New Indiana Law Restricts Criminal History Information Reported in Background Checks Starting July 1

7-24-2012 Indiana:

Starting July 1, 2012, new legislation in Indiana – House Bill 1033 (HB 1033) – restricts criminal history reporting in background checks by prohibiting certain pre-employment inquiries, restricting the types of criminal history information that employers and background check report providers – also known as “Consumer Reporting Agencies” (CRAs) – can obtain from Indiana state court clerks, and restricting the types of criminal history information that CRAs can report to employers in background check reports. The full text of Indiana House Bill 1033 is available at: http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2012/HE/HE1033.1.html.

Effective July 1, 2012, HB 1033 allows Indiana residents with restricted or sealed criminal records to state on an “application for employment or any other document” that they have not been adjudicated, arrested, or convicted of the offense recorded in the restricted records. Covered employers are prohibited from asking an employee, contract employee, or applicant about sealed and restricted criminal records.

Also on July 1, 2012, HB 1033 restricts criminal history information of prospective and current employees that individuals, employers, and CRAs can obtain from Indiana state court clerks by prohibiting courts from disclosing information pertaining to alleged infractions where the individual:

---Is not prosecuted or if the action against the person is dismissed;
---Is adjudged not to have committed the infraction;
---Is adjudged to have committed the infraction and the adjudication is subsequently vacated; or
---Was convicted of the infraction and satisfied any judgment attendant to the infraction conviction more than five years ago.

In one year, effective July 1, 2013, HB 1033 will restrict criminal history information that “criminal history providers” – defined in the law as “a person or an organization that assembles criminal history reports and either uses the report or provides the report to a person or an organization other than a criminal justice agency or law enforcement agency” – obtain from the state by making them only provide information pertaining to criminal convictions. Criminal history providers such as CRAs will no longer be permitted to provide the following information in background check reports: ..For the rest of this article: by Tom Ahearn, ESR News Editor