What "fair chance" means, and how many people it affects
Fair chance hiring means an employer does not screen you out for a record at the start. It asks later and decides based on the job. Indeed's Hiring Lab describes it as not discriminating against a job seeker because of past arrests or involvement with the criminal justice system (Hiring Lab, June 9, 2022). "Second chance hiring" is the same idea.
State criminal history repositories held records on 116,447,200 persons as of December 31, 2022, across 49 states, the District of Columbia and Guam (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems, 2022, published September 2024). That count includes arrests that never led to a conviction and counts a person with records in two states twice, so it overstates the number of people with convictions.
In May 2022, 2.5 percent of U.S. job postings on Indeed advertised fair chance hiring, up from 1.9 percent in May 2019, a 31 percent rise. Searches for terms like "felon friendly" and "no background check" rose 45 percent from May 2021, and the most common fair chance titles were barista, shift leader and store manager (Hiring Lab, June 9, 2022). Many more employers hire people with records without saying so in the ad.
The industries that hire, and what each one checks
Scroll horizontally to view every column.
| Industry | Jobs, September 2026 (BLS, preliminary) | The legal floor | Where to look on JobPin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Truck transportation | 1,473,100 | A CDL is taken away only for listed driving offenses such as DUI, leaving a crash scene, or using the truck in a felony (49 CFR 383.51). Carriers pull a 3-year driving record (49 CFR 391.23). Hazmat endorsements need a TSA check (49 CFR 1572.103). | driver jobs |
| Warehousing and storage | 1,831,800 | No federal criminal-record rule for most warehouse work. The employer's policy and state ban the box laws decide when and how a record is reviewed. | warehouse jobs |
| Accommodation and food services | 14,309,500 | No federal rule for most roles. Indeed's most common fair chance titles in 2022 were barista, shift leader and store manager (Hiring Lab, June 9, 2022). | retail jobs |
| Construction | 8,364,000 | No federal rule for most trades. Associated Builders and Contractors estimates the industry must attract 349,000 net new workers in 2026 and 456,000 in 2027, mostly to replace retirees (ABC, January 15, 2026). | general labor jobs |
Employment figures are from the BLS Current Employment Statistics for September 2026, seasonally adjusted and preliminary.
Trucking and warehousing get their own page: fair chance warehouse and driving jobs. The steps to a CDL are on how to get a CDL; delivery work on a regular license is under delivery jobs.
Employers with published fair chance policies
Each line comes from the employer's own page or press release. A published policy says how the employer treats records; it does not mean every applicant with a record is hired.
Scroll horizontally to view every column.
| Employer | What the employer says | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| JPMorgan Chase | Removed criminal background questions from its applications. Second chance hires were about 10 percent of new U.S. hires over the prior three years. Helped launch the Second Chance Business Coalition in April 2021. | jpmorganchase.com, February 22, 2022 |
| Koch Industries, including Georgia-Pacific | Took the criminal history question off job applications in 2015. In 2020 it rolled out a "Creating Second Chances" strategy to recruit and hire formerly incarcerated people. | news.gp.com, November 2021 |
| Kroger | New Beginnings, formed in 2017 at two Cincinnati-area plants, hires through local agencies and nonprofits. Kroger reported more than 40 associates hired and 93 percent retention. | thekrogerco.com, undated, accessed October 2026 |
| KeHE Distributors | Joined the Second Chance Business Coalition on October 9, 2024. Fair chance hiring is part of its Hidden Talent initiative. Names FreeWorld, a CDL training program for formerly incarcerated people, as a partner. | kehe.com, October 9, 2024, and 2026 |
| Dave's Killer Bread | "Hiring the best person for the job, regardless of criminal history." Says it has actively hired people with criminal backgrounds for nearly 20 years. | daveskillerbread.com, accessed October 2026 |
| Greyston Bakery | Open Hiring: jobs offered without resumes, background checks or interviews, first come, first served, then a paid training period. | greyston.org, accessed October 2026 |
| Union Pacific | Recruits people with records through community partners that refer candidates. | up.com, July 13, 2022 |
| Checkr | A background check company. Says its own fair chance employees outperform its average employees on engagement and loyalty scores by over 30 percent. | checkr.com, Our Fairness Commitment, 2026 |
| Next Chapter (co-created by Slack) | A paid apprenticeship that brings formerly incarcerated people into engineering roles. All three apprentices from Slack's pilot were hired full time. Dropbox and Zoom joined in 2020. | slack.com blog, July 15, 2020 |
The Second Chance Business Coalition's member list, as of October 2026, also includes Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe's, Best Buy, Macy's, Walgreens, CVS, McDonald's, PepsiCo, American Airlines, United Airlines, Verizon, Microsoft and Indeed (secondchancebusinesscoalition.org). Membership is a commitment, not a hiring rule. For Walmart, Target, Home Depot and CVS we found no separate fair chance statement on the employer's own site as of October 2026, so read each posting's background-check line.
The laws that back you up
- Ban the box laws control when an employer may ask. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia apply the rule to private employers; 22 more states cover government jobs only (National Employment Law Project, October 1, 2021, checked against each statute in October 2026). Full list: ban the box laws by state.
- The Fair Credit Reporting Act limits what a background check company may report. Arrests older than seven years are out; convictions have no federal time limit, though some states add one (15 U.S.C. 1681c). You get a copy of the report before a rejection (15 U.S.C. 1681b(b)(3)). Details: background checks explained.
- EEOC guidance says an employer that screens on records should weigh the nature of the offense, the time passed, and the job (EEOC Enforcement Guidance No. 915.002, April 25, 2012). How to use those factors: how to talk about a conviction.
- Federal agencies and their contractors cannot ask before a conditional offer under the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act, signed December 20, 2019 as part of Public Law 116-92 (OPM, Federal Register, April 27, 2022).
Rules vary by state and by job. Check your state labor department or a legal aid office for your situation.
How to search on JobPin
Most employers do not write "second chance" in the title. These steps find both kinds.
- Start with the category, then your city. Open warehouse jobs, driver jobs, delivery jobs or general labor jobs, then narrow to your city page.
- Search the words employers use. The phrases that appear in postings are "fair chance", "second chance" and "background friendly". Hiring Lab also counted "arrest record will not disqualify" as fair chance language (June 9, 2022). Try each phrase on its own; a posting usually uses only one.
- Read the background-check line. Many postings say a check happens after a conditional offer. That means a person reviews the record, not a filter.
- Apply in volume and track it. Log each application in the application tracker. Employers with published policies still reject some applicants.
- Check pay timing. If you need cash flow during reentry, see jobs with weekly pay.
Current openings
Browse warehouse jobs, driver jobs, delivery jobs and general labor jobs, or go to a city: Houston warehouse, Atlanta warehouse, Chicago warehouse, Dallas driver. Search each list for "fair chance", "second chance" or "background friendly".
More warehouse openings
Current source-linked listings could not be confirmed in this sample. Check the category search and each original posting for availability.
How to verify a listing
Every opening on JobPin links to its source posting. Open it, check the date, and read the employer's own background-check language before you share personal information. No legitimate employer charges a fee to apply or to "clear" a record. A recruiter who asks for payment or your Social Security number before an interview is running a scam.
How JobPin dates and sources listings: How JobPin verifies listings and events. Report a listing.