Does Hertz hire people with felonies?

What Hertz has said

Hertz hasn't published a policy on hiring people with criminal records that we could find, and it is not on the Second Chance Business Coalition member list. Its recruitment privacy policy, which covers The Hertz Corporation and its subsidiaries, says applicant information is used to conduct reference and background checks and lists criminal background history among the information it may collect. The four postings we opened (a driver, a manager trainee, a courtesy bus driver and a car control clerk) list license, age and driving-record requirements but say nothing about background checks, drug tests or records. The courtesy bus driver job needs a commercial license, so federal DOT rules apply to it.

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

Hertz runs background checks. Hertz's recruitment privacy policy (no date shown), which covers The Hertz Corporation, its subsidiaries and affiliates, says applicant information will be used to conduct reference checks and background checks and to verify what the applicant provides, and lists criminal background history and driver's license information among the information Hertz may collect. It doesn't name a vendor, say which jobs are checked, when the check happens or how far back it looks. None of the four Hertz postings we opened (California, New Jersey, California and Iowa) mentions a background check; the Goleta, CA driver posting asks for a satisfactory driving record and the Hoboken manager trainee posting asks for a valid driver's license and a minimum age of 20.¹

• Criminal history

• How long a background check takes

Does Hertz drug test?

Hertz hasn't published a drug testing policy. Hertz hasn't published a drug testing policy for its jobs on the pages we opened. Its courtesy bus driver job needs a commercial license, so the federal rule below applies to that role.¹

Rules for specific jobs

• Courtesy bus drivers (CDL)

  (federal rule) FMCSA says CDL drivers who operate commercial motor vehicles on public roads are subject to DOT drug and alcohol testing, including part-time drivers, and an employer must receive a negative drug test result before permitting a CDL driver to operate a commercial vehicle.²

• Courtesy bus drivers (company policy)

  Hertz's Los Angeles courtesy bus driver posting requires a Class B CDL with passenger and air brake endorsements, at least one year of commercial driving experience, two years of customer service experience, a minimum age of 21 and the ability to obtain a DOT medical clearance. That is one posting.¹

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.^10,11,12
• 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."^10,11
• You have the right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information in your background report directly with the company that made it.^10,13
• 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.^14,15
• 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).^14,16

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.^10,13,17
• 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.¹⁸
• 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.^19,20

See whether you can clear your record in your state