Does Starbucks hire people with felonies?

What Starbucks has said

Starbucks signed the White House Fair Chance Business Pledge in 2016, and the White House said then that Starbucks didn't ask about criminal history on initial applications and ran background checks only after a conditional offer, looking at applicants case by case. A 2023 Starbucks company profile lists hiring formerly incarcerated people among the ways it creates opportunity. Its current applicant privacy notice says it collects background check reports from verification providers. Starbucks is not on the Second Chance Business Coalition member list, and we found no published drug-testing policy.

• Signed the 2016 Fair Chance Business Pledge

  Starbucks was one of the original signers of the White House Fair Chance Business Pledge on April 11, 2016. The White House fact sheet said Starbucks didn't ask about criminal history on initial applications and ran background checks only after a conditional offer.¹

• Company statement

  Starbucks' 2023 company profile lists hiring formerly incarcerated people, along with veterans, military spouses, refugees and opportunity youth, as part of how it creates opportunities.²

Does Starbucks do background checks?

Starbucks runs background checks after a job offer. Starbucks' applicant privacy notice (revised July 1, 2026) lists background check reports among the data it collects and names background verification providers as a source; it treats information about criminal convictions as sensitive personal information. The timing comes from the 2016 White House fact sheet, which said Starbucks ran checks only after a conditional offer; Starbucks' current careers pages don't restate it.^1,3

• Criminal history

• How long a background check takes

Does Starbucks drug test?

Starbucks 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

• Baristas and store jobs (apply.starbucks.com)

  Starbucks' application status tracker on its job postings includes a background check stage, with a 'background check does not meet requirements' status that moves an application to no longer under consideration. This is from one barista posting (Stanton, CA).⁴

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