Jobs for Felons in Delaware

Delaware's ban-the-box law covers public employers: the State, its agencies and local governments. They cannot ask about or consider your record during the initial application process, up to and including the first interview.

After that, a public employer can look at your record, but it can disqualify you only if the exclusion is job related and consistent with business necessity, weighing how serious the offense was, how long ago it was, and the job. Police, corrections, the courts, prosecutors, public defenders and jobs where a law requires a check are exempt.

As far as we can find, Delaware's ban-the-box law does not reach private employers, so a private employer can ask about your record on the application. Plan your answer, and clear what you can first.

Under federal law, a background check company can report a conviction no matter how old it is. Arrests that did not lead to a conviction generally drop off after seven years (the limit does not apply to jobs paying $75,000 a year or more). We found no Delaware law that shortens that for convictions. Expungement is what takes a case off the record.

Since August 1, 2024, the State Bureau of Identification checks every month for cases that qualify for mandatory expungement and expunges them without an application. What qualifies:

• Cases that ended in your favor (acquittal, dismissal, nolle prosequi)
• Violations, after 3 years
• Misdemeanors and drug possession, after 5 years, with no other disqualifying convictions
• Certain lower-level felonies (such as some drug-property offenses, second degree forgery and unlawful use of a payment card), 10 years after conviction or release

Domestic violence crimes, crimes against children or vulnerable adults, and a list of other misdemeanors are excluded. Do not assume yours was done: check with the courts or legal aid.

For other felonies, you can petition the Superior Court (or Family Court) 7 years after the conviction or your release, whichever is later, if you have no other convictions. Violent felonies and some other offenses are excluded. Misdemeanors not covered by automatic expungement can be petitioned after 3 years (7 for the excluded list). The judge decides.

Fines, fees and restitution must be paid first. But if you are behind for reasons other than willful nonpayment, the court can still grant expungement and waive the fines and fees or turn them into a civil judgment. You also cannot be on probation, parole or in custody when you apply.

You do not have to tell anyone, and should not be asked, about the expunged arrest, charge or conviction. Police and courts must answer outside requests with “no record.” Applying for a job with a law enforcement agency is the main exception.

Federal EEOC guidance from 2012 warns employers that blanket “no felons” policies can violate Title VII, but since April 2025 a federal executive order has told agencies to deprioritize this kind of case. For private jobs in Delaware, your leverage is expungement (often automatic now) and picking the right employer.