Clearing your record in California — and making the background check catch up
California seals eligible records automatically, without you filing anything. It also does not write to tell you it has happened, and it does not notify the background-check companies. So a large number of California residents are already sealed and still failing background checks.
Find out what yours says
We file your free federal file-disclosure requests with every major screening company and tell you which items are disputable in California.
Cancel in one click. One-time audit also available.
What California clears automatically
Automatic relief elements under SB 731 for many convictions after the sentence is complete and no new offence occurs.
Why sealing alone does not fix your background check
- 01Sealing binds the court, not a private databaseA California sealing order restricts the court's copy and usually the state repository. Screening companies bought the record in a bulk data purchase, often years earlier, and hold their own cached copy in another state.
- 02Nobody notifies themThere is no feed, no central registry of sealings, and no obligation on the court to inform a company that already has the data.
- 03So they keep selling itUntil you serve a written dispute. Federal law then requires reinvestigation within 30 days, and a sealed record cannot lawfully be reported.
- 04And it can come backBecause they keep re-buying court data. This is why correction has to be a standing process rather than a one-off letter.
Find out whether California has already sealed your record. Pull your state criminal history from the California repository, and separately pull your file from the major screening companies. Comparing the two tells you exactly where the gap is.
That comparison is step one of Fair Chance, and it is the step that tells most people something they did not know.
What a California employer may and may not ask
California restricts how private employers may use criminal history. Knowing the rule changes how you handle the application and what you can do about a rejection.
California Fair Chance Act — individualised assessment and written notice required before adverse action.
- Los Angeles
- San Francisco
Local rules are frequently stricter than the state floor. If you applied in one of these, check the local ordinance first.
What every employer owes you, in every state
- A standalone written disclosure before they pull a report — it may not be buried in the application.
- Your written authorisation before the report is obtained.
- A pre-adverse-action notice with a copy of the report and a summary of your FCRA rights before they reject you because of it.
- A real opportunity to respond and correct errors before the decision is final.
- A final adverse-action notice naming the agency that supplied the report.
A large share of employers skip the pre-adverse-action notice. If you were rejected after a background check and never received a copy of the report, that is itself a violation — and it is why you never got the chance to point out the record was sealed.
See your file
You may demand a full disclosure of everything a consumer reporting agency holds on you. It is free once every 12 months, and free any time you have been denied employment or housing because of a report. Almost nobody exercises this, which is why most people never find out what their background check actually says.
Dispute what's wrong
On a written dispute the agency must reinvestigate and resolve within 30 days. If an item is inaccurate, incomplete, or cannot be verified, it must be deleted. A certified copy of an expungement or sealing order is the strongest possible attachment.
Maximum possible accuracy
An agency must follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy, and must have procedures preventing the reporting of records that have been expunged, sealed, or otherwise legally restricted from public access.
The companies reporting on you in California
Employment screening is national, so the same handful of agencies produce nearly every report regardless of your state. Each holds its own database, so each needs its own dispute.
- Checkr
- Sterling
- HireRight
- First Advantage
- Accurate Background
- Cisive
- GoodHire
- Equifax Workforce Solutions (The Work Number)
- IntelliCorp
- Info Cubic
- ADP Screening and Selection Services
- Certn
- Shareable for Hires (Experian)
California privacy rights
People-search sites publish arrest records alongside your home address, and they are not consumer reporting agencies — so federal dispute rights do not reach them. Removal does.
Elsewhere
This page is general information about California law and federal law, not legal advice. ScrubMyInfo is not a law firm. Eligibility and procedure turn on the facts of your case — check the primary source or speak to counsel before relying on anything here.