An Employer’s Guide to North Carolina Background Checks

At its core, a background check in North Carolina is a legal way for employers to verify a candidate’s past—criminal, professional, and sometimes even personal—but it’s not one-size-fits-all. Some checks are required by law for specific industries, while others are optional but smart for risk management.

The most common starting point is a criminal background check through the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). This search can be name or fingerprint-based, pulling data from the state’s Criminal Information and Identification Section, which stores arrests, convictions, and court outcomes reported across the state.

However, just like most state-run systems, this only shows what’s happened inside North Carolina. If your candidate had a major conviction in another state, you won’t see it unless you expand your screening beyond the SBI and bring in a nationwide provider. And an important point to focus on. North Carolina checks are just one layer, so if you want to hire with complete confidence, you often need more than the state database alone can provide.

A background check in North Carolina can be as simple as a quick criminal search or as complex as a multi-layered investigation into a candidate’s professional, legal, and financial history. It all depends on the role you’re hiring for.

Here’s a complete overview of what North Carolina background checks can include, with each piece offering a different angle on the applicant’s story:

• Criminal Records: Criminal records are a core part of any background check that few in their right mind would skip. This includes felony and misdemeanor convictions, arrest records (in some cases), and pending charges. Pulled from state databases or nationwide sources, these are essential for roles involving security, money, or vulnerable populations.
• Sex Offender Registry: North Carolina maintains a public sex offender registry, searchable by name. Employers working in childcare, elder care, education, or healthcare often check this first—it is non-negotiable in most regulated industries.
• Employment History Verification: This confirms where someone has worked, their roles, and how long they stayed. It helps spot résumé inflation or suspicious gaps. You’ll be surprised how often titles get padded a little too generously. Employment history verification can sometimes take a bit longer, especially if you need to work with multiple 3rd parties, but it’s 100% worth it. 
• Education Verification: This validates degrees, diplomas, certifications, and graduation dates. Critical for jobs requiring licenses or specialized training.
• Credit Reports (if relevant): For positions with financial responsibilities, credit checks may be used to assess fiscal responsibility. You’ll need the candidate’s written consent and a good reason—this isn’t something you run just for curiosity’s sake.
• Driving Records: This is pulled from the NC Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV). It shows moving violations, DUIs, suspensions, and license status, all mandatory for driving roles or any job involving a company vehicle.
• Civil Court Records: This category covers non-criminal legal disputes, such as bankruptcy, evictions, and civil suits. These aren’t always disqualifying but useful context, especially for jobs involving trust or client assets.
• Professional License Verification: This process ensures that any required state licenses are current, valid, and free from disciplinary actions, which is crucial in healthcare, law, trades, and financial services.
• Drug Screening: Drug tests are often required for safety-sensitive roles, such as teaching, driving, policing, and anything in the medical field. If tests are administered as part of the pre-employment process, results are included in the screening file.

Even if you don’t need every single component, knowing what types of background checks are available helps you tailor your checks to the risks of the role, without overstepping legal boundaries.

Looking for a nice, convenient answer here? You’d be so lucky. Like most states, North Carolina has complicated rules and regulations that govern how far back a background check can go. While it doesn’t explicitly cap how far back you can look, that doesn’t mean anything goes.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is the real limiter here. If you’re using a third-party Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA), you generally can’t include non-conviction information—like dropped charges or arrests without conviction—if it’s over seven years old. That rule applies to most roles, with one big exception. That seven-year limit disappears if the job pays over $75,000 a year. Suddenly, you’re allowed to report older non-conviction data, as long as it’s relevant to the role and your process stays FCRA-compliant.

As for convictions, there’s no time limit. If someone was convicted of a felony fifteen years ago and hasn’t been expunged or sealed, it can still show up, especially if you’re pulling court records or running a comprehensive national search. But a few things won’t show up:

• Sealed or expunged records are gone from view and legally off-limits.
• Juvenile records are usually protected unless the individual was tried as an adult.

So while you can go back pretty far in North Carolina, you shouldn’t just throw open the vault without reason. Use a structured screening process, know what you’re looking for, and, most importantly, understand what you’re not allowed to use when making a hiring decision.

How long the background check process takes depends on what you’re checking, how many places you’re checking, and whether you’ve hit that unfortunate window when the HR person at a small college is on vacation. Some screenings wrap up in 24 hours, others drag out over a week. 

Criminal history checks

Criminal record checks through the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) are often returned in 1 to 3 business days, especially if you’re running a fingerprint-based search. These checks tap into the state’s Criminal Information and Identification Section, and they’re considered accurate and reliable within North Carolina’s borders.

But things can slow down if you’re looking at county-level records, especially for places that don’t have full digital court systems. Clerks may still have to dig through files manually, especially for older offenses. If you’re expanding the search to other states or pulling from federal databases, expect another 2 to 5 days, depending on the provider.

Employment & education verification

This part is less about technology and more about human responsiveness. If you’re verifying past jobs or degrees, you’re often at the mercy of an office administrator’s inbox or voicemail backlog. Most employment and education checks wrap up in 2 to 5 business days, assuming the institutions answer promptly, and while automated verification systems help, they’re not universal, especially for older records or small companies. One radio-silent HR manager can easily stall the process.

Driving record checks

Driving records come from the North Carolina DMV, and the turnaround is typically quick—same day or next day in many cases. These checks are standard for delivery drivers, commercial operators, or anyone driving a company vehicle. Just be aware that pulling from multiple states (for a candidate who’s moved around) could add an extra day or two per state.

Credit & identity checks

If you’re conducting a credit check or SSN trace, results usually arrive within 24 hours, sometimes faster. These are mostly automated, assuming the candidate gives proper written consent and the data matches cleanly. Issues arise when there’s conflicting information, such as mismatched addresses or aliases that raise red flags. In those cases, a human may need to review the file, which, unsurprisingly, adds time.

Drug testing

Here’s where things can get unpredictable. Lab-based drug screens usually return results within 1 to 3 business days, but timing depends on sample collection, lab capacity, and the substances being tested. Some tests (like those screening for extended panels or rarer drugs) take longer, while basic 5-panel tests are often fast. If you’re using instant tests (common for non-regulated industries), results may be available the same day, but they might still need lab confirmation if something flags.

North Carolina doesn’t just suggest background checks—it sometimes requires them. And even when it doesn’t, there are still legal lines you can’t cross.

Here’s what you need to know about the state’s laws, restrictions, and must-follow procedures:

NC SBI criminal background checks

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) is the primary source for fingerprint-based criminal background checks in North Carolina. Employers can request these checks using authorized vendors, and they’re typically required for roles involving vulnerable populations, such as children, the elderly, or individuals with disabilities. State-level checks pull arrest, conviction, and court data from within NC. But remember, they don’t cover other states, so if your candidate lived or worked elsewhere, you’ll need a national search.

Ban-the-Box in North Carolina

North Carolina has a limited “ban-the-box” policy—it currently applies only to state government jobs. That means public employers cannot ask about an applicant’s criminal history on the initial job application. This, in theory, gives candidates a fairer chance to show their skills before being judged on their record. The background check still happens, but later, after the first interview or a conditional offer. Private employers in NC aren’t legally required to follow this rule, but many adopt it as best practice. 

Expungement & record sealing in NC

North Carolina has a structured process for expungement, which allows certain non-violent offenses, dismissed charges, and first-time misdemeanors to be erased from the public record. Once expunged, those records are legally off-limits in background checks. Thanks to recent reforms, applicants no longer need to disclose expunged offenses, and employers are prohibited from asking about them. Even if a third-party provider accidentally reports an expunged record, using it could land you in hot legal water.

Childcare & education screening requirements

North Carolina law mandates specific pre-employment checks if you’re hiring someone to work with children, such as a teacher, daycare assistant, or school volunteer.

These typically include:

• A national and state-level fingerprint-based criminal background check
• A search of the NC Sex Offender Registry
• A check of the Child Abuse and Neglect Registry (run through the NC Department of Health and Human Services)

These checks must be completed before the employee starts—there are no exceptions. Failure to comply can result in fines, revoked licenses, or worse.

FCRA Compliance

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law, but it applies in North Carolina when using a third-party screening provider. That means you must:

• Get written consent before running any background check
• Provide a pre-adverse action notice (plus a copy of the report) if something negative shows up
• Wait a reasonable amount of time (usually five business days) before taking final action
• Send a final adverse action notice if you choose not to hire

If you skip any of these steps, you’re opening yourself up to lawsuits and penalties. ScoutLogic helps clients stay compliant with FCRA and state law, which is one more reason it pays to have professionals handle your screenings.