Maryland background check laws draw from a mix of state statutes and federal rules that control when employers and landlords can ask about criminal history, credit, driving records, and online accounts, how they must get consent, and what they owe you if a report costs you the job or the apartment. The rules shift depending on employer size, the kind of job, and whether housing assistance is involved, and the penalties for getting them wrong come from several directions at once.
When Employers Can Ask About Criminal History
Maryland’s Fair Criminal Record Screening Act took effect on February 29, 2020. It bars employers with 15 or more full-time employees from asking about criminal history before the first in-person interview, and it applies to formal applications and informal early-stage questions alike.1Maryland Department of Labor. Ban the Box (Criminal Screening Practices) FAQs Once the interview happens, the employer can ask and can weigh what you tell them.
Smaller employers are not covered and may ask on the initial application. Size is not a free pass, though. Any criminal-history screening still has to connect to the duties of the job and be applied the same way to every applicant. A policy that sweeps out candidates on racial or national-origin lines without a business reason can draw a discrimination complaint even from an employer the ban-the-box rule does not reach.
Credit Checks in Hiring
Maryland’s Job Applicant Fairness Act keeps private employers from using credit reports or credit history in hiring, firing, or setting employment terms unless the job genuinely involves money or sensitive information. The recognized exceptions cover fiduciary roles like issuing payments or signing contracts, access to trade secrets or confidential business data, and handling significant financial assets.2Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 3-711 – Job Applicant Fairness Act Pulling credit for a job that fits none of those categories invites a legal challenge.
Social Media Passwords
Employers in Maryland cannot ask for or require user names, passwords, or other login credentials for your personal online accounts, and they cannot refuse to hire you or discipline you for saying no.3Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Labor and Employment 3-712 One exception exists: credentials for accounts tied to the employer’s own internal systems, such as a company email account or an internal communications platform. If an employer gets a tip that a worker used a personal account to download proprietary data or break securities rules, the law still allows an investigation of that specific conduct.
Driving Records
Jobs that involve driving give employers a lawful reason to request driving history through the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration. CDL-related requests require the employer to certify that a valid commercial driver’s license is a condition of employment.4Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration. Request for Motor Vehicle Administration Records DR-057 For non-CDL positions, the employer generally needs your written authorization or another qualifying document under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.5Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration. Driver and Vehicle Information – Reports and Documents
The record shows license status, violations, and suspensions. If the employer makes a hiring decision based on what it finds, the FCRA adverse action process applies the same way it does for a credit or criminal report. Errors on an MVA record can be challenged through a correction request to the MVA.
Industries That Require Fingerprint Checks
Some regulated fields in Maryland require fingerprint-based criminal background checks run through the state’s Criminal Justice Information System, with both a state criminal history search and a federal FBI check. A private background report from a third-party vendor does not substitute for this process in the covered fields.
Healthcare
Initial licensure as a registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, or certified nursing assistant requires a state and federal fingerprint-based check before the license or certificate issues. Electronic fingerprinting results come back in about a week; ink cards take three to four weeks. The fee is $57.25, paid to CJIS.6Maryland Department of Health. Fact Sheet: Criminal History Record Checks for NCLEX, Endorsement and 1st-time CNA Applicants Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants also face fingerprint-based checks for licensure.7Maryland Department of Health. Fingerprinting Requirements
Child Care
Federal law requires every state to screen all staff in licensed child care programs through state and federal checks. The required package includes an FBI fingerprint check, the National Sex Offender Registry, and the criminal, sex offender, and child abuse registries of every state the employee has lived in during the past five years. The check has to be done before hire and repeated at least every five years, and it covers teachers, directors, bus drivers, custodians, kitchen staff, and anyone else with unsupervised access to children.8Childcare.gov. Staff Background Checks
Cannabis and Drug Testing
Recreational cannabis became legal in Maryland for adults 21 and older on July 1, 2023. The legalization law left employer drug-testing programs alone. Employers can still ban cannabis on their property, test for it, and act on positive results. The procedural obligation is Maryland’s existing drug-testing statute, which calls for a certified testing facility, required notices, and a chance for an employee with a positive result to get a retest at their own expense. Medical cannabis patients have some protections under the medical program, but the scope of that shield in the workplace is unsettled, and employers can continue to enforce rules against on-the-job impairment.
Consent and Adverse Action Steps Employers Must Follow
Before running a background check through a consumer reporting agency, a Maryland employer has to get written consent from the applicant. The consent should sit on its own document, not inside the fine print of a general application. Combined forms that mix the authorization with liability waivers are a common defect that has driven class action settlements across the country.
If something in the report could lead to rejection, the employer has to send a pre-adverse action notice first. That notice includes a copy of the report and a summary of your rights under the FCRA, and it gives you a reasonable window to review and dispute what it says. Only after that waiting period can the employer send a final adverse action notice. Skipping straight to a rejection is a violation.
Maryland’s Personal Information Protection Act layers data security on top. A business that collects personal data through background checks has to safeguard it and limit access to authorized people. If a breach exposes personal information, the business must notify affected individuals within 45 days of discovery. A business holding records it does not own, such as a staffing agency carrying files for a client, has 10 days to notify the data owner.9Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code General Provisions 14-3504
What Landlords Can and Can’t Screen For
Landlords in Maryland can screen prospective tenants, but they have to work within both state and federal anti-discrimination rules. The Maryland Fair Housing Act bars discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and source of income.
Source of Income
The Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) Act of 2020 strengthened source-of-income protections. A landlord cannot refuse to rent, change the lease terms, or otherwise discriminate because of how a tenant earns or receives money. The definition is broad: housing choice vouchers, Social Security, SSI, disability payments, veteran’s benefits, child support, and alimony all count.10Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. Source of Income Guidance A blanket “no vouchers” policy violates Maryland law.
Credit and the FCRA Notice
Landlords routinely pull credit reports and face fewer state restrictions than employers do when they do it. Federal law still controls the process. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires written consent before accessing the report, and if the landlord denies the application or raises the deposit based on credit, they have to deliver an adverse action notice naming the reporting agency, stating that the agency did not make the decision, and explaining how to get a free copy and dispute inaccuracies.11Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports: What Landlords Need to Know Missing that notice is one of the most common FCRA mistakes landlords make and opens the door to a federal suit.
Criminal History
Landlords can look at criminal history, but blanket bans on anyone with a conviction carry real legal risk. HUD guidance warns that criminal-history barriers in housing fall harder on racial and ethnic minorities, and arbitrary exclusions can violate the Fair Housing Act.12National Association of REALTORS®. Fair Housing Act: Criminal History-Based Practices and Policies Individualized review, considering the offense, how long ago it was, and evidence of rehabilitation, is the safer approach.
Eviction Records
Eviction history is a frequent screening input, and much of it is unreliable. Many filings never produce a judgment against the tenant; cases get dismissed, settled, or withdrawn. A filing alone can still show on a screening report and sink an application. Legislation to seal filings that did not end in a landlord judgment has been introduced in the Maryland General Assembly, but key bills have been withdrawn or stalled. A landlord relying on an eviction record should confirm it reflects an actual judgment, not a filing that went nowhere.
Expungement and the Clean Slate Act
Maryland lets people petition to expunge certain criminal records, removing references from the CJIS Central Repository and the Maryland Judiciary Case Search. Once a record is expunged, employers and landlords cannot ask about it, and you can answer as if the event never happened.
Under Criminal Procedure Section 10-105, cases that ended in acquittal, dismissal, nolle prosequi, a stet, or probation before judgment are eligible, generally after a three-year waiting period. Section 10-110 covers certain convictions on longer schedules that depend on the offense.
The Clean Slate Act of 2026 (House Bill 360) would shift much of this to automatic processing. The Judiciary and the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services would have to expunge all eligible cases by July 1, 2028, then process newly eligible cases every month.13Maryland General Assembly. Criminal Procedure – Automated Expungement (Clean Slate Act of 2026) Non-conviction records under Section 10-105 would clear automatically three years after disposition. Eligible misdemeanor convictions under Section 10-110 would clear automatically after seven years, with exceptions for second-degree assault and domestically related crimes. A new conviction during the waiting period resets the clock. Employers and landlords should expect records they could once find through case search to begin disappearing on their own once the system is running.
Fixing Errors on a Background Report
Inaccurate reports derail applications more often than people realize, and the law gives you specific tools. Under the FCRA, if you dispute information with a consumer reporting agency, the agency has 30 days to investigate. The deadline can extend by up to 15 additional days if you provide new information mid-investigation, but only if the agency has not already found the data inaccurate or unverifiable.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy A confirmed error must be corrected, and anyone who recently received the report must be notified.
For errors in state-maintained criminal records, Maryland regulations let you ask the record custodian to correct the file. The custodian has 30 days to either fix the record or explain in writing why not.15Cornell Law School. Md. Code Regs. 12.11.05.04 – Response to a Request to Correct or Amend a Personal Record If an employer or landlord denied you based on a bad report, you can file with the Maryland Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division or pursue damages in court.
Penalties When the Rules Are Broken
Consequences come from several laws at once, and they add up quickly.
Willful FCRA violations expose employers and landlords to statutory damages of $100 to $1,000 per violation without any proof of actual harm, plus any actual damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees a court decides to award.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681n – Civil Liability for Willful Noncompliance Negligent violations allow recovery of actual damages and fees. Class actions have produced multimillion-dollar settlements, especially against employers using defective consent forms or skipping the pre-adverse action notice.
Violations of the Fair Criminal Record Screening Act and the Job Applicant Fairness Act can bring fines and enforcement by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office. Employers whose use of criminal or credit information falls harder on protected groups also face discrimination claims that can produce compensatory and punitive damages along with court-ordered policy changes.
Landlords who improperly deny housing based on criminal history, credit, or source of income face complaints with the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights or HUD. Federal Fair Housing Act penalties are adjusted periodically for inflation and climb for repeat violators. Maryland fair housing cases can produce damages for lost housing, emotional distress, and attorney’s fees. A landlord who also skipped the FCRA adverse action notice faces a separate federal cause of action on top of the fair housing claim.11Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports: What Landlords Need to Know