Disclosing a Sealed Criminal Record on a Government Background Check

Attorney Answer

California law generally protects job applicants from having to disclose a sealed or dismissed criminal record — but that protection carries an express carve-out for peace officer applicants and criminal justice agency employment, and whether an internship in a county coroner's division sits inside that carve-out is genuinely unsettled. With an interview scheduled for tomorrow, that is the question to get an attorney's answer on today rather than guessing on the form.

Under California Labor Code § 432.7, most employers cannot ask about, or use against you, an arrest that did not lead to conviction, participation in a diversion program, or a sealed or judicially dismissed conviction record. If that were the whole rule, the investigator's statement that "all sealed and expunged records need to be listed in detail" would simply be wrong.

But § 432.7 contains real exceptions. It expressly does not apply to peace officer applicants or to people employed by a criminal justice agency, and it separately permits inquiry where another statute requires conviction information for the specific position. Whether an internship in a coroner's division — attached to a sheriff's department, but not itself a sworn law enforcement role — falls inside that exception is not answered by the statute's text. That is a judgment call for an attorney who can read your actual offer letter and the packet's position description.

California Government Code § 1031 sets the minimum standards for peace officers, including subdivision (d)'s requirement that an officer be of good moral character as determined by a thorough background investigation. Note what that provision actually does: it imposes an investigation duty on the hiring agency. It does not by its own terms create a disclosure obligation running from you, and it applies to peace officer positions rather than automatically to every job inside a sheriff's or coroner's office.

One more distinction worth keeping straight: a record sealed by court order and a conviction dismissed under California Penal Code § 1203.4 are governed by different statutes and carry different legal effects. Guidance written about one does not necessarily apply to the other, and the terms of your actual sealing order matter.

What you can do

1. Ask the investigator's office, in writing if possible, for even a short postponement of the interview so you can get legal advice first. 2. Ask the agency's HR or legal department directly whether the Labor Code § 432.7 protections apply to this specific internship — and ask for the answer in writing. 3. Locate the actual court order that sealed your record; it may specify what, if anything, must be disclosed. 4. If you cannot reach a private attorney in time, try your county's lawyer referral service, a law school legal clinic, or a nonprofit reentry legal aid organization — record relief is exactly what those programs handle. 5. Do not leave a question blank or guess under pressure. Where you are unsure, it is reasonable to note in writing that you are seeking legal advice on how to answer accurately.