In 2014, the District enacted the Fair Criminal Record Screening Amendment Act known as Ban the Box. This Act prohibits any employer in the District with 11 or more employees from asking about criminal history on job applications. The employer must wait to ask about criminal history until after a "conditional offer of employment" is made. An employer cannot ask about your record on a job application or in person, or ask you to approve a background check before offering you a job. Once the employer gives you a conditional offer of employment, they can ask only about criminal convictions not arrests or charges. A conditional offer can only be withdrawn for a “legitimate business reason,” which must consider job-relatedness of the offense, time passed, rehabilitation, and other factors.
The law does not apply when the federal government is the employer, the job requires a criminal history check, or the job involves children or vulnerable adults.