Jobs for Felons in Minnesota

A Minnesota employer, public or private, cannot ask about, consider, or make you disclose your criminal record until you have been picked for an interview. If there is no interview, it has to wait until it makes you a conditional job offer.

The rule does not apply to the Department of Corrections or to employers that have a legal duty to run a background check or consider records, such as some school, care and transportation jobs. Employers may also tell applicants up front that the law or their policy rules out certain records for certain jobs.

If an application asks about your record, you do not have to answer. You can report it to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights through its online form. The rule also covers Minnesota jobs at companies headquartered in another state.

The Department investigates private employers and can fine them: up to $100 per violation for employers with 10 or fewer workers at a Minnesota site, up to $500 for 11 to 20, and up to $500 per violation (capped at $2,000 a month) for more than 20. That fine is the only remedy; this law does not give you a lawsuit.

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 Minnesota law that shortens that for convictions.

If a background check company knows a record was sealed, expunged or pardoned, it must delete it promptly. If you dispute a record, it must investigate for free and tell you the result within 30 days. A company that breaks this rule owes you $1,000 or your actual damages, whichever is more, plus attorney fees. A company that follows the federal background check law is treated as following this one, so check whether this applies to your case with legal aid.

Minnesota limits when an employee's record can be used against an employer in a lawsuit over something the employee did, for example a record that was sealed or pardoned before the incident, or an arrest with no conviction. The protection is narrow (it is tied to jobs that do not put others at extra risk, and it does not override laws that require background checks), so treat it as a talking point, not a guarantee.

For public jobs and state or local licenses, a conviction cannot count against you unless it directly relates to the job or license. Even then, you get to show rehabilitation and present fitness. Under a 2026 update (in effect since May 19, 2026), the authority may consider an honorable military discharge after the conviction, a release order plus at least one year out without a new conviction, a discharge from probation or parole, proof you finished a treatment program, and letters of reference.

If you are turned down because of a conviction, you must be told in writing why, how to file a complaint, the earliest date you can reapply, and that rehabilitation evidence will be considered when you do.

The public-job and licensing rules do not apply in some fields, including police and peace officer licensing, fire agencies, private detective and security licenses, school districts and teacher licenses, and, for certain serious offenses in the last 10 years, school bus drivers, EMS workers and taxi licenses.

Minnesota's Clean Slate Act took effect January 1, 2025, and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) began automatically sealing records in June 2025. No petition needed.

It covers cases dismissed or decided in your favor, finished diversion or stay of adjudication for a non-felony (after 1 year with no new charge), and convictions for most petty misdemeanors and misdemeanors (after 2 years with no new conviction), most gross misdemeanors (3 years), fifth-degree drug possession felonies (4 years), and a specific list of lower-level felonies (5 years), counted from the end of the sentence. It does not cover most felonies. Many offenses are left out, including DWI, domestic assault, harassment and several sex offenses.

Clean Slate does not seal records held by the state human services, health, and children, youth and families agencies. Those can still come up in background studies for care jobs. To reach them you have to file a petition.

You can ask the court 2 years after finishing a misdemeanor sentence, 3 years for a gross misdemeanor, and 4 years for felonies on the state's list (5 years for some felonies later reduced), with no new conviction in that time. Offenses that require predatory offender registration cannot be expunged.

For a conviction, the judge weighs your case. You must show by clear and convincing evidence that the benefit to you outweighs the costs to the public, and the judge looks at your rehabilitation and your attempts to get work or housing. Bring proof of your job search. The filing fee can be waived if you cannot afford it.

A prosecutor can agree to seal a record, and then the court generally seals it without a petition. Some county prosecutors take online applications for help. Check with your county attorney's office whether this applies to you.

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. In Minnesota, the state ban-the-box law and record sealing do more of the practical work.