North Carolina Background Check Laws

Executive Order No. 158 generally bars state agencies under the Governor's oversight from asking about criminal history or conducting a criminal background check until after an applicant has completed an initial interview. Defined exceptions include statutory disqualifications, security-clearance requirements and sensitive public-safety positions; they are not an exception for every security job. The order encourages other public and private employers to follow its practices but does not universally bind private or local employers.

While North Carolina does not have a state-level FCRA equivalent that significantly alters federal FCRA requirements for private employers, employers must still adhere to all federal FCRA provisions. This includes obtaining proper consent, providing pre-adverse and adverse action notices, and ensuring the accuracy of reports. Executive Order No. 158 adds timing rules for criminal history inquiries by state agencies under the Governor's oversight.

This guide has not identified a North Carolina statute adding general reporting time limits for private employers beyond the federal FCRA. Under federal FCRA § 605 [15 U.S.C. § 1681c], criminal convictions are excluded from the seven-year limit in § 605(a)(5). Civil suits, civil judgments and arrest records have the § 605(a)(2) seven-year-or-longer-statute-of-limitations rule. For employment at an annual salary equal to or reasonably expected to equal $75,000 or more, § 605(b)(3) excepts the time limits in § 605(a)(1)–(5), not all FCRA restrictions. State law and other applicable protections still require checking. State agencies covered by Executive Order No. 158 must follow its timing rules for criminal-history inquiries.

North Carolina law allows for the expungement (or 'expunction') of certain criminal records, particularly for dismissed charges, non-convictions, and some misdemeanor or felony convictions after a specified waiting period and fulfillment of other conditions. When a record is expunged, it is legally treated as if it never occurred. Employers, including those conducting background checks, generally cannot consider expunged records. Requesting or using expunged information can be unlawful. It is crucial for Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs) to ensure their reports do not include expunged records, and employers should disregard any such information if it inadvertently appears.