Jobs for Felons in South Dakota

As far as we can find, South Dakota has no ban-the-box law for public or private employers, and no 2025 or 2026 law added one. An employer can ask about your record on the application, so plan your answer before you apply.

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 South Dakota law that shortens that for convictions.

Low-level cases do drop off your public record on their own. When a petty offense, city ordinance violation or Class 2 misdemeanor was the highest charge, the case is removed from your public record after 5 years if you met all court conditions and had no new conviction. Courts can still see it. Felonies stay unless sealed or pardoned.

On a first felony, a judge can hold off on entering a conviction and put you on probation instead. If you finish every condition, you are discharged, it does not count as a conviction, and the court seals the records. After that, you cannot be charged with lying for leaving it off when asked. You can get a felony SIS only once, and it is decided at sentencing, not something you apply for years later.

A pardon granted through the Board of Pardons and Paroles process frees you from “all disabilities” of the conviction, and the Governor orders the records sealed. You can then leave it off when asked, though it still counts if you are ever sentenced again. For an adult felony conviction without an SIS, a pardon is the main way to seal it.

You can ask the court to expunge an arrest record 1 year after the arrest if no charge was filed, 1 year after the prosecutor dismisses the whole case, or any time after an acquittal. There is no deadline to apply. Once expunged, the law puts you back where you stood before the arrest, and you cannot be charged with lying for not mentioning it “in response to any inquiry made of the person for any purpose.”

Since 2024, a South Dakota licensing board can act against you over a conviction only if the crime directly relates to the job, and even then it must consider whether you are rehabilitated. It cannot hold sealed, expunged or pardoned records against you or make you disclose them.

If a board plans to deny you over your record, it must tell you in writing, and you have 20 days to ask for a hearing where you can show the crime is not related and show your rehabilitation. You can also ask a board for a ruling before you apply.

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 South Dakota law limiting private employers, so your leverage is sealing (SIS, expungement, pardon) and picking the right employer.