New Hampshire ban-the-box law: the 2025 repeal and RSA 651:5 wording

New Hampshire no longer has a ban-the-box law, as of October 2026. Its only one, which barred state agencies from asking about criminal records on job applications, ran from September 22, 2020 until the Legislature repealed it in the 2025 budget trailer bill, HB 2, effective July 1, 2025; the official RSA pages now mark both sections "Repealed by 2025, 141:342". Private employers were never covered, because a 2019 private-employer bill was vetoed. One state rule still binds every employer: under RSA 651:5, an application may ask about criminal records only in terms that leave out records annulled by a court.

Does New Hampshire have a ban-the-box law?

No, for any employer, since July 1, 2025. Our New Hampshire background check guide and New Hampshire hiring checklist cover the private-employer side; this page adds the public-sector law and its repeal.

What did the repealed law require?

House Bill 253, approved July 24, 2020 as chapter 31 and effective September 22, 2020, put the rule into the code twice. Its chaptered text shows:

• RSA 275-H. An "employer" meant "any department, agency, bureau, or administrative unit of the state of New Hampshire." It could not include a question on any application about whether the applicant had "ever been arrested, charged with, or convicted of any crime or violation, or adjudicated as a juvenile delinquent," except for law enforcement positions, jobs needing a fidelity bond that a conviction would bar, positions where federal or state law requires automatic disqualification, and employers contractually barred from hiring people with records. It expressly allowed the question "during an employment interview." Violations carried a civil penalty of up to $2,500 imposed by the Commissioner of Labor.
• RSA 275:37-c. Applied to a "public employer or a public employer's agent," again meaning state agencies. It barred the question on an employment application, barred running a criminal record check "prior to the initial interview," and allowed the inquiry only in person or by telephone where phone interviews were standard practice.

The words "public employer's agent" mattered for staffing agencies screening for state jobs: the agent was bound in its own right. Cities, towns, counties and school districts were never covered.

When and how was it repealed?

HB 2 of 2025, the budget trailer bill "relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures," was signed as chapter 141. Section 141:342 reads: "The following are repealed: I. RSA 275:37-c, relative to the use of criminal records in employment decisions. II. RSA 275-H, relative to use of criminal records in employment decisions." The General Court's RSA pages for chapter 275-H and section 275:37-c now show both repealed, effective July 1, 2025. Some background-screening sites still describe the law as current, so check the date on anything you read.

We did not find a bill in the 2026 session to restore it; the 2026 bills on background checks that became law, HB 1363 and SB 568, only change how the Department of Safety receives conviction information for its own candidates. Recruiters who built state-agency processes around the 2020 law can keep them, since nothing requires an agency to start asking earlier; they are simply no longer required by state law.

How must a New Hampshire application ask about criminal records?

This rule survived the repeal and covers every employer. RSA 651:5, X(f) says that "in any application for employment, license or other civil right or privilege," a person "may be questioned about a previous criminal record only in terms such as 'Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime that has not been annulled by a court?'" Annulment carries real weight: the person "shall be treated in all respects as if he or she had never been arrested, convicted or sentenced," and for offenses disposed of on or after January 1, 2019, arrests that ended in a not guilty finding, dismissal or no prosecution are annulled automatically under RSA 651:5, II-a. Convictions can be annulled by petition after waiting periods, as our background check guide sets out.

In practice, a bare "Have you ever been convicted of a crime?" on a New Hampshire application, an agency registration form or an ATS knock-out question is the wrong wording. Use the statute's phrase.

Did New Hampshire ever cover private employers?

It came close. Senate Bill 100 of 2019, "relative to discrimination in employment based on criminal background checks," passed both chambers. Governor Sununu vetoed it on July 19, 2019. On September 19, 2019 the Senate voted 16 to 8 to override, but the House vote of 210 to 148 fell short of two thirds, so the veto was sustained. A year later the narrower, state-agency-only HB 253 became law.

Do any New Hampshire cities have ban-the-box ordinances?

We did not find one, though we did not survey every city and town code, and the repealed state law never reached cities or towns. A municipal employer may still have an internal policy, so ask a city or town client how its application handles the question.

What federal rules apply in New Hampshire?

• Title VII. Employers with 15 or more employees are covered (42 U.S.C. 2000e), and record-based exclusions can be challenged under the disparate impact provision, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(k), which courts apply.
• EEOC guidance rescinded. On October 28, 2026 the EEOC voted to rescind its 2012 arrest and conviction records guidance. Title VII still bars race and national origin discrimination, including proxies for it. 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.
• Fair Chance Act. Federal contractors may not request criminal history for positions related to the contract before a conditional offer, with exceptions (41 U.S.C. 4714); federal agencies follow 5 CFR part 920.
• FCRA. Disclosure and authorization before a screening company's report, then pre-adverse action notice with a copy of the report (FTC guide). New Hampshire adds its own consumer reporting statute, covered in the background check guide.

What should recruiters and staffing agencies do in New Hampshire?

1. Fix the wording everywhere. Applications, registration forms and knock-out questions should ask only about arrests or convictions "not annulled by a court."
2. Update state-agency playbooks. Anything that cites RSA 275-H or 275:37-c as current is out of date; follow the agency's own policy instead.
3. Watch the border. Many New Hampshire candidates work across state lines. A job located in Maine, Vermont or Massachusetts can fall under that state's private-employer law.
4. Keep criminal history off your screen. See what not to write in interview notes.
5. Send the FCRA notices. Steps are in the FCRA background check process.

A script for a client asking to add the question: "New Hampshire doesn't stop you asking, but the question has to be about records not annulled by a court. I'd still leave it to your background step after an offer, so it's handled the same way as in Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts."

New Hampshire ban-the-box rules at a glance

For the federal picture and scripts used in stricter states, see ban-the-box laws and interview questions. Other New Hampshire rules for the same hire: staffing agency rules, E-Verify and recording interviews.