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Minnesota’s Ban the Box Law: What It Means for Job Seekers with a Criminal Record
If you have a criminal record and you’re looking for work in Minnesota, you may already know how discouraging the job search can feel. But there’s important news: Minnesota has some of the strongest legal protections in the country for people in your situation — and those protections have gotten even stronger in 2025. Understanding your rights under Ban the Box, the Clean Slate Act, and Minneapolis’s new Fair Chance Ordinance can make a real difference in your job search and your future.
At Hues Hope, we want to make sure you have clear, accurate information about the laws that protect you — and the local programs that can help you move forward. Our Employment page has additional resources to support your journey.
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What Is the Ban the Box Law?
Minnesota’s statewide Ban the Box law applies to both public and private employers, and companies with 15 or more employees must comply. The law prohibits criminal history inquiries during the initial job application. Instead, employers must wait until interviews or conditional offers occur.
In plain terms: this gives you a fair chance to be evaluated on your qualifications before criminal history becomes part of the conversation.
Prior to this law, many employers asked applicants to check a box on the employment application indicating whether or not they had any criminal convictions — and many applicants with criminal histories would be screened out before the interview stage. The purpose of the new law is to open up employment opportunities for individuals with criminal backgrounds, encouraging employers to make individualized assessments rather than immediately rejecting applicants.
What Ban the Box Does NOT Do
- It does not seal or erase your record.
- It does not prevent employers from conducting a criminal background check later in the hiring process.
- There are certain occupations for which a criminal background check is required under Minnesota law, such as teachers, school bus drivers, and apartment managers.
The Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA) requires an individualized assessment of each applicant’s record, meaning automatic disqualification based on criminal history violates state law. Employers are encouraged to consider the relevance of the criminal offense to the job position — for example, a theft conviction may raise concerns for a role involving financial responsibilities, but it may not be relevant for a construction job.
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Big News for Minneapolis Workers: The 2025 Fair Chance Ordinance
If you live or work in Minneapolis, you now have even greater protections than the statewide law provides.
Effective August 1, 2025, the City of Minneapolis’s Civil Rights Ordinance added “justice-impacted status” to its list of protected characteristics. This is defined as “the state of having a criminal record or history, including any arrest, charge, conviction, period of incarceration, or past or current probationary status.”
Employers must now conduct an individualized assessment when considering an applicant’s criminal record, and they are prohibited from taking adverse employment actions based solely on a candidate’s criminal history, unless the employer can demonstrate that the history is reasonably related to the duties of the position.
The ordinance also specifies that an employer may not base an adverse employment decision on the fact of an arrest that did not result in a conviction.
According to Council Member Robin Wonsley, Minneapolis became the third city in the United States to implement such protections. Mayor Jacob Frey stated that “Minneapolis now leads the country with some of the most progressive and comprehensive civil rights protections on the books.”
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Minnesota’s Clean Slate Act: Automatic Record Sealing Starting in 2025
One of the most powerful tools available to you right now is Minnesota’s Clean Slate Act, which took effect January 1, 2025.
The Minnesota Clean Slate Act took effect January 1, 2025, providing automatic expungement for eligible nonviolent felonies after a five-year waiting period following sentence completion. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) now reviews cases annually and automatically seals qualifying records.
Eligible offenses include petty misdemeanors, misdemeanors, and certain nonviolent felonies after a waiting period — provided the individual has not committed new offenses. More serious crimes, such as offenses requiring predatory offender registration, are not eligible for expungement.
Under the Act, petty misdemeanors and misdemeanors require a 2-year waiting period after sentence discharge with no new convictions; gross misdemeanors require 3 years; drug felonies require 4 years; and most other qualifying felonies require 5 years.
The BCA completed programming its Criminal History System in September 2024, completed testing in March 2025, began sending eligible records to courts in April 2025, and commenced automatic sealing on June 20, 2025. By April 14, 2026, the BCA had expunged approximately 1.57 million of 2.03 million eligible records, for an overall 94.1 percent completion rate.
Sealing, or expunging, a criminal record can make it easier for you to obtain housing, get a job, and certain types of job-related licenses. You can check the status of your record through the BCA’s Criminal History System online. If you need help understanding the process, visit our Legal Services page for free and low-cost legal help near you.
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What To Do If an Employer Violates Your Rights
If you’ve been asked about your criminal history in violation of state law, you can file a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR).
Here’s how to reach them: