Washington's Fair Chance Act Amendments Take Effect July 1, 2026: What HB 1747 Changes for Employers

Washington's Fair Chance Act Amendments Take Effect July 1, 2026

Washington employers with 15 or more workers face sweeping new background check rules starting July 1, 2026. The amendments to the Fair Chance Act, enacted through Engrossed House Bill 1747, extend ban the box protections to current employees and add a mandatory waiting period before any adverse decision.

Information last verified on July 5, 2026. This is a developing story; we update it as the record changes.

Jurisdiction scope: These rules apply to employers operating in Washington State under the Fair Chance Act, RCW Chapter 49.94. Ban the box and background check rules vary significantly by state; see our Background Check Laws by State hub for how other states, including California and Oregon, handle criminal history in hiring.

What Happened

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed Engrossed House Bill 1747 on April 21, 2025. Codified as Chapter 71, Laws of 2025, it amends RCW 49.94.005, RCW 49.94.010, and RCW 49.94.030, the statutes making up Washington's Fair Chance Act, and creates a new section prescribing civil penalties, per the bill's official record with the Washington State Legislature.

The Fair Chance Act itself is not new. Washington's original ban the box law, in effect since 2018, already barred most employers from asking about criminal history on a job application or before determining that an applicant is otherwise qualified. HB 1747 substantially expands that framework rather than replacing it.

The amendments take effect in two phases based on employer size. Employers with 15 or more employees must comply beginning July 1, 2026. Employers with fewer than 15 employees have until January 1, 2027, giving smaller businesses roughly six additional months to update hiring practices and vendor agreements.

Enforcement runs through the Washington Attorney General's Office, specifically its Civil Rights Division, rather than through private lawsuits filed directly in court. Workers or applicants who believe an employer violated the Act can file a complaint by email at fairchancejobs@atg.wa.gov, and the office can investigate and impose the civil penalties set out in the amended law.

What the Law Actually Says

The amended Fair Chance Act, codified at RCW Chapter 49.94, restructures how Washington employers may consider criminal history at every stage of employment, not just at hiring. For a broader look at how Washington's background check rules interact with state and federal law, see our Washington Background Check Laws guide.

The conditional offer rule. Employers still cannot inquire into, receive information about, or run a criminal history background check on an applicant until after making a conditional offer of employment. This restriction reaches beyond the written application to interviews, recruiter conversations, and any other pre-offer screening step.

Protection extends to current employees. This is the amendment's most significant structural change. The prior version of the Fair Chance Act was primarily aimed at applicants. HB 1747 defines a "tangible adverse employment action" to include not only rejecting an otherwise qualified applicant, but also terminating, suspending, disciplining, demoting, or denying a promotion to an existing employee. In practice, that means an employer cannot pull an employee's criminal record and use it to block an internal promotion or transfer the same way it might screen a new applicant, without following the same legitimate business reason and notice process described below.

Arrest and juvenile records are off the table. Under the amendments, employers are barred outright from taking a tangible adverse employment action based on an arrest record or a juvenile conviction record. There is no legitimate business reason exception for these categories; they simply cannot be used.

Adult conviction records require a documented legitimate business reason. An employer may only take an adverse action based on an adult conviction record if it has a legitimate business reason for doing so, documenting factors including the seriousness of the underlying conduct, the number and types of convictions, the time passed since the conviction (excluding incarceration), evidence of rehabilitation such as work history, education, and training, and the duties and setting of the job at issue.

A mandatory notice and waiting period. Before finalizing an adverse action based on an adult conviction record, the employer must notify the applicant or employee, identify the specific record it is relying on, and hold the position open for at least two business days, letting the worker respond with corrections, context, or evidence of rehabilitation.

Escalating civil penalties. Civil penalties run up to $1,500 for a first violation, $3,000 for a second, and $15,000 for each subsequent violation, with the money going to the affected applicant or employee rather than the state general fund. The Attorney General's Office is the exclusive enforcement authority.

Analysis: Why This Matters

The following is analysis from the Recording Law Editorial Team. The most consequential shift here is not the conditional offer rule, which Washington employers have lived with since 2018. It is the extension of protection to current employees. Ban the box laws in most states, including Washington's original version, were built around the hiring moment: the application, the interview, the offer. HB 1747 recognizes that criminal history can also be used internally, for example when a manager learns of an employee's record years into their tenure and uses it to block a promotion outside the normal disciplinary process. By folding "demote" and "deny a promotion" into the definition of a tangible adverse employment action, the amendments close a gap a purely hiring-focused statute left open.

The individualized assessment requirement also forecloses a common shortcut: blanket exclusion rules such as "any felony" or "any conviction within seven years." The amended Fair Chance Act instead requires a case-by-case legitimate business reason tied to the specific job and person, weighing time passed and evidence of rehabilitation. A rigid matrix that disqualifies people wholesale, without individualized documentation, is not what the statute contemplates.

The escalating penalties, up to $15,000 for repeat violations with money flowing to the affected worker, signal that Washington intends this to have real teeth, with enforcement centralized in the Attorney General's Civil Rights Division rather than left to private lawsuits.

For employers, the compliance work is not trivial. Job applications, applicant tracking workflows, background check vendor instructions, and internal promotion procedures all likely need review before the deadline, especially since the 15-employee threshold covers many small and mid-sized businesses without dedicated HR compliance staff.

How This Affects You

If you have a criminal record and work or are applying for work in Washington: Employers generally cannot ask about your criminal history or run a background check until after they extend you a conditional job offer. If you already work for a Washington employer, it generally cannot use your arrest record or a juvenile conviction against you at all, and if it wants to act on an adult conviction record to deny you a promotion, demote you, or terminate you, it must identify the record, give you at least two business days to respond, and have a documented, individualized legitimate business reason.

If you are an employer in Washington: Review your application forms, interview scripts, background check adjudication process, and any internal promotion or disciplinary procedures that could touch an employee's criminal history. Confirm your background check vendor's decision matrices align with the individualized assessment factors rather than automatic disqualification rules, and build in the two-business-day notice period before finalizing any adverse action tied to an adult conviction record.

This is general legal information, not legal advice. It covers Washington State and reflects sources verified on July 5, 2026. Laws change and this story is developing; consult a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction about your specific situation.

Sources

• Washington State Legislature, HB 1747 bill summary: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=1747&Year=2025&Initiative=false
• Revised Code of Washington, Chapter 49.94 (Fair Chance Act): https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=49.94
• Washington State Attorney General's Office, Fair Chance Act: https://www.atg.wa.gov/fair-chance-act
• Washington State Legislature, Engrossed House Bill 1747, Chapter 71, Laws of 2025 (enrolled bill text): https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2025-26/htm/Bills/House%20Passed%20Legislature/1747.PL.htm
• RCW 49.94.030, Attorney general's enforcement powers and penalties: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=49.94.030

Related articles

• Washington Background Check Laws
• Background Check Laws by State
• California Background Check Laws
• Oregon Background Check Laws

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Last updated: 2026-07-05. This is a developing story; details verified as of 2026-07-05.