Jobs for Felons in Washington

Washington's Fair Chance Act covers private and public employers, including contractors, temp staffing agencies, apprenticeship programs and job placement agencies.

Since July 1, 2026, an employer with 15 or more employees cannot ask about your record, on the application or out loud, or run a background check, until it has decided you are otherwise qualified and made you a job offer conditioned on the check.

Employers with fewer than 15 employees still follow the older rule: no record questions or checks until they decide you are otherwise qualified. Starting January 1, 2027, they must also wait until they make you a conditional offer.

Job ads cannot say “no felons” or “no criminal background,” or anything like it. An employer cannot have a policy that automatically shuts out everyone with a record, and cannot reject you for not mentioning your record before a conditional offer.

An employer cannot turn you down or fire you over an arrest that did not lead to a conviction, or over a juvenile record. This does not cover a pending adult arrest while you are out on bail or released pending trial.

To turn you down over an adult conviction, an employer needs a legitimate business reason. First it must tell you which record it is relying on. Then it must hold the job open at least 2 business days so you can correct or explain the record and show your rehabilitation, work history, education and training. If it still says no, it must give you a written decision with its reasoning.

Those 2 business days are yours. Have your explanation and your proof ready before the check comes back.

Under the 2025 amendments, if an employer tells you the job needs a background check after an offer, or you bring up your record yourself in an interview, the employer must right away give you a written notice of your Fair Chance Act rights and the Attorney General's Fair Chance Act guide. This follows the same schedule as the rest of the 2025 changes: employers with 15 or more employees now, smaller employers from January 1, 2027.

The Fair Chance Act does not apply to jobs with unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults, jobs where another federal or state law requires or allows a record check (including some financial jobs), police and criminal justice agencies, volunteers, securities firms, and some federal contract jobs.

The Washington Attorney General enforces the Fair Chance Act, and anyone can file a complaint: email fairchancejobs@atg.wa.gov, call 833-660-4877, or use the online form on the AG's Fair Chance Act page. There is no private lawsuit under this law. The AG complaint is the path.

The 2025 amendments raised the penalties: up to $1,500 for a first violation, $3,000 for a second, and $15,000 for each one after that, counted per job seeker, and the money goes to the job seeker. The AG can waive a first or minor violation and give the employer a warning instead.

Seattle has its own Fair Chance Employment Ordinance for employers in the city, in effect since 2013. According to the city, it limits record questions and background checks until after an initial screening, bans “felons need not apply” ads, and requires a legitimate business reason and a chance to explain before a denial. The state law now makes employers with 15 or more workers wait even longer, until a conditional offer.

Spokane's fair chance hiring code covers employers in city limits. They cannot ask about or check your record before an interview (in person, phone or video) or a conditional offer, and cannot run “no felons” ads.

Since May 25, 2025, Spokane employers also cannot ask about your housing status (asking for a mailing address is allowed), and cannot reject you just because you have no fixed address or are unhoused. The one exception: when housing status has a real, legitimate connection to the main duties of the job.

Washington law bars a background check company from reporting adult arrests, charges or convictions more than 7 years old (counted from disposition, release or parole). But that limit does not apply to jobs paying $20,000 a year or more, which is most full-time jobs. For most people the stronger tools are the Fair Chance Act's timing rules and vacating the record.

After you are discharged, you can ask the court that sentenced you to vacate the conviction. For a class C felony you need 5 years, and for a class B felony 10 years, since the later of your release or your sentencing, with no new conviction.

Most violent offenses and felony DUI cannot be vacated. Second-degree assault, third-degree assault (not against an officer) and second-degree robbery can be, if there was no firearm, deadly weapon or sexual motivation enhancement.

Once a conviction is vacated, you can say on a job application that you were never convicted of that crime, and the State Patrol and local police cannot share it except with other criminal justice agencies.

Misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors can also be vacated by the sentencing court. You must have finished the sentence, including paying financial obligations, and have no pending charges. Other limits and waiting periods apply, so check with legal aid or the court forms before you file.

A CROP is a court certificate. It stops most state and local licensing agencies from turning you down only because of your record. It also protects an employer who hires you: your crime cannot be used as evidence of the employer's negligence. It does not force anyone to hire you.

For a class B or C felony you can generally apply 2 years after sentencing (if you were not locked up) or after release. For a violent offense, 5 years. Many licenses are excluded, including nursing, teaching, security guard and real estate.

A felony alone does not disqualify you from a state or local government job or a state or local license. It can be used against you only if it directly relates to the job or license and is less than 10 years old. Schools, jobs with access to children, and health professions follow other rules.

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 Washington, the state Fair Chance Act, enforced by the Attorney General, does much of that work.