Does Caterpillar hire people with felonies?

What Caterpillar has said

Caterpillar has not published a policy on hiring people with criminal records, and it is not on the Second Chance Business Coalition member list. The U.S. postings we read say any offer of employment is conditioned on passing a drug screen. Some factory postings, in Lafayette, Indiana and Athens, Georgia, list a background check as a hiring step, and Caterpillar's global data privacy statement, which covers job candidates, lists criminal and credit background checks among the information it may collect.

We didn't find a public statement from Caterpillar 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 Caterpillar do background checks?

Caterpillar runs background checks. Caterpillar's Global Data Privacy Statement (updated Dec. 2, 2025), which covers candidates for employment as well as employees, lists background check information, such as credit and criminal background checks and drug and alcohol testing, among the information it may collect, and says it may obtain background check information, under its policies and applicable law, in connection with an application or onboarding. Eight postings we read, for distribution technician, assembly technician and CNC machinist jobs in Lafayette, Indiana and welder and paint production jobs in Athens, Georgia, list a background check among the hiring steps; most postings did not mention one. Caterpillar does not say what the check looks at for specific jobs, how far back it goes, when it happens or who runs it.^1,2,3

• Criminal history
• Credit
• Drug screen

• How long a background check takes

Does Caterpillar drug test?

Caterpillar drug tests applicants. Every U.S. Caterpillar posting we read (122 in the first read and about 40 rechecked on Oct 31, 2026, in more than 15 states) says any offer of employment is conditioned on successfully completing a drug screen. Decatur, Illinois production assembler and forklift driver postings say all candidates must pass a pre-employment drug screen. Caterpillar does not say which substances are tested.^4,5

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.^7,8,9
• 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."^7,8
• You have the right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information in your background report directly with the company that made it.^7,10
• 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.^11,12
• 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).^11,13

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.^7,10,14
• 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.¹⁵
• 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.^16,17

See whether you can clear your record in your state