Does Securitas USA hire people with felonies?

What Securitas USA has said

Securitas USA's careers FAQ says security guard applicants must be willing to undergo drug screening and background checks, and the security officer postings we opened say candidates go through a pre-employment drug screen and background check. Officers must also meet any state and local guard licensing rules; where a state licenses guards, the licensing agency runs its own check (New York's, for example, requires fingerprinting and bars people convicted of a serious criminal offense). We found no Securitas USA statement on how it weighs criminal records and no second-chance commitment.

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

Securitas USA runs background checks. The careers FAQ says the hiring process typically includes background checks, and officer postings call it part of a pre-employment screening process. Securitas USA's job applicant privacy notice lists background screening, reference checks and pre-hire drug test results among the information it collects, and says it verifies employment history. None of these pages says what the background check covers, when it happens relative to an offer, or who runs it.^1,2,3,4

• Past jobs
• Drug screen

• How long a background check takes

Does Securitas USA drug test?

Securitas USA drug tests for some roles. The careers FAQ lists willingness to undergo drug screening among the requirements for security guards, and officer postings say security positions require passing a drug screen. A district manager posting we checked didn't mention drug testing, and Securitas USA hasn't published a company-wide policy covering every role.^1,2,3

Rules for specific jobs

• Security officers

  The careers FAQ says guard applicants must be at least 18, legally allowed to work in the U.S., and have a high school diploma or GED (or be willing to join a GED sponsorship program).¹

• Security officers

  Officer postings say applicants must meet, and keep meeting, any state, county and city licensing requirements for security officers.²

• Security officers in New York (example of state guard licensing)

  As one example of state licensing, New York's Department of State lists these requirements for a security guard license: be at least 18, complete fingerprinting, have no conviction for a serious criminal offense, hold a New York photo ID and complete training. The page also links to information for people with a conviction who have stayed crime-free for 10 years. Other states set their own rules.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