Indiana background check laws draw from two sources at once: state statutes that decide who can pull a criminal history from the Indiana State Police, and the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, which governs any report a third-party screening company puts together for an employer or landlord. If you’re running checks, being checked, or trying to correct one, the rules that matter to you sit in Indiana Code Title 10, Article 13, Chapter 3 and in the FCRA.
What an Indiana Criminal History Check Actually Shows
The Indiana State Police runs the state’s criminal history database and processes limited criminal history requests. A limited criminal history report contains only felony and Class A misdemeanor arrests within Indiana.1Indiana State Police. Limited Criminal History Search Lesser misdemeanors, out-of-state records, and federal offenses will not appear. An online request costs $16.32, which breaks down to a $7.00 state fee plus a $9.32 online processing fee.2Indiana State Police. Criminal History Fee Schedule You can also submit a request in person at ISP headquarters in Indianapolis with a certified check or money order for $7.00.
For work with vulnerable populations, such as school employees, healthcare workers, and childcare providers, a fingerprint-based national criminal history check through the FBI is typically required instead of or in addition to the state check. Those checks cost more and take longer, but they pull records from every state.
Who Is Allowed to Pull Someone Else’s Record
Indiana law doesn’t let just anyone request another person’s criminal history. IC 10-13-3-27 lists the permissible reasons a noncriminal justice organization or individual can request a limited criminal history. The common ones are that the subject has applied for employment, applied for or holds a professional license, volunteered for work involving children, or is a candidate for public office.3Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code Title 10 Public Safety 10-13-3-27 The statute also covers welfare fraud investigations, people required to register as sex or violent offenders, and individuals involved in child welfare proceedings.
You can always request your own record. Doing this before a job search is a good idea, because it lets you spot and correct errors before an employer sees them.4Justia. Indiana Code 10-13-3 Criminal History Information
Employer Rules Under the FCRA
Any time an employer uses a third-party screening company to compile a background report, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act controls the process. The employer must get written consent on a standalone document before ordering the report.5Federal Trade Commission. Background Checks: What Employers Need to Know Consent buried inside a job application or employee handbook does not count.
The Two-Step Adverse Action Process
If an employer decides not to hire, or to fire, demote, or otherwise penalize a worker based partly or entirely on background check results, the FCRA requires two notices, not one. The first is a pre-adverse action notice that includes a copy of the report and a summary of the applicant’s rights under the FCRA. The applicant then gets a reasonable window, generally at least five business days, to review the report and dispute errors before the decision becomes final.
If the dispute doesn’t change the outcome (or there is no dispute), the employer sends a final adverse action notice. This second notice must say the decision has been made, identify the reporting agency, and explain that the agency didn’t make the decision and cannot explain it.5Federal Trade Commission. Background Checks: What Employers Need to Know The applicant has 60 days after receiving that notice to request a free copy of the file from the reporting agency.
Most FCRA violations happen right here. Employers send both notices at once, or skip the pre-adverse action notice entirely. Either shortcut breaks the law.
What About Ban-the-Box in Indiana?
Indiana’s Executive Order 17-15, effective July 2017, bars Executive Branch state agencies from asking about criminal history on job applications. Those agencies still run checks; they just do it later in the hiring process, after qualifications get a fair look. The order allows exceptions for positions where a specific conviction disqualifies someone by law.
The order only reaches state government employers. Indiana does not require private employers to delay criminal history questions, and the state has blocked local governments from imposing their own ban-the-box mandates on private businesses. Federal contractors do have to comply with the federal Fair Chance to Compete Act, which prohibits criminal history inquiries before a conditional offer for federal jobs and federal contract positions.6U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Fair Chance to Compete Act
Blanket Rejections and Title VII
Even without a ban-the-box law, the EEOC has warned that policies rejecting anyone with a criminal record can violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act if they disproportionately screen out applicants of a particular race or national origin. The EEOC recommends an individualized assessment based on three factors: the nature and seriousness of the offense, the time that has passed since the conviction or completion of the sentence, and the nature of the job.7Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions An employer who automatically rejects anyone with any felony, without weighing those factors, is taking a real legal risk.
Licensed Professions and School Employees
Indiana requires a fingerprint-based national criminal history check, run through the FBI, for anyone applying for an initial professional license in dozens of regulated occupations. Under IC 25-1-1.1-4, the applicant pays for the check and the Indiana State Police forwards results to the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency.8Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code Title 25 Professions and Occupations 25-1-1.1-4 Licensing boards can also require random background checks at renewal.
The affected professions go well beyond healthcare, including dentists, dental hygienists, chiropractors, athletic trainers, behavior analysts, social workers, clinical addiction counselors, genetic counselors, anesthesiologist assistants, health facility administrators, and acupuncturists.9Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. Criminal Background Checks The PLA does not run the checks; applicants arrange fingerprinting and submission themselves.
School employees face a separate process. IC 20-26-5-10 requires school corporations to adopt criminal history and child protection index check policies, and the legislature tightened those requirements in 2023.10Indiana Charter School Board. Criminal History and Child Protection Index Check Policy Employees who work with students typically undergo both a state and national criminal history check plus a check against Indiana’s child protection index.
Tenant Screening
Landlords in Indiana run background checks routinely, and the FCRA is again the main rulebook. If a landlord uses a third-party screening company, the landlord needs the applicant’s written consent, and a denial based on the report triggers the same adverse action notice requirements described above.11Federal Trade Commission. What Employment Background Screening Companies Need to Know About the Fair Credit Reporting Act
Indiana adds no state-level tenant screening requirements beyond federal law. The bigger risk for landlords is the federal Fair Housing Act: screening criteria applied inconsistently across applicants invite discrimination claims.
How Far Back a Report Can Go
The FCRA limits how far back a consumer reporting agency can look. Under 15 U.S.C. ยง 1681c, arrests that didn’t lead to a conviction cannot be reported once they are more than seven years old.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports The clock starts at the date of the arrest, not the disposition.
There is a large exception. The seven-year restriction does not apply to positions with an annual salary of $75,000 or more.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports For those jobs, older non-conviction arrest records can be reported. Convictions have no federal time limit at all, so a 20-year-old conviction can appear regardless of salary. Indiana has not enacted any state-level reporting limits beyond the federal baseline.
Pending cases are also reportable. A charge that hasn’t been resolved can appear no matter when the arrest occurred, because the case hasn’t yet resulted in a non-conviction.
Expungement and What It Erases
Indiana’s expungement statute, IC 35-38-9, lets people petition a court to seal or expunge records after a waiting period that depends on the offense. Arrests without conviction can be expunged one year after the arrest; misdemeanor convictions after five years; minor Class D or Level 6 felonies after eight years if the offense involved no bodily injury and the person is not a registered sex or violent offender; more serious felonies after eight years from conviction or three years from completion of the sentence, whichever is later; and the most serious felonies after ten years from conviction or five years from completion of the sentence, whichever is later.13Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-38-9 – Sealing and Expunging Conviction Records A prosecuting attorney can agree in writing to shorten any of these periods. To grant a petition, the court must find the required time has elapsed, no charges are pending, fines and restitution have been paid, and the person has not been convicted of another offense during the waiting period.14Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-38-9-3 – Expunging Minor Class D and Level 6 Felony Convictions
Once a record is expunged, it is unlawful to refuse employment, deny a license, expel, or otherwise discriminate against a person because of the expunged conviction. Employers can only ask about criminal history in terms that specifically exclude expunged records, such as, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime that has not been expunged by a court?” A person with an expunged record is legally treated as if the conviction never happened.15Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-38-9-10 – Effect of Expungement
Disputing Errors on a Background Report
Background reports contain errors more often than people expect: mismatched names, outdated records, dismissed charges still showing as open. Under the FCRA, you have the right to dispute inaccurate information with the reporting agency that compiled the report. The agency must reinvestigate free of charge and resolve the dispute within 30 days.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy Adding new information during that window gives the agency up to 15 extra days.
If the reinvestigation doesn’t fix things, you can file a brief statement of up to 100 words, and the agency must include it or a summary in future reports containing the disputed information.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy
You are entitled to a free copy of your file whenever someone takes adverse action against you based on a report, when you are an identity theft victim with a fraud alert on file, when you are unemployed and expect to apply for a job within 60 days, or when you are on public assistance. Beyond those situations, every consumer can request one free disclosure per year from each nationwide reporting agency.17Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act
Penalties for Getting It Wrong
Under the FCRA, willful noncompliance carries statutory damages between $100 and $1,000 per affected consumer, plus actual damages, attorney’s fees, and potentially punitive damages.18Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681n – Civil Liability for Willful Noncompliance Those figures apply per person, so an employer who skips the adverse action process for a batch of applicants can face claims from every one of them.
Negligent violations are lighter but still costly. A reporting agency or employer that negligently fails to comply is liable for the consumer’s actual damages plus attorney’s fees and court costs.19Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681o – Civil Liability for Negligent Noncompliance Running checks without written consent because you didn’t know the rule is negligence; knowing and doing it anyway is willful.
State-level consequences hit organizations that skip required checks for positions involving vulnerable populations. Schools that fail to conduct required criminal history and child protection index checks face disciplinary action, and the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency can suspend or revoke a license when licensed professionals or their employers don’t meet the check requirements. Those administrative penalties are independent of any FCRA claim.