convictions from employment due to local, state or federal law or regulation." The section's history note cites only Ordinance 180034, which the City Council passed on February 1, 2018 with an effective date of June 9, 2018, according to the authenticated ordinance.

Which employers and jobs does it cover?

• Six or more employees. Section 38-1(a)(14) says "Employer includes any person employing six or more employees." It does not say where those employees must work.
• Private employers, not governments. The chapter's definition of person "does not include any local, state or federal governmental entity" (38-1(a)(23)). The city's own hiring falls under its equal employment opportunity policy in Code section 2-364, which since 2025 lists "criminal history status" and says it is not a violation for the city to base a decision on a record if the human resources director can demonstrate the same frequency, recentness and severity review.
• Jobs with Kansas City, Missouri businesses. The Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity Department's Civil Rights Division asks complainants to confirm that "The business is located in Kansas City, Missouri" and "The employer has 6 or more employees (for employment cases)." Kansas City, Kansas is a different city in another state; see ban the box in Kansas.
• Remote roles. The code does not address remote work. When a Kansas City employer hires someone who will work elsewhere, the cautious course is to follow section 38-104 and the worker's own state or city rule, and to ask counsel which one controls.

Section 38-104 speaks of "an employer." Chapter 38 separately defines an employment agency as any person "regularly undertaking, with or without compensation, to procure opportunities for employment or to procure, recruit, refer or place employees" (38-1(a)(15)). A staffing firm with six or more employees that hires workers onto its own payroll is an employer under the chapter's definition, so treat its own screens as covered, not only the client's.

When may a Kansas City employer ask about criminal history?

Two points of wording matter in practice. Both conditions must be met before the question: the applicant is otherwise qualified, and the applicant has been interviewed. And the inquiry "may be made of all applicants" in the final pool, which reads as one step applied to everyone in that group, not a question put to some finalists and not others.

What must the employer show before rejecting someone for a record?

The burden sits with the employer: it must be able to "demonstrate" that the decision rested on all information available, including frequency, recentness and severity, and that the record was reasonably related to the duties and responsibilities of the position. Section 38-104 requires no written preliminary notice, no response period and no final notice. A decision you can demonstrate is one you wrote down at the time: what the record showed, what the candidate said about it, how it relates to the duties, and who decided.

Federal law still applies on top. Title VII, including its disparate impact provision at 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(k), governs how records are used. The EEOC rescinded its 2012 arrest and conviction records guidance on October 28, 2026, but 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) remain a sound review and overlap with Kansas City's. Reports from screening companies follow the FCRA background check process.

Which positions are exempt?

Only positions where an employer is "required to exclude applicants with certain criminal convictions" by a local, state or federal law or regulation. Missouri's expungement statute, RSMo 610.140, names some laws of that kind, such as the federal rules for insured banks and credit unions (12 U.S.C. 1829 and 1785) and for the insurance business (18 U.S.C. 1033 and 1034). A preference, a client policy or an insurance carrier's request is not a legal requirement. Write the specific law the exemption rests on into the job order.

How is section 38-104 enforced, and what are the penalties?

• Enforcing agency. Section 38-21 charges the director of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity (CREO) "with administration and enforcement of all sections of this chapter" and lets the director refer a matter to the city counselor's office "for prosecution in municipal court" after finding probable cause.
• Complaints. Under section 38-23, a complaint must be filed within 180 days after the practice could have been discovered through reasonable diligence. CREO's Civil Rights Division page lists the myKCMO app ("Discrimination Report"), email to [email protected], a call to 816-513-1836, or a paper questionnaire delivered to City Hall, 414 E. 12th St., Suite 404.
• Fines. Section 38-101(a) makes the practices "defined in sections 38-102, 38-103, 38-105, 38-107, 38-109, 38-111 and 38-113" an ordinance violation punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to 180 days in jail, or both. Section 38-104 is not on that list, and we found no penalty written for it specifically.
• Business license. Under section 38-35, "Upon the final determination of any violation of this chapter," the violator's business license may be suspended for up to 30 days, and a third final determination within five years means revocation.

One more detail from CREO's page, as of November 2026: it lists "criminal history status" as a protected class for public accommodations, and its list for employment does not include it. For employment, the city's criminal history rules are the timing and decision rules in section 38-104. How CREO processes a particular 38-104 complaint is a question for CREO or counsel.

What did Kansas City change in 2025, and what stayed the same?

Committee Substitute for Ordinance 241074, passed January 16, 2025, defined "criminal history status" as "the record of an individual's interactions with the criminal justice system, including but not limited to, arrests, detentions, convictions, court orders, and other contacts with law enforcement and the court system" (38-1(a)(8)). It added that status to the city's fair housing section (38-105), commercial real estate loans (38-107), brokerage services (38-109), public accommodations (38-113) and the city government's own equal employment policy in Chapter 2. In Chapter 38 it repealed and re-enacted sections 38-1, 38-105, 38-107, 38-109 and 38-113; it did not touch 38-103, the private employment section, or 38-104.

For a private employer, then, 2025 added no new hiring rule. One side effect: section 38-104 still uses the phrase "criminal history," and the definition of that phrase that appeared in section 38-1 in 2019 (it covered convictions, pleas, arrests not followed by a valid conviction, and annulled or expunged convictions) is no longer in the codified section. The cautious reading is the broad one.

How does Kansas City's rule fit with Missouri law?

• No state rule for private employers. Missouri has no statewide ban-the-box law for private employers; its Executive Order 16-04 covers state executive agencies, as our Missouri ban-the-box rules explain.
• No preemption found. RSMo 290.528 bars cities from requiring minimum wages or employment benefits above state law; it says nothing about hiring questions. Two 2025 bills, HB 443 and SB 325, would have extended it to local rules that regulate "the information an employer or potential employer shall request, require, or exclude on an application for employment." HB 443's last action was a referral to the Rules committee on May 13, 2025, neither bill became law, and the Revisor of Statutes still shows section 290.528 as last amended in 2017.
• Expunged records. Under RSMo 610.140.11, a person whose record was expunged may answer "no" to an employer's question about arrests, charges or convictions if no public record remains, unless the employer must exclude people with certain convictions by law. Missouri's 2026 automatic expungement changes are in our Missouri background check guide.
• Other Missouri cities. St. Louis adds rules on ads, forms and public records searches, and Columbia waits until a conditional offer, the latest point of the three.

What should recruiters and staffing agencies do on Kansas City roles?

1. At intake, record where the employer is located, its headcount, and whether a law requires excluding applicants with certain convictions for this job, and which law.
2. Remove criminal history questions from applications, candidate portals and knockout screens for Kansas City roles.
3. Keep the topic out of recruiter screens. If a candidate volunteers a record, do not note it; see what not to write in interview notes.
4. Agree in writing who asks the final-pool question and when: usually the client, after its interview, for everyone it has found otherwise qualified.
5. Decide who sends which notice. Section 38-104 requires none. For a consumer report, the FCRA puts the pre-adverse and adverse action notices on "the person intending to take such adverse action" (15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(3)): for a temp on the agency's payroll that is usually the agency, for a direct hire the client. Put it in the contract.
6. Keep the review record below with every decision that turns on a record.

Template: Kansas City criminal history review record

KANSAS CITY, MO CRIMINAL HISTORY REVIEW RECORD (Code 38-104)

Position / requisition:
Employer location (Kansas City, MO address):      Employees: ___ (six or more?)
Law requiring exclusion for this position, if any (cite it):
Date candidate found otherwise qualified:
Date of interview:
Final selection pool (names or IDs) and date all were asked:
Source of record information (candidate, consumer report, court record):
Offense(s) and dates:
  Frequency:
  Recentness (time since offense or release):
  Severity:
Duties and responsibilities the record relates to, and how:
Other information considered (candidate's explanation, rehabilitation, work history):
Decision:                Decided by:                Date:
FCRA pre-adverse / adverse action notices sent by (if a report was used): ____ on ____

Final-pool script (example wording): "You're one of our finalists. At this stage we ask every finalist the same question: do you have any criminal convictions you want us to know about? You don't need to include anything that has been expunged. A record doesn't automatically rule anyone out; we look at what it was, when it was, and whether it relates to this job."

Kansas City ban-the-box rules at a glance

For the federal picture and scripts that work in stricter jurisdictions, see ban-the-box laws and interview questions.