Does Allied Universal hire people with felonies?

What Allied Universal has said

Allied Universal security officer postings we opened say applicants are subject to a background investigation and a drug screen as a condition of employment, as permitted by law, and that Allied Universal will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable laws. Security officers also need whatever guard license or registration their state requires; where a state licenses guards, its licensing agency runs its own criminal history check. Allied Universal hasn't published how it weighs specific records.

• Fair-chance statement in a job posting

  Security officer postings in Alaska and Illinois say Allied Universal will consider qualified applications with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable laws.¹

Does Allied Universal do background checks?

Allied Universal runs background checks. Postings say applicants are subject to a background investigation, as a condition of employment, in line with federal, state and local law. Allied Universal's applicant privacy notice lists conducting criminal and background checks among the purposes for applicant data. Neither names a screening company.^1,2,3

• Criminal history

• How long a background check takes

Does Allied Universal drug test?

Allied Universal drug tests for some roles. The security officer postings we opened say applicants are subject to a drug screen to the extent permitted by law. Allied Universal hasn't published a company-wide drug-testing policy covering every role.^1,2

Rules for specific jobs

• Security officers (unarmed and armed)

  Postings say officers must be at least 18 for unarmed roles and 21 for armed roles, and that state or local licensing may be required before starting. One Alaska posting says Allied Universal can help applicants get a guard card.²

• Security officers in California (example of state guard licensing)

  As one example of state licensing, California's Bureau of Security and Investigative Services requires guard registration applicants to be at least 18 and to pass a criminal history check through the California DOJ and FBI using Live Scan fingerprints, plus required training. Other states have their own licensing agencies and rules.⁴

Your rights, and how far back a check can go

• Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), an employer must get your written permission before it gets a background report about you from a background screening company.^5,6,7
• Before an employer decides not to hire, keep, or promote you because of something in a background report, it must give you a copy of the report and a document called "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act."^5,6
• You have the right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information in your background report directly with the company that made it.^5,8
• The FCRA's seven-year limit does not apply to criminal convictions, so under federal law a conviction can show up on a background report no matter how old it is.^9,10
• Under the FCRA, background and credit reports generally cannot include arrest records, civil lawsuits, or civil judgments that are more than seven years old (or older than the statute of limitations, if that is longer).^9,11

Your full background check rights

Before you apply

• You can ask a background screening company for the information it has on you, and the CFPB keeps a list of consumer reporting companies, including employment screening companies, with their contact details.^5,8,12
• According to the Clean Slate Initiative, 14 states and Washington, D.C. have passed Clean Slate laws that meet its criteria for automatically clearing eligible records: Pennsylvania, Utah, New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan, Delaware, Virginia, California, Oklahoma, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Illinois, and Missouri, plus D.C.¹³
• The Federal Bonding Program, run by the U.S. Department of Labor, lets states give employers free fidelity bonds that protect them against losses from a newly hired worker's dishonest acts, for job seekers with past justice involvement or in recovery from substance use.^14,15

See whether you can clear your record in your state