Does Waffle House hire people with felonies?

What Waffle House has said

Waffle House's careers page says it has more than 2,000 restaurants and more than 45,000 associates, and its hourly and management jobs are applied for through apply links on that page. We found no Waffle House page, and no wording in the postings we opened, about hiring people with criminal records, background checks or drug testing. Waffle House 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 Waffle House 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 Waffle House do background checks?

Waffle House hasn't said publicly whether it runs background checks. Waffle House doesn't publish whether it runs background checks. Its careers page, FAQ, privacy notice and the postings we opened don't mention them.^1,2

• How long a background check takes

Does Waffle House drug test?

Waffle House 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.

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.^11,12,13
• 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."^11,12
• You have the right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information in your background report directly with the company that made it.^11,14
• 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.^15,16
• 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).^15,17

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.^11,14,18
• 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.¹⁹
• 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.^20,21

See whether you can clear your record in your state