Jobs for Felons in Indiana

Indiana's ban-the-box rule comes from Executive Order 17-15 and covers state executive branch jobs. Those applications do not ask about convictions unless a specific crime rules you out of that job, and the background check typically comes later in hiring. The governor's 2025 review of executive orders lists it as still active.

Private employers are a different story. A state law says cities and counties cannot stop a private employer from asking about your record on the first application. So expect the question, and plan your answer.

Indiana limits how a worker's record can be used against an employer in a lawsuit over that worker's conduct. The record generally cannot come in as evidence if it has no direct relationship to the facts of the case, if it was sealed, expunged, pardoned or vacated before the events, or if it was only an arrest or charge with no conviction. An expungement order can also be used to show the employer used due care in hiring you. Say that in the interview.

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 Indiana law that shortens that for convictions that are not expunged. A background check company that reports an expunged Indiana conviction faces state penalties.

You petition the court. Waits are counted from the date of conviction unless the prosecutor agrees in writing to less: a misdemeanor (or a felony reduced to one), 5 years; a Class D or Level 6 felony, 8 years; most other felonies, 8 years or 3 years after the sentence ends, whichever is later. Serious felonies take 10 years or 5 years after the sentence, whichever is later, and need the prosecutor's written consent.

Some records can never be expunged under this law, including those of sex or violent offenders, homicide, human trafficking and sex offenses, felonies that caused a death, and two or more separate felonies involving unlawful use of a deadly weapon.

What expungement does depends on the level. Misdemeanors and Class D or Level 6 felonies are sealed: agencies cannot release them without a court order, except to police. More serious felonies stay public but are clearly marked “expunged.”

Once a record is expunged or sealed, it is unlawful discrimination in Indiana to refuse to hire you, or to deny you a license, because of it. Applications may ask about a record only in words that leave expunged ones out, such as “Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime that has not been expunged by a court?”

An employer who breaks that rule commits a Class C infraction, can be held in contempt of court, and can be ordered to stop. Law enforcement, probation and community corrections employers are partly exempt.

Indiana licensing boards must publish a specific list of disqualifying crimes. They cannot use vague standards like “moral turpitude” or “good character,” cannot count arrests without a conviction, and can use only crimes directly related to the work. For most crimes, the disqualification cannot last more than 5 years after the conviction (crimes of violence, sex offenses and new convictions are exceptions).

You can ask a board at any time whether your conviction will disqualify you. It must answer within 60 days of getting your petition and background check, and can charge up to $25.

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. We found no Indiana law that stops a private employer from using a record that is not expunged, so your real tools are expungement and picking the right employer.