Does KFC hire people with felonies?

What KFC has said

KFC's careers pages say an offer of employment from KFC Corporation will be contingent on a satisfactory background check and proof of work eligibility, and the restaurant postings we opened say an offer may be contingent on one. The same pages say people applying to franchisees or licensees are not applying to KFC Corporation, since those owners are independent employers with their own employment practices. We found no KFC page on hiring people with criminal records, on what the check covers or how a record is weighed, or on drug testing. KFC is not on the Second Chance Business Coalition member list or in the 2016 White House Fair Chance Business Pledge fact sheets.

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

KFC runs background checks after a job offer. For KFC Corporation openings, which its careers site says include corporate jobs and restaurants KFC runs itself, the footer on KFC's careers pages says an offer of employment will be contingent on a satisfactory background check and proof of employment eligibility, which makes the offer conditional on the check. The restaurant postings we opened (Atlanta, Columbus, Dallas, Los Angeles and Louisville), which cover both company-run and franchise restaurants, say an offer may be contingent on one. KFC doesn't say what the check covers or how results are weighed, and it says franchisees run their own employment practices, so we can't say what a franchise restaurant does.^1,2,3,4

• How long a background check takes

Does KFC drug test?

KFC 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

• Restaurant crew and managers at franchisee-owned restaurants

  KFC's careers pages say people who apply to a franchisee or licensee are not applying to KFC Corporation, and that franchisees are independent employers responsible for their own employment practices. The Columbus, OH shift supervisor posting we opened also says the franchisee will review applications, make hiring decisions and be the employer. Check the posting to see who the employer is, and ask that restaurant about background checks.⁴

• KFC Corporation jobs (restaurant support center and any company-run restaurants)

  KFC's careers pages say offers from KFC Corporation will be contingent on a satisfactory background check and proof of employment eligibility. They don't describe what the check includes.²

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.^12,13,14
• 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."^12,13
• You have the right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information in your background report directly with the company that made it.^12,15
• 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.^16,17
• 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).^16,18

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.^12,15,19
• 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.²⁰
• 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.^21,22

See whether you can clear your record in your state