Houston Background Check: A Complete Guide for Employers [2025]

Employers in Houston must confirm their job candidates are safe, trustworthy, and qualified before hiring them.

Houston-based employers conduct background checks to make smarter hiring decisions, prevent losses, protect current employees and customers, and reduce liability risks.

As an experienced employment screening company, iprospectcheck routinely conducts background checks for employers in Houston and across the state of Texas.

We’ve written this guide to explain what you should know about Houston background checks, the laws that apply to the screening process, and how to conduct them.

What is a Houston Employment Background Check?

A Houston employment background check involves researching an applicant’s qualifications, educational attainment, employment history, and criminal record to confirm their qualifications, safety, and trustworthiness.

Houston employers complete background checks to ensure they make better hiring decisions and protect their brand, employees, and customers.

Why Do Houston Employers Perform Background Screens?

Houston employers perform background screens for a variety of reasons, including the following.

1. Comply with State and Federal Regulatory Requirements

Employers in certain industries, including healthcare, transportation, education, and social services, are required to investigate the backgrounds of candidates before hiring them.

This is a legal requirement in multiple industries, and failing to complete background checks in accordance with the regulatory requirements could result in stiff fines and other penalties.

2. Protect the Safety of the Public and the Workplace

Performing background checks helps Houston employers avoid hiring applicants who might threaten the safety of their current employees, customers, and members of the public.

Employment background checks identify disqualifying convictions and records of unsafe behavior the applicants have engaged in previously.

3. Reduce Risks of Liability

Conducting background checks helps employers minimize risks of liability.

By screening out dangerous and unqualified applicants, background checks reduce the risk that others might file lawsuits based on harm caused by the company’s employees.

4. Facilitate a Positive Work Environment

Conducting background checks shows existing employees that employers value qualified individuals and prioritize a positive work environment, which can reduce turnover rates.

5. Protect the Company’s Brand

Background checks help employers choose new hires who will best represent the company and prevent potential damage to the company’s brand caused by poor hiring decisions.

What Shows up on a Houston Background Check?

Criminal History

Criminal background checks reveal the following information when an applicant has a criminal record:

• Criminal case number
• Offense date
• Type of offense
• Severity level (misdemeanor or felony)
• Disposition and disposition date
• Sentence information

Expunged records cannot be inquired about or reported.

Employment Verification

Employment verification provides details about an applicant’s prior employment, including employer names and addresses, employment dates, and positions held.

Education Verification

Education verification confirms an applicant’s educational history, including the names, addresses, and locations of schools attended, the applicant’s attendance dates, and conferred degrees or diplomas.

Professional License Verification

Professional license verification validates an applicant’s credentials and provides the following information:

• License number
• Issuance date
• Type of license
• Expiration date
• Public discipline or sanctions

Identity Verification

Identity verification confirms that an applicant is who they claim to be and that the records belong to them and not someone else.

Verifying the identity of your applicants helps to avoid confusing them with others who share similar names.

Laws and Regulations

Federal Laws

Fair Credit Reporting Act

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) provides federal protection for people’s privacy in the information collected and disseminated by consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) to creditors and employers when compiling background check reports.

The FCRA includes a seven-year rule restricting the reporting of the following information for jobs offering annual salaries of under $75,000:

• Arrests that didn’t lead to convictions
• Paid tax liens
• Civil lawsuits and judgments
• Certain bankruptcies (Chapter 13 – 7 years; Chapter 7 – 10 years)

The seven-year restriction doesn’t apply when employers hire for jobs paying more than $75,000 per year. The rule also doesn’t apply to the reporting of conviction information, employment history, or education history.

The FCRA also covers employers that rely on employment background check reports obtained from CRAs to make hiring decisions.

Employers who learn negative information about an applicant from a background check must fulfill the steps of the FCRA adverse action process before making a final decision not to hire an applicant.

Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act

The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act is a federal law that controls the hiring process for federal contractors and with which companies federal agencies can contract.

This is a federal fair chance hiring law that prohibits companies that want to pursue federal contracts from inquiring about the criminal records of applicants before they make conditional employment offers.

Federal agencies are prohibited from contracting with companies that violate the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act by inquiring about criminal history information earlier in the hiring process.

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act is a sweeping anti-discrimination law that prohibits employment discrimination based on the protected statuses of applicants and employees.

This law applies to employment background checks when they reveal criminal convictions or arrests.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued enforcement guidance for how employers should treat criminal history information on background checks.

Under this guidance, employers should individually assess criminal history information as it relates to the position for which the candidate is being considered before deciding not to hire based on that information.

State Laws

Texas primarily follows the FCRA and Title VII.

The state has not enacted a statewide ban-the-box law, although some counties and cities, including Harris County, have adopted their own.

However, employers should understand the state’s expunction and mini FCRA laws.

Texas Expunction Law

Texas has an expunction law that allows individuals with certain criminal records to request the court order them expunged from their records found in Tex. Code Crim. Proc. § 55.01. However, Texas’s law is much more limited than expungement laws in other states.

Under the state’s expunction law, people can only seek an expunction of Class C misdemeanors that resulted in deferred adjudications or offenses at any level for which the applicant received a dismissal, pardon, or acquittal.

Any expunged record will not appear on a criminal background check for employment, and applicants do not have to disclose expunged criminal records on applications or during interviews.

Texas Mini-FCRA

Texas passed a consumer privacy law in 1997 that largely follows the FCRA. This law is found in Tex. Bus. & Comm. Code § 20.05 and holds that CRAs can’t report conviction records that are seven or more years old for jobs paying under $75,000 per year.

This law does provide an exception when a position offers a salary of at least $75,000. In that case, CRAs can report conviction records back to when the applicant was age 18.

While this law places a seven-year restriction on the reporting of older convictions for most jobs, this state law was preempted by the FCRA.

The FCRA doesn’t restrict the reporting of convictions regardless of age. While the Texas mini-FCRA has been preempted, some CRAs still follow Texas’s seven-year rule and won’t report older convictions unless the position pays at least $75,000 per year.

Texas Regulatory Consistency Act

The Texas Regulatory Consistency Act is a new law that made sweeping changes in Texas.

Signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in June 2023, the TCRA is effective on Sept. 1, 2023.

The TCRA is a state preemption law that invalidates all local laws that go further than what state laws provide.

This law invalidates many county and city ordinances and rules, including ban-the-box laws, fair chance hiring policies, labor ordinances, and more.

The TCRA means that Harris County’s Fair Chance Hiring Policy will no longer be effective as of Sept. 1, 2023.

County and Municipal Ordinances

Harris County Fair Chance Hiring Policy: Preempted

In January 2022, Harris County adopted its fair chance hiring policy by a close 3-2 vote.

This policy required public employers to wait until after making conditional job offers before conducting criminal background checks on applicants.

However, the enactment of the TCRA invalidates this policy.

Public employers in Harris County will no longer have to follow the county’s fair chance hiring policy and can complete criminal background checks at any time during the hiring process.

Employers must continue to follow the federal laws, including the FCRA and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when completing pre-employment background checks, however.

If a public employer seeks a federal contract, it will also need to comply with the FCA, which requires federal contractors to wait to ask about criminal history until after offering the applicant a position.

How to Conduct Compliant Background Checks in Houston, TX

1. Implement a Background Check Policy

If your company intends to complete pre-employment background checks to make hiring decisions, you should implement a background check policy to ensure your HR staff follows federal, state, and county laws when conducting background checks.

Your policy should include specific steps your HR staff should follow when conducting background checks.

2. Follow Notice and Consent Requirements

The FCRA requires you to notify applicants that your company conducts background checks before you initiate them.

Your notice must be on a standalone form to ensure applicants will see it.

You must also obtain your applicants’ signed consent before you can conduct background checks.

3. Choose an Employment Screening Provider

While you can conduct an employment background check on your own, it is generally not a good idea.

It can take several weeks to receive information from different agencies, former employers, colleges, and other information sources to compile a comprehensive background check, and the information might not be accurate or current.

Most employers choose employment screening companies to complete background checks.

When you consider different companies, you should choose a company like iprospectcheck that has a good reputation, is reliable, legally compliant, and offers seamless integration with your company’s ATS.

The provider you choose should also integrate FCRA requirements, provide mobile access to applicants, offer flexible packages and pricing, and have fast turnaround times.

With iprospectcheck, for example, comprehensive reports often take as little as a few hours.

4. Time Your Background Checks

While Texas has not enacted a statewide ban-the-box law, Harris County has enacted a Fair Chance Hiring Policy that applies to public employers.

Even as a private employer, it’s smart to wait to conduct criminal background checks until after you have extended conditional job offers to your candidates.

As ban-the-box and fair chance hiring policies continue to be adopted by cities, counties, and states, waiting to conduct background checks can be a proactive step to ensure you will be in compliance if the law changes.

While other types of checks can be conducted earlier in the process, it is generally more cost-effective to delay comprehensive background checks until after a job offer has been made.

5. Choose Relevant Background Checks

Once you have chosen a screening provider, you should review the various packages they offer and select only the specific reports that are relevant.

The reports you choose might vary based on your industry, the authority of the position, and other factors.

6. Complete an Individual Assessment of Conviction Records

If an applicant’s background check reveals a conviction record, complete a fair and individualized assessment of the information as it pertains directly to the job’s requirements and responsibilities.

Avoid blanket exclusions based on convictions and consider factors such as the nature of the offense, its relevance to the position, and the time elapsed since the conviction.

7. Communicate the Results

Once you receive the reports, you’ll need to communicate the results to the applicants.

8. Follow the Adverse Action Process

If an applicant’s background check uncovers concerning information or convictions, follow the necessary steps outlined in the adverse action process, including:

1. Provide the applicant with a pre-adverse action notice.
2. Give the applicant an opportunity to respond and provide additional information.
3. Send a final adverse action notice and a copy of the applicant’s rights if you ultimately decide against hiring them.

Turn to iprospectcheck for Reliable Houston Background Checks

Employers in Houston understand the importance of conducting thorough background checks as part of their hiring process.

By partnering with iprospectcheck, Houston employers can access reliable and comprehensive background check services tailored to their specific needs.

To learn more about how iprospectcheck can assist you with Houston background checks and to receive a free quote, contact us today at (888) 509-1979

DISCLAIMER: The resources provided here are for educational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult your counsel if you have legal questions related to your specific practices and compliance with applicable laws.