NJ Criminal Background Check for Employment: Fingerprints and Rights

A New Jersey criminal background check for employment is almost always a fingerprint-based search run through IdentoGO and the State Bureau of Identification, and state and federal law tightly control when an employer can order one, what they can consider, and what they have to tell you before acting on the results. Most employers with 15 or more workers cannot ask about your record until after they have interviewed you and picked you as their first choice for the job, and even then, how they use what they find is limited.

When an Employer Can Ask About Your Criminal Record

New Jersey’s Opportunity to Compete Act, the state’s ban-the-box law, applies to any employer with 15 or more employees over 20 calendar weeks, including state and local government agencies. A covered employer cannot ask about your criminal history on a job application or at any point during the initial hiring process.¹

The timing rule is stricter than most applicants assume. An employer cannot inquire about your record until they have conducted a first interview, determined you are qualified, and selected you as their first choice to fill the position. In other words, the employer must already want to hire you before the background question comes up.¹

The Act also bars employers from asking about expunged records or records erased through an executive pardon, even later in the process.p>

Penalties climb with each violation: up to $1,000 for a first violation, up to $5,000 for a second, and up to $10,000 for each subsequent one. The Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development collects them through summary proceedings.¹

Jobs That Are Exempt

Some positions fall outside ban-the-box protection, and for these an employer can ask about your record from the start:

Law enforcement, corrections, judiciary, homeland security, and emergency management positions
Positions where a criminal history check is required by another law or regulation, or where a conviction would legally disqualify you from holding the job
Positions that are part of a program specifically designed to employ people with criminal records

The second category is large. Dozens of licensed professions overseen by the Division of Consumer Affairs require criminal history checks, including nursing, pharmacy, real estate appraisal, and dental practice.² Teachers and school employees also go through mandatory checks. If your field requires a license, the background check is typically built into the licensing process regardless of the Opportunity to Compete Act.

How the Fingerprint Process Works

Employment checks run through IdentoGO, New Jersey’s contracted fingerprinting vendor. The process begins with the Universal Fingerprint Form, which you or your prospective employer completes before scheduling. The form includes a service code identifying the type of check to run, and an incorrect code is the most common reason for delays.³

You schedule through IdentoGO’s online portal or call center, pay when you book, and bring government-issued photo ID to the appointment. A technician captures your fingerprints digitally and transmits them to the State Bureau of Identification, which searches its records and, when the service code authorizes it, forwards the prints to the FBI for a national search.³

Fingerprint-based checks link records to your unique biometric profile, which avoids the false matches that name-based searches can produce for common names. New Jersey generally requires the fingerprint method for employment.

What Appears on the Report

A New Jersey criminal background report from the State Bureau of Identification lists convictions in New Jersey courts and any pending arrests or charges, regardless of age. Expunged records are excluded.⁴

The report covers indictable offenses (New Jersey’s equivalent of felonies) and disorderly persons offenses (the equivalent of misdemeanors), with the charge and its disposition — conviction, dismissal, or acquittal — for each entry. If the submission includes an FBI check, out-of-state and federal records appear as well.

Cost and Turnaround

The total fee is typically around $66.05, though the exact amount depends on the service code for your specific check.⁵ Payment is due when you schedule the IdentoGO appointment, not at the service center.

If no record is found, results are usually available within about two business days. If a record does exist, the results are mailed rather than posted online, and you should allow up to 14 business days from the fingerprint date.⁶

Your Rights When a Third-Party Screener Runs the Check

Employers who use a private screening company rather than going directly through the State Bureau of Identification also have to follow the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. Before ordering the report, the employer must give you a standalone written disclosure explaining that a background check will be obtained for employment purposes, and you must authorize it in writing. The disclosure has to be its own document; consent language buried inside an application form or handbook does not satisfy the rule.⁷

Pre-Adverse Action Notice

If something in the report makes the employer reconsider hiring you, they cannot simply rescind the offer. They first have to send you a copy of the report and a written summary of your FCRA rights so you can review the report and flag errors before the decision is final.⁷

Final Adverse Action Notice

If the employer ultimately declines to hire you based on the report, they must send a final adverse action notice. It has to include the screening company’s name, address, and phone number, a statement that the screening company did not make the hiring decision, and notice of your right to request a free copy of the report and dispute inaccuracies within 60 days.⁸

How Employers Are Supposed to Weigh a Record

Access to your record is not the same as permission to use it however the employer wants. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission warns that blanket policies rejecting anyone with a criminal record can violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act when they disproportionately screen out applicants of a particular race or national origin.⁹

The EEOC expects employers to weigh three factors instead of applying a one-size-fits-all rule:

The seriousness of the offense and the harm it caused
How much time has passed since the offense or completion of sentence
The nature of the job and whether the past conduct is a real risk given the duties and work environment

The EEOC also recommends an individualized assessment for anyone screened out: telling you which conviction triggered the concern, giving you a chance to explain the circumstances, and considering evidence of rehabilitation such as employment history, education, or character references.⁹

Federal Jobs Follow a Different Rule

If you are applying for a federal civilian job or a position with a federal contractor, the federal Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, not New Jersey’s Opportunity to Compete Act, controls timing. Federal agencies cannot request criminal history information — written or oral — before extending a conditional offer of employment. Exemptions apply to positions requiring security clearance, sensitive national security roles, and federal law enforcement jobs. Complaints about a violation must be filed within 30 calendar days.¹⁰

Check and Clean Up Your Own Record First

You can pull your own New Jersey criminal history record through the State Police’s Personal Record Request portal before any employer sees it. It uses the same IdentoGO fingerprinting system. If no record is found, you can download a confirmation letter within about two business days; if a record exists, it comes by mail within up to 14 business days, and the download link stays active for 90 days from the fingerprint date.⁶

Reviewing your record first lets you catch errors or records that should have been expunged but weren’t, and address them before they derail an offer. Because expunged records are excluded from the report by rule, expungement is the single most effective step you can take if you have eligible records.⁴ New Jersey’s standard waiting periods run from five years for indictable offenses and disorderly persons offenses down to two years for municipal ordinance violations, with a separate three-year track for juvenile adjudications. A Clean Slate provision also allows expungement after ten years from your most recent conviction for people whose records don’t fit the standard categories, as long as none of the offenses fall into the narrow group of crimes permanently excluded from expungement.¹¹

Disputing Errors

If the check turns up something you believe is wrong and it was run by a third-party screening company, contact that company directly, explain the errors, and include supporting documents. The company must investigate and correct verified mistakes, and you can ask them to send the corrected report to the employer.¹² You have the right to a free copy of the report within 60 days of the employer’s decision. If the error is in the State Bureau of Identification’s own records, you’ll need to work through the New Jersey State Police to correct it, which may involve providing court documents such as dismissal orders or an expungement certificate.

1
New Jersey Legislature. New Jersey Code C.34:6B-11 to 34:6B-19 – The Opportunity to Compete Act
2
New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. Criminal History Review Unit
3
State of New Jersey. New Jersey Universal Fingerprint Form
4
Cornell Law Institute. New Jersey Administrative Code 13:59-1.2 – Dissemination for Noncriminal Justice Purposes
5
State of New Jersey. Live Scan Electronic Fingerprinting Process
6
New Jersey State Police. Personal Record Request
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1681m – Requirements on Users of Consumer Reports
9
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
10
U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Fair Chance to Compete Act Fact Sheet
11
Justia. New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 2C:52-5.3 – Clean Slate Expungement
12
Federal Trade Commission. Employer Background Checks and Your Rights