Jobs for Felons in Ohio

Ohio's ban-the-box law covers public employers only: state agencies and local governments such as counties, townships and cities. They cannot put a criminal background question on the job application. They can still ask later in the process, and the application can tell you about specific laws that rule out people with certain convictions for that job. We found no statewide ban-the-box law for private employers.

A Certificate of Qualification for Employment (CQE) comes from the court. If an employer knew you had a CQE when it hired you, the certificate gives the employer immunity from a negligent-hiring lawsuit over you. Say that in the interview.

A CQE also creates a legal presumption that your convictions alone are not enough to call you unfit for the job or license, and it turns many automatic legal bars into ones the employer or board can look past. It does not erase or seal your record.

For a felony, you can generally apply 1 year after release from incarceration and supervision; for a misdemeanor, 6 months. The fee is $50, plus a local court fee of up to $50, and the court can waive all or part of the $50 fee if you file a poverty affidavit. You start online at the state's CQE portal (drccqe.com), and the petition goes to the court of common pleas.

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 drop off after seven years (the limits do not apply to jobs paying $75,000 a year or more). We found no Ohio law that shortens that for convictions, which is why sealing matters.

Ohio widened sealing and added expungement for adult records starting in April 2023, so people turned down before may qualify now. Waiting periods: 1 year after final discharge for misdemeanors and 4th- or 5th-degree felonies (6 months for a minor misdemeanor), and 3 years for one or two 3rd-degree felonies. A felony can be expunged 10 years after it becomes eligible to be sealed.

Some records cannot be sealed or expunged, including 1st- and 2nd-degree felonies, felony offenses of violence, registrable sex offenses, most offenses against a child under 13, traffic offenses, and first- or second-degree misdemeanor domestic violence.

Once a conviction is sealed, a job application can generally ask only about convictions that are not sealed, unless the question bears a direct and substantial relationship to the job. Expunged convictions cannot be asked about at all.

Before you train or apply, you can ask an Ohio licensing board whether your conviction disqualifies you. The board can charge up to $25 and must answer within 30 days.

State licensing boards cannot turn you down for a vague “moral character” reason. They may use only offenses directly related to the job, and for most non-violent offenses only for 5 years, counted from conviction or release, whichever is later.

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 Ohio law that stops a private employer from using a record, so your real leverage in Ohio is the CQE, sealing, and picking the right employer.