Hiring in Oregon means layering three sets of rules on top of each other: the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, Oregon’s statewide ban the box law, and, if the job is inside city limits, Portland’s own Fair Chance ordinance. None of these laws say a background check cannot be run. They say when you can ask about criminal history, what you must tell the applicant before you run a report, and what you have to do before you turn someone down because of what the report shows. This guide walks through each layer so an employer can build a hiring process that holds up, without guessing at what state law requires.
The federal baseline every Oregon employer still has to meet
Before Oregon rules ever come into play, a background check ordered through a consumer reporting agency is governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Under 15 U.S.C. 1681b, an employer may only obtain a consumer report for employment purposes after giving the applicant a clear, standalone written disclosure that a report may be obtained, and after getting the applicant’s written authorization. The disclosure has to be its own document, not buried inside a job application or a stack of onboarding paperwork. If the employer later decides not to hire, or to take back an offer, based wholly or partly on what the report shows, federal law requires a pre adverse action notice with a copy of the report and the Summary of Rights, a reasonable pause before any final decision, and then an adverse action notice if the employer moves forward with the denial. Oregon has not opted to weaken or replace any of this. It sits underneath everything described below.
Oregon’s ban the box law: ORS 659A.360
Statewide, Oregon restricts when an employer may ask about an applicant’s criminal convictions. Under ORS 659A.360, an employer generally may not require an applicant to disclose a criminal conviction on a job application, and may not ask about convictions until after the employer has completed an initial interview with the applicant, or, if there is no interview, before making a conditional offer of employment. The law allows the question once that point in the process is reached, and it includes an exception for employers that are required by another federal, state or local law to ask about or consider criminal history for a particular position, such as certain jobs involving minors, the elderly or financial institutions. The rule is about timing, not about whether criminal history may ever be considered. Once the interview has happened, or the conditional offer is out, an employer may ask, and may still run and act on a background check consistent with the FCRA steps above.
Portland adds its own Fair Chance rules
Employers hiring for positions inside Portland have a second, stricter layer to follow. The city’s Fair Chance ordinance, codified at Portland City Code Chapter 23.10, pushes the timing further than the state law does: covered employers may consider an applicant’s criminal history only after making a conditional offer of employment, not merely after an interview. The ordinance generally covers employers with six or more employees and carves out exceptions for law enforcement agencies, certain other government employers, and positions that involve direct, ongoing contact with children, the elderly or people with disabilities. An employer that only follows the statewide ORS 659A.360 timing but operates inside Portland can still be out of step with the city rule, so it is worth checking the ordinance separately rather than assuming state compliance covers it.
Where Oregon criminal history records come from
Statewide criminal history checks in Oregon run through the Oregon State Police, which operates the state’s Law Enforcement Data System and the fingerprint based criminal records repository used for licensing, regulatory and certain employment screening. The agency’s Criminal Justice Information Services division is the point of access for agencies and regulatory bodies that are authorized to request a state criminal history check, separate from the third party consumer reports a background screening company provides under the FCRA. Most private employers do not request directly from this repository; they rely on a consumer reporting agency’s county, statewide and national searches, which pull from court records rather than the state police system. Positions tied to a state license or state administered care setting are more likely to run through the state police channel directly.
Clearing a record in Oregon: set aside, not automatic
Oregon does not operate the kind of fully automatic record clearing system that some other states have adopted. The main path for someone to have a past conviction cleared from public view is a petition filed in court under ORS 137.225, commonly called a set aside. The law sets different waiting periods depending on how serious the conviction was, and it excludes a number of offenses entirely, including many sex crimes and certain traffic related convictions, from ever being eligible. A person has to apply, pay a fee, and get a court order before the record is actually set aside. Until that happens, the conviction remains part of the public record and can still surface on a background check. Employers should not assume that an old conviction has automatically dropped off a report just because enough time has passed; it has not, unless a court order says otherwise. For a broader look at how other states handle this differently, including states that do clear records automatically, see our guide to clean slate laws and background checks.
Marijuana and drug testing
Oregon has legalized both medical and recreational marijuana under state law, compiled in ORS chapter 475B, but legalization at the state level does not create a right for an employee to use marijuana at work or to test positive and keep a safety sensitive job. Oregon law does not require an employer to accommodate marijuana use, and employers are generally free to maintain a drug free workplace policy and to test for marijuana along with other substances, subject to any applicable collective bargaining agreement or job specific federal rule. When a drug test result needs interpretation, particularly for a prescribed medication that could cause a false positive, the result should go through a medical review officer before any decision is made, rather than an employer trying to interpret a lab result directly. A background check or drug screen should never be described to an applicant as promised accurate or final without that review step.
Salary history limits that touch the hiring and screening process
Oregon’s Equal Pay Act restricts how employers can use pay history during hiring. According to Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries, an employer may not screen job applicants based on current or past compensation, and may not ask an applicant or a former employer for salary history before extending a job offer that includes compensation. An applicant can volunteer salary history, but the employer still cannot rely on it when setting pay. The rule does carve out an exception for an employer’s own current employees being considered for a transfer or promotion, where existing compensation history may be considered. The BOLI Equal Pay Act page lays out the mechanics in more detail. This is not technically a background check rule, but it shows up in the same intake paperwork and the same pre offer conversation, so screening teams need to keep it separate from any criminal history or consumer report process. Oregon is one of a number of states with this kind of restriction; a fuller state by state breakdown is in our salary history ban states guide.
Discrimination risk in how criminal history is used
Even once an employer is past the ban the box timing rules, how a criminal record is actually weighed can raise a separate legal question. A hiring policy that excludes applicants with any criminal record, regardless of how old the conviction is or how it relates to the job, can have a disparate impact on applicants of a particular race or national origin, which can raise concerns under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Oregon’s own discrimination protections, administered by BOLI, sit alongside this federal standard. Employers that individually assess the nature of the offense, how long ago it occurred, and its relationship to the job are generally in a stronger position than employers using a blanket exclusion, though employers should consult counsel on how to structure that assessment for their own workforce rather than relying on a one size fits all rule.
What Oregon and Portland allow at each stage of hiring
| Stage | Statewide Oregon rule (ORS 659A.360) | Portland rule (Code Chapter 23.10) |
|---|---|---|
| Job application | May not require disclosure of conviction history on the application | Same restriction applies inside city limits |
| Before an interview | May not ask about criminal convictions | May not ask about criminal convictions |
| After an interview, before any offer | May ask about convictions once an interview has occurred | May not ask yet; must wait for a conditional offer |
| After a conditional job offer | May ask and consider conviction history, consistent with FCRA steps | May ask and consider conviction history for the first time |
| Jobs required by law to screen for criminal history | Exception applies; employer may ask earlier if another law requires it | Law enforcement and certain government and vulnerable population roles are exempt |
The FCRA steps, in order
Regardless of where in Oregon the position sits, the consumer report side of the process follows the same federal sequence: provide the standalone disclosure, obtain written authorization, order the report through the consumer reporting agency, and, if the report will factor into a negative decision, send a pre adverse action notice with the report and Summary of Rights, allow a reasonable waiting period for the applicant to respond or dispute, and only then send the adverse action notice if the decision stands. Oregon’s ban the box timing determines when the criminal history conversation may start. The FCRA governs how a third party report is requested and acted on once that conversation is allowed to happen.
Frequently asked questions
Can an Oregon employer ask about criminal history on a job application?
No. Under ORS 659A.360, an employer generally may not require an applicant to disclose criminal conviction history on the application itself, and may not ask about it until after an initial interview or, if there is no interview, before a conditional offer.
Does Portland have stricter rules than the rest of Oregon?
Yes. Portland’s Fair Chance ordinance, Code Chapter 23.10, requires covered employers to wait until after a conditional job offer before considering criminal history, which is later in the process than the statewide interview based timing.
Does a set aside in Oregon automatically remove a conviction from a background check?
Not automatically. A person has to petition the court under ORS 137.225, meet the waiting period and eligibility rules for that offense, and receive a court order. Oregon does not run a fully automatic record clearing process, so an old conviction can still appear until a set aside order exists.
Can an Oregon employer still test for marijuana even though it is legal in the state?
Generally yes. State legalization under ORS chapter 475B does not require an employer to accommodate marijuana use or to allow a positive test result to stand without consequence, subject to any applicable bargaining agreement or job specific federal rule.
Can an Oregon employer ask an applicant what they currently earn?
No, not before extending a job offer. Oregon’s Equal Pay Act bars employers from asking for or screening on salary history before an offer is made, with an exception for internal transfer or promotion decisions involving an employer’s own current employee.
Does following ORS 659A.360 satisfy the FCRA as well?
No. Ban the box timing and the FCRA cover different things. An employer still needs a standalone disclosure, written authorization, and the pre adverse action and adverse action notice steps under federal law whenever a third party consumer report is used, regardless of when the criminal history question was allowed to be asked.
Running a compliant background check program in Oregon starts with getting a verified report from a reliable source. Learn more at Reveal Background.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Employers should consult qualified counsel about how these rules apply to their own hiring practices.
