Does AT&T hire people with felonies?

What AT&T has said

AT&T is a member of the Second Chance Business Coalition and was named among the companies that had joined when the coalition launched in April 2021. Its careers site calls AT&T a fair chance employer and says it does not start a background check until an offer is made. AT&T has not published its drug testing policy or what its background check covers.

• Second Chance Business Coalition member

  Listed as a member of the Second Chance Business Coalition.¹

• Founding member of the Second Chance Business Coalition

  Named in the coalition's April 26, 2021 launch release as one of the companies that had already joined.²

• Fair-chance statement

  AT&T's careers site and applicant policy page say AT&T is a fair chance employer and does not begin a background check until an offer has been made.³

• Community grant

  A December 2020 AT&T blog post says AT&T gave $75,000 to Voices for a Second Chance, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit that helps people returning from incarceration, including with job training and placement. This was a grant, not an AT&T hiring program.⁴

Does AT&T do background checks?

AT&T runs background checks after a job offer. AT&T says it does not start a background check until an offer is made. One Wire Technician posting lists the background check as an onboarding step after a conditional offer and asks candidates to complete it promptly.^3,5,6

• How long a background check takes

Does AT&T drug test?

AT&T hasn't published a drug testing policy. Some job postings say whether a test is required, so check the listing for the role you want.

Rules for specific jobs

• Field technicians

  One AT&T Wire Technician posting (Gadsden, AL) says the job includes driving a company vehicle. The posting does not state driving record or drug test requirements.⁶

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.^9,10,11
• 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."^9,10
• You have the right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information in your background report directly with the company that made it.^9,12
• 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.^13,14
• 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).^13,15

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.^9,12,16
• 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.¹⁷
• 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.^18,19

See whether you can clear your record in your state