Does Burlington hire people with felonies?

What Burlington has said

We found no Burlington statement on hiring people with criminal records, and Burlington is not a Second Chance Business Coalition member. The roughly 200 current Burlington postings we read, in stores, distribution centers and corporate offices across many states, carry no fair-chance, background-check or drug-test wording. The only Burlington document we found that mentions screening is a California candidate privacy notice, which says Burlington may receive background check results, such as criminal records, from screening companies and use them to judge suitability for certain roles.

We didn't find a public statement from Burlington about hiring people with records: not on its careers site, in its reports, or in its announcements. That doesn't mean it won't hire you. It means there's nothing on the record to point to.

Does Burlington do background checks?

Burlington hasn't said publicly whether it runs background checks. Burlington's privacy notice for California candidates (effective December 30, 2022) says Burlington may receive results of background checks and screening, such as education verification, criminal records and driver's license checks, from companies that run them, and use them to decide whether a person is suited to certain jobs where the law permits or requires. The notice is titled for California candidates and says it is meant to comply with California's consumer privacy law, though no sentence in it limits it to California residents; we found no other Burlington notice, careers page or posting that describes screening.¹

• How long a background check takes

Does Burlington drug test?

Burlington hasn't published a drug testing policy. We found no Burlington page, notice or posting that mentions pre-employment drug testing. Burlington's employee code of conduct bars using or having illegal drugs or alcohol at work, which is a workplace rule, not a hiring test. Burlington's yard jockey and truck driver postings require a Class A CDL but don't mention a drug test; federal DOT rules require pre-employment drug testing for drivers who operate commercial vehicles in commerce under a CDL (see role notes).²

Rules for specific jobs

• Distribution center yard jockey / truck drivers

  Burlington's yard jockey and truck driver postings (Burlington, New Jersey and Ellabell, Georgia) require a Class A CDL with a current medical card and a valid driver's license with a good driving record. They don't mention a background check or drug test.³

• Commercial drivers in DOT-regulated jobs (federal rule)

  Federal rules require a verified negative drug test before a CDL driver first performs safety-sensitive work for an employer.⁴

• Store jobs

  The store postings we read (cashier, stocking, sales, shortage control, supervisor and manager jobs in Texas, California, New York, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Florida, Washington, Alabama, Pennsylvania and other states) don't mention criminal records, background checks or drug tests.⁵

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.^13,14,15
• 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."^13,14
• You have the right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information in your background report directly with the company that made it.^13,16
• 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.^17,18
• 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).^17,19

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.^13,16,20
• 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.²¹
• 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.^22,23

See whether you can clear your record in your state