Texas Background Check Laws for Employers
Texas gives employers more room than most states: no statewide ban-the-box law, no credit-check statute, and no salary-history ban. The rules that do bind you are the seven-year reporting limit in the Business and Commerce Code, the expunction and nondisclosure statutes, the federal FCRA, and Title VII. This guide covers each one, names the agency behind it, and shows where a Texas screening policy usually goes wrong.
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Texas employment screening laws at a glance
Texas regulates the screening company more than the employer. Most of the rules below fall on the consumer reporting agency that prepares your report, so choosing a compliant provider does much of the work.
| Rule | What it requires | Administering agency |
|---|---|---|
| Federal FCRA, 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. | Stand-alone disclosure, written authorization, pre-adverse and adverse-action notices, seven-year limit on reported non-convictions below $75,000. | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Federal Trade Commission; private suits |
| Tex. Bus. & Com. Code ch. 20 | Texas consumer reporting statute. Screening companies may not report arrests, indictments or convictions more than seven years after disposition, release or parole unless the position pays $75,000 or more. | Texas Attorney General (Consumer Protection Division); private suits |
| Tex. Code Crim. Proc. ch. 55A (expunction) | Expunged arrests are treated as if they never happened. The applicant may deny the arrest, and the record may not be reported or used. | District courts; Texas Department of Public Safety |
| Tex. Gov’t Code §§ 411.071–411.0775 (nondisclosure) | Records under an order of nondisclosure are hidden from private employers. The applicant may answer as though no proceeding occurred, except to the licensing and law-enforcement entities listed in § 411.0765. | Texas Department of Public Safety, Crime Records Division |
| Tex. Labor Code ch. 21 (TCHRA); Title VII | No discrimination on protected traits. Blanket exclusions for criminal records can create disparate impact. The EEOC guidance calls for job-related screens and individualized assessment. | Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division; U.S. EEOC |
| Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 142 | Negligent-hiring safe harbor: an employer is not liable for hiring a person with a conviction solely because of that conviction, with exceptions for in-home work and certain violent and sexual offenses. | Texas courts (defense in civil suits) |
| Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 145 | In-home service and residential delivery companies must obtain criminal history from DPS or a private vendor before sending an employee into a customer’s home, and are presumed not negligent when it shows no listed conviction in the prior 20 years (felonies) or 10 years (Class A and B misdemeanors). | Texas courts; Texas Department of Public Safety records |
| Tex. Gov’t Code ch. 673 | E-Verify is mandatory for state agencies; Executive Order RP-80 extends it to state contractors. No mandate for private employers. | Texas Workforce Commission; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services |
| Tex. Bus. & Com. Code ch. 552 (TRAIGA, §§ 552.056, 552.101) | Texas Responsible AI Governance Act, effective January 1, 2026: no AI system may be developed or deployed with the intent to unlawfully discriminate against a protected class; disparate impact alone does not show intent. No bias-audit or candidate-notice requirement for hiring tools, and no private right of action. | Texas Attorney General (exclusive enforcement, 60-day cure period) |
The FCRA process every Texas employer must follow
The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act governs every background check a consumer reporting agency prepares for a Texas employer. The state rules on this page sit on top of it, never in place of it.
Texas adds one layer of its own. Chapter 20 of the Business and Commerce Code mirrors the federal statute for consumer reporting agencies operating in Texas, so a Texas screening company answers to both.
Disclose and authorize
Give the applicant a clear, stand-alone disclosure that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes, and get written authorization before you order. Keep the disclosure free of liability waivers and extra language.
Order the right scope
Match the search to the position. Order criminal, driving, credit, and verification searches only where the job supports them, and apply the same package to every candidate for the same position.
Pre-adverse action
Before you decide against a candidate because of the report, send a copy of the report and the CFPB Summary of Your Rights, then wait a reasonable period, commonly five business days, so the candidate can dispute errors.
Adverse action notice
If you proceed, send the final notice naming the screening company, stating that it did not make the decision, and explaining the right to a free file copy within 60 days and the right to dispute.
Ban the box in Texas: what the law actually says
Texas has no statewide ban-the-box law for private or public employers. You may ask about criminal convictions on the application, at the interview, or at any later stage.
HB 2466 never became law
House Bill 2466 in the 2025 session would have barred most Texas employers from asking about criminal history before a conditional offer. It was referred to the House Workforce Subcommittee on March 17, 2025 and never received a vote. It did not take effect on September 1, 2025, whatever several industry blogs still say. You can confirm the bill’s status on Texas Legislature Online.
Austin’s ordinance is preempted
Austin adopted a Fair Chance Hiring Ordinance for private employers in 2016. The Texas Regulatory Consistency Act, HB 2127, took effect on September 1, 2023 and preempts local regulation of hiring practices in fields the Labor Code occupies. In July 2025 the Third Court of Appeals reversed the Travis County judgment that had declared the Act unconstitutional and dismissed the cities’ challenge for lack of standing, leaving the Act in force. Austin’s ordinance is treated as preempted, although no court has ruled on that ordinance specifically.
Public employers set their own policy
Several Texas cities and counties, including Austin, San Antonio and Travis County, removed the conviction question from their own applications years ago. Those policies bind only those governments as employers and their own vendors where the contract says so.
Why timing still matters
Asking early is lawful, but deciding early is where employers lose Title VII cases. The EEOC’s 2012 guidance treats a blanket “no felonies” rule as a disparate-impact risk. Ask when you like, then weigh the nature of the offense, the time elapsed, and the duties of the job before you act.
Practical policy
Many Texas employers move the question to the interview anyway. It costs nothing, keeps you consistent with multistate policies, and lets you document the individualized review the EEOC expects.
Whatever stage you choose, apply it to every candidate for the same position.
Which Texas records you may and may not use
Texas court and DPS records are public, but three statutes remove certain records from the hiring decision entirely.
Expunged arrests
An expunction order under Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55A erases the arrest from every agency file. The applicant may lawfully deny it, and a screening company may not report it. Expunction is available for acquittals, dismissals, pardons and certain Class C deferred dispositions.
Orders of nondisclosure
Under Government Code § 411.0755 a person whose record is under an order of nondisclosure need not disclose it on any employment application. Only the entities listed in § 411.0765, mainly licensing boards, schools, healthcare and law enforcement, may still receive the record. Read the subchapter at Texas Statutes Online.
Deferred adjudication
Deferred adjudication is not a conviction under Texas law, but it is a public court record until a nondisclosure order issues. It may be reported within the seven-year window and considered if it relates to the job. Read the disposition line carefully before you act on it.
Arrests without conviction
Texas does not bar employers from considering arrests, but Bus. & Com. Code § 20.05 and the FCRA limit reported non-convictions to seven years below $75,000. Under the EEOC guidance an arrest alone does not prove conduct; act on the underlying facts, not the charge.
Juvenile records
Juvenile adjudications are confidential under Family Code ch. 58 and are not available for private employment screening. Do not ask applicants about them.
Licensed occupations
Occupations Code ch. 53 lets a licensing authority deny or revoke a license only for offenses that directly relate to the occupation, after weighing listed factors. Employers of licensed staff should mirror that analysis. See Occupations Code ch. 53.
How far back a Texas background check can go
Texas is one of the states with its own reporting limit. Section 20.05 of the Business and Commerce Code applies to the screening company, not to what an employer may ask, and it covers convictions as well as arrests.
Standard limit
Arrests, indictments and convictions may not be reported more than seven years after the date of disposition, release or parole, for positions paying under $75,000 a year. Civil judgments and paid tax liens carry the same seven-year window; bankruptcies ten.
In-home and residential delivery
Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 145.003 presumes an in-home service or residential delivery company was not negligent when the criminal history it obtained from DPS or a private vendor shows no listed conviction (offenses against the person or family, against property, or public indecency) in the prior 20 years for felonies or 10 years for Class A and B misdemeanors. That check is where the longer window is examined; § 20.05 still caps consumer reports at seven years.
Positions at $75,000 or more
When the annual salary equals or is reasonably expected to equal $75,000, both the Texas limit and the federal seven-year limit on non-convictions fall away. Convictions never expire under the federal FCRA.
Count the seven years from the disposition, parole or release date, not the offense date. A 2017 conviction with parole ending in 2021 is still reportable in 2026.
Credit checks, salary history, drug testing, E-Verify and social media
Texas has enacted none of the newer state hiring statutes. In each area below the federal rule, or no rule at all, governs.
Employment credit reports
No Texas statute limits employer credit checks. The FCRA disclosure, authorization and adverse-action steps apply, and the EEOC discourages credit screens that are not job related. Limit them to positions with financial responsibility, cash handling or signatory authority, and say so in your policy.
Salary history
Texas has no salary-history ban, and HB 2127 preempts any city from adopting one. You may ask, but the Equal Pay Act and Labor Code ch. 21 still bar pay decisions that track sex or another protected trait, so many employers set pay from the range instead.
Drug testing
No Texas statute restricts private-employer drug testing. Written policies are recommended, and the Texas Workforce Commission publishes model drug-free workplace language. The Compassionate Use Program (Health & Safety Code ch. 487) gives low-THC cannabis patients no employment protection. DOT-regulated positions follow the federal 49 C.F.R. Part 40 panel.
E-Verify
Government Code ch. 673 requires E-Verify for state agencies, and Executive Order RP-80 extends it to state contractors. Private employers may enroll voluntarily at e-verify.gov; Form I-9 remains mandatory for every hire.
Social media passwords
Texas has no law barring employers from requesting personal social-media credentials. Requesting them is still a poor practice: it exposes protected traits you cannot unsee, and the National Labor Relations Act protects concerted activity in posts.
AI in hiring
The Texas Responsible AI Governance Act (Bus. & Com. Code § 552.056), effective January 1, 2026, prohibits developing or deploying an AI system with the intent to unlawfully discriminate against a protected class, and says a disparate impact alone does not prove that intent. The Attorney General has exclusive enforcement authority, with a 60-day cure period. It imposes no bias audit or candidate notice for hiring tools, but Title VII disparate-impact rules still apply to any automated screen.
Negligent hiring and discrimination: the two Texas exposures
The negligent-hiring safe harbor
Chapter 142 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code shields employers from negligent-hiring suits based solely on an employee’s conviction. The shield drops when the employer knew or should have known of a conviction for an offense committed while performing similar duties, or of listed sexually violent and certain violent offenses. Chapter 145 separately gives in-home service and residential delivery companies a rebuttable presumption of no negligence when they run the required check.
Disparate impact under Title VII and the TCHRA
Texas Labor Code ch. 21 tracks Title VII and is enforced by the Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division. The EEOC enforcement guidance asks employers to show that a criminal-record exclusion is job related and consistent with business necessity, usually through a targeted screen plus individualized assessment.
Consistency is the defense
Write the screening scope for each position class, run the same searches for every candidate in that class, and record the reason for any exception. That record answers both a negligence claim and a discrimination charge.
Documentation that helps
A one-page matrix listing position classes, the searches ordered for each, the lookback applied and the offense categories that trigger review.
A dated note of the individualized assessment for every candidate declined because of a record.
Texas industry-specific screening requirements
Beyond the general rules, Texas statutes require or shape background checks in these fields.
Healthcare and long-term care
Health & Safety Code ch. 250 requires licensed facilities and agencies to run a DPS criminal history check before employing direct-care staff, and to check the Nurse Aide Registry and Employee Misconduct Registry. Listed convictions bar employment outright. Administered by Texas Health and Human Services.
Child care and youth programs
Human Resources Code ch. 42 requires fingerprint-based FBI and DPS checks, plus central registry checks, for child-care operation staff and household members. Texas HHSC Child Care Regulation administers the program.
Public schools
Education Code §§ 22.083–22.0837 require fingerprint checks through the DPS FACT clearinghouse for certified educators, non-certified employees and contractor staff with student contact. Administered by the Texas Education Agency.
In-home service and delivery
Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 145 requires appliance, HVAC, plumbing, electrical and similar in-home service companies, and residential delivery companies, to obtain criminal history from DPS or a private vendor before an employee enters a residence, or to confirm the person holds a Texas occupational license that required a check, and ties the negligent-hiring presumption to 20-year felony and 10-year Class A and B misdemeanor windows. See chapter 145.
Transportation
CDL drivers follow FMCSA rules: the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse query, the 49 C.F.R. Part 40 test panel, and motor vehicle record reviews. Texas DPS driver records are available through the driving-records service.
Security, finance and gaming
Private security officers are licensed by DPS under Occupations Code ch. 1702 with fingerprint checks. Banks follow FDIC Section 19; broker-dealers follow FINRA Rule 3110. Texas Lottery retailers and racetrack licensees carry their own checks.
Screening services built for Texas employers
BCS Background Screening LLC runs FCRA-compliant searches for Texas employers of every size, with no setup fee and per-search pricing.
Texas county criminal court search
Real-time research at the district and county courts where Texas criminal cases are filed, in any of the 254 counties, with full disposition and sentencing detail on every record Order a Texas county court search.
County criminal court search
Direct research at the county courthouse, $18 plus any court fees, seven-year standard scope. This is the search that confirms a database hit before it reaches a report. County court search details.
Nationwide criminal database
$17 locator search of thousands of court, corrections, and registry sources with three name variations searched at once. Every hit is verified at the source before it is reported. Nationwide database search.
Motor vehicle records
State driving records for any position that drives on company business, with CDL and DOT-regulated roles supported. Motor vehicle records.
SSN trace and address history
Included at no extra cost in every search package: 10-plus years of reported address history to point criminal searches at the right counties. SSN trace.
Verifications
Employment, education, professional license, and reference verifications, plus employment credit reports for positions with financial responsibility, all ordered from the same account.
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Texas employer compliance checklist
Twelve steps that keep a Texas screening program inside the FCRA, the Business and Commerce Code and Title VII.
- Use a stand-alone FCRA disclosure and a separate written authorization for every candidate.
- Define the screening scope for each position class and apply it to every candidate in that class.
- Confirm the position’s salary before ordering; the seven-year limit lifts at $75,000.
- Order the criminal history check that Chapter 145 requires for any in-home or residential delivery role, and review it against the 20-year felony and 10-year misdemeanor windows.
- Do not ask about or act on expunged arrests, nondisclosed records or juvenile adjudications.
- Treat deferred adjudication as a non-conviction disposition and read the case outcome before acting.
- Run an individualized assessment before declining a candidate for a record, and keep a dated note.
- Send the pre-adverse action package, wait a reasonable period, then send the final adverse-action notice.
- Limit credit reports to positions with financial responsibility and document the reason.
- Complete Form I-9 for every hire; enroll in E-Verify if you hold a state contract.
- Keep drug-testing policies in writing and follow 49 C.F.R. Part 40 for DOT roles.
- Review any AI or automated screening tool for disparate impact and keep a human decision-maker.
Texas background check laws: employer FAQs
Each answer names the statute, what it requires, and the agency that administers it.
Does Texas have a ban-the-box law?
No. Texas has no statewide ban-the-box statute for private or public employers. HB 2466 (89th Legislature, 2025), which would have created one, died in the House Workforce Subcommittee and never took effect. Austin’s 2016 Fair Chance Hiring Ordinance is treated as preempted by the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act (HB 2127, effective September 1, 2023); in July 2025 the Third Court of Appeals reversed the trial-court ruling against the Act and dismissed the cities’ challenge for lack of standing, leaving it in force. The Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division and the EEOC still enforce discrimination law, so criminal-record decisions must be job related.
How many years back can a Texas background check go?
Seven years for arrests, indictments and convictions under Texas Business and Commerce Code § 20.05, counted from disposition, release or parole, for positions paying under $75,000 a year; at $75,000 or more there is no Texas limit. The statute governs consumer reporting agencies and is enforced through private suits and the Texas Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division. In-home service and residential delivery companies must also obtain criminal history from DPS or a private vendor under Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 145, which presumes the company not negligent when that check shows no listed conviction in the prior 20 years for felonies or 10 years for Class A and B misdemeanors.
Can a Texas employer see an expunged or nondisclosed record?
No. An expunction under Code of Criminal Procedure ch. 55A removes the arrest from agency files, and an order of nondisclosure under Government Code § 411.0755 hides the record from private employers. In both cases the applicant may answer as though the case never happened. Only the agencies listed in § 411.0765, such as licensing boards, schools, healthcare regulators and law enforcement, may still receive nondisclosed records. The Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Records Division administers both systems.
Are there limits on employment credit checks in Texas?
Texas has no statute restricting employer credit checks. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act governs: a stand-alone disclosure, written authorization, a pre-adverse action notice with a copy of the report and the Summary of Your Rights, and a final adverse-action notice. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission enforce the FCRA. Because the EEOC treats non-job-related credit screens as a disparate-impact risk, limit them to positions with financial responsibility.
Can Texas employers ask about salary history?
Yes. Texas has no salary-history ban, and HB 2127 preempts cities from adopting one. Pay decisions must still comply with the federal Equal Pay Act and Texas Labor Code ch. 21, enforced by the Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division and the EEOC, so many employers set offers from the position’s range rather than prior pay.
What are the drug-testing rules for Texas employers?
No Texas statute restricts private-employer drug testing, and the Compassionate Use Program (Health & Safety Code ch. 487) provides no employment protection for low-THC cannabis patients. Employers should adopt a written policy; the Texas Workforce Commission publishes model drug-free workplace materials. DOT-regulated positions must follow 49 C.F.R. Part 40 and the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse rules, administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Is E-Verify mandatory in Texas?
Only for state agencies under Government Code ch. 673 and for state contractors under Executive Order RP-80. Private employers with no state contract are not required to enroll but may do so voluntarily through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Every employer must complete Form I-9 within three business days of the start date.
Does the Texas AI law affect hiring tools?
The Texas Responsible AI Governance Act (HB 149), codified at Business and Commerce Code § 552.056 and effective January 1, 2026, prohibits developing or deploying an AI system with the intent to unlawfully discriminate against a protected class, and states that a disparate impact alone is not enough to show intent. The Texas Attorney General has exclusive enforcement authority under § 552.101, with a 60-day cure period and no private right of action. It imposes no bias audit, candidate notice or impact assessment on hiring tools, but Title VII and the EEOC’s disparate-impact rules apply to any automated screen, so test your tools and keep a human decision-maker.
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This page is general information for employers, not legal advice. BCS Background Screening LLC is a consumer reporting agency, not a law firm. Texas statutes, local ordinances, and agency guidance change; confirm current requirements with employment counsel before adopting or changing a screening policy. Rules described as current were reviewed in September 2026.