Jobs for Felons in Maine

Maine's ban-the-box law covers private employers and cities and towns. An employer cannot ask about your record on its first application form, and cannot say in a job ad or on the application that people with a record need not apply.

It can ask in an interview, or once you are found otherwise qualified. When it does, it has to give you a chance to explain, including what you have done since (your rehabilitation).

Limits: this law does not cover state government jobs. And an employer can ask on the application about specific offenses when a federal or state law bars people with those convictions from the job.

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). Maine's 2026 law below adds rules about how current and accurate those records must be.

Since July 29, 2026, background check companies in Maine must use up-to-date records: updated within 30 days of receiving them, or checked with the source within the last 90 days. Reports must show when the record was collected and warn that it may since have been sealed.

If you dispute a record, the company must investigate for free, tell you the result within 30 days, and delete a record that has been sealed or pardoned. A company that breaks these rules owes you $1,000 or your actual damages, whichever is more, plus attorney's fees.

You can ask the court to seal a Class E crime (Maine's lowest level, not counting certain sex offenses), and certain marijuana crimes committed before January 30, 2017. You can file 4 years after you fully complete the sentence, if you have had no new conviction or deferred disposition since and have no pending charges anywhere. The court holds a hearing.

Once a conviction is sealed, you can leave it off when an employer asks, without breaking Maine law. Police, prosecutors, licensing boards, financial institutions that must run checks, and employers required by law to run fingerprint checks can still see it. A new conviction unseals it.

A conviction is not an automatic bar to a Maine state license. Boards can consider only certain convictions: those punishable by a year or more, and lesser ones that involve dishonesty or directly relate to the work. Convictions that were set aside or fully pardoned do not count.

After 3 years from your final discharge from the correctional system, with no new convictions, most boards must treat you like someone with no record. For medical, nursing, dental, counseling, pharmacy, EMS, massage and several other health boards, the period is 10 years.