In the 2025 legislative session, Washington State expanded its Fair Chance Act to impose additional limits on employers’ criminal background inquiries of applicants and employees. The changes go into effect for medium and large employers in July 2026 and for small employers in January 2027. Employers who have employees working in Seattle have already been subject to most of these requirements and restrictions; the new state law supplements the Seattle requirements and applies to employers throughout the State.

Get ready for the following changes…

• Unless otherwise required, criminal history inquiries can now only be triggered once an offer of employment has been made. Previously, an employer could initiate an inquiry prior to an offer IF a candidate was deemed “otherwise qualified.” No longer. An actual offer has to be extended even if a “conditional” offer.
• If in the process of vetting a candidate they voluntarily disclose a conviction (prior to an offer), the employer must immediate notify them of the law a provide them with a copy of Attorney General Fair Chance Act guide. 
• Once receiving information about a candidate’s criminal history, an employer cannot use pre-described disqualifiers unless specifically permitted by law.  Each candidate must be individually assessed, not considered part of a group.
• The fact that a candidate has a pending or prior arrest record can not be considered. It must be a conviction.
• If the record shows that a candidate has been convicted of a crime, there must be a legitimate business reason for denying their employment.

Individualized Assessment

Washington employers will now be required to follow a specific individualized assessment process before being able to deny employment.

• The candidate must be informed of all records or other forms of information used by the employer to support it’s employment decision.
• If a background check comes back showing an incident, the position must be held open for a minimum of two business days as a way to provide a reasonable period to go thru the individual assessment factors which include – records of rehabilitation, good conduct, work experience, education, training, etc.  
•  If a candidate is rejected or a conditional offer rescinded, they must be given a written notification of that decision, including copies of specific documents that detail the relevant factors and and the business impact.

Allowable Exclusions…

There will be certain exclusions to these requirements…..

• Certain federal contract recipients.
• Jobs with unsupervised access to children under 18, vulnerable adults, or vulnerable persons as defined by statute.
• Financial institutions that are expressly permitted or required under federal or state law to inquire into, consider, or rely upon information about an individual’s criminal record for employment purposes.

All restrictions on the use of criminal background information will apply to candidates applying for Washington-based employment, regardless of whether an employer is based in Washington.

FINAL THOUGHTS – How to get Ready!

Most employers have until July 2026 for this law to go into effect – smaller employers until January 2027. We recommend the following steps to get ready for this change:

• Review recruitment processes to ensure hiring managers or recruiters  
  • Do not request criminal background information before a conditional offer of employment is made
  • The communication processes used to deal with candidate rejections based on criminal background information are fully compliant
  • Are trained to do individual assessments of criminal background issues
• Review your contracts with all third-party staffing or criminal background check companies to ensure their service processes are in compliance with required changes