Hiring Teens? What Retailers Need to Know Before Running Background Checks on Minors

Keeping stores fully staffed is an ongoing challenge for retailers buffeted by economic uncertainty, shrinking margins, and high employee turnover. Teens have long been a natural fit for retail roles such as sales associates, cashiers, or stockroom clerks. Given the high rate of teen unemployment and the flexible schedules available outside of school, minors offer an eager candidate pool. The unemployment rate for teens is 15.2%, compared to 4.2% for adults, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But special requirements around minors mean hiring teens isn’t as simple as onboarding adult workers. From parental consent for background screenings to restrictions on work hours, there are many rules retailers need to follow when hiring minors. Retailers need to take these unique regulations into account and make sure their background check process is built to accommodate teen job candidates. 

In general, you can conduct most of the same employment background checks for minors as for adult candidates. However, because minors are limited in when they can consent and enter into contracts, you’ll need parental consent for any type of screening.

In addition, the information reported in a minor’s background screening is typically more limited than what’s returned for an adult. This can be due to the teen’s life experience or to legal restrictions on what can be reported. Here’s a closer look at the most common employment background screenings as they relate to teens.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) regulates how employers can use consumer reports, including background checks. Among other things, it requires getting a candidate’s written consent before initiating a background check. With teens, this can create a challenge: Although state laws differ, teens are very limited in when they can give consent and enter into contracts. As a result, when performing an employment background check, you need to get parental consent when screening a minor.

Ban the Box laws in many states, cities, and jurisdictions restrict employers’ ability to inquire about a candidate’s criminal record, regardless of age. Some Ban the Box laws specifically prohibit inquiring about juvenile court records or using juvenile records that appear in a background check report as a factor in employment decisions. In some cases, juvenile arrests or convictions may not appear on a criminal background check unless the minor was tried as an adult. In other locales and situations, employers may have access to juvenile court records.

Sex offender registry checks can be conducted on minors. Juveniles aged 14 and older at the time of an offense may be included in state sex offender registries, depending on the nature of the offense. These screenings can help protect customers at retail establishments where employees will be in regular contact with children, such as toy stores or children’s bookstores. 

Retail employers may want to conduct drug testing to support workplace safety. Given the limitations of a teen's capacity to consent, you should  get parental consent before ordering a drug test for a minor. It’s also important to be aware of state-specific laws regulating drug testing, which vary widely, particularly when it comes to marijuana testing.

Minors are limited in the amount and type of driving they can do on the job. However, if a role involves any kind of driving, a motor vehicle records check can help confirm that the teen’s driving record is clean. Where, however, a motor vehicle record contains juvenile records, employers may have additional obligations or limitations. Checkr allows employers to enroll employees who are minors in a continuous MVR search program, providing peace of mind over time.

Reviewing a retail candidate’s credit history can help protect your store's inventory, cash register contents, and customers’ personal financial information. While many minors don’t have a credit report or credit score, others may have built credit by being an authorized user on a parent's credit card or having an auto loan with a parent as a cosigner.

Teen job candidates may have previous employment history, references from employers, or character references to share. You can also use an education verification check to confirm a teen’s school enrollment. A modern background check provider can handle these checks quickly, saving you from time-consuming phone calls or email chains.

If a candidate misrepresents their age, you may unknowingly run afoul of federal and state child labor laws. Hiring someone under legal working age is among the most common child labor law violations. Most states require minors to present work permits and/or age certificates in order to work. Employers typically request this document after extending a conditional job offer. Verifying the teen’s eligibility to work, which is usually part of 1-9 verification during the onboarding process, may also confirm the candidate’s age.

The compliance requirements you must consider when conducting any type of background check can seem especially burdensome when you’re performing background screenings on minors. To streamline the hiring process without compromising store safety, look for a background check partner who offers the following capabilities.

A solution that includes automated compliance workflows triggered by a candidate’s age can help ensure your background screenings follow all federal, state, and local laws that apply to child labor. This is especially important for retailers that are hiring in multiple states or seeking to scale rapidly.

Your provider should enable you to customize screenings for candidates under 18. For example, Checkr’s support team helps you create packages specifically for minors, and your hiring team can easily order the correct screenings from a centralized dashboard.

Minors need a parent or guardian to execute authorizations as part of the background check process. Look for a solution that simplifies this process for busy parents.

Teens do everything on their phones, including applying for jobs. A candidate experience designed for mobile helps ensure young candidates complete the required steps to keep the background check process moving.

Automated communications make it easy to give first-time job seekers the extra TLC they need while easing your hiring team’s burdens. For example, Checkr automates text message reminders and progress notifications, and even offers an ETA for report completion to keep teens clued into their progress and help prevent drop-off.

Just as with adult candidates, retail employers must follow the adverse action process if the results of a teen’s background check may negatively impact a hiring decision. Solutions with automated adjudication workflows and customizable filters help you consider only relevant information for minors, reducing the need for manual review of screening reports.

Given the complexity of conducting background checks on minors, you may be tempted to skip this step. But neglecting to screen teen candidates may increase your level of risk and impact your ability to maintain compliance. Streamline teen background screenings by choosing a background check partner that helps you hire top teen talent quickly and confidently.

Checkr’s easy-to-use dashboard and 200+ ATS integrations lighten your talent team’s workload so you can hire faster. Our teen-friendly mobile candidate portal keeps teens and parents in the loop, moving candidates smoothly through the screening process. With advanced screening technology, AI-powered automations, and built-in compliance tools, Checkr makes it easy to run the right screenings for every teen based on age, location, and role, so you can hire faster and without compliance headaches.

About the author

As the Senior Content Marketing Manager at Checkr, Kate is passionate about developing resources that educate employers and job candidates about background checks, hiring insights, and the opportunity to build a better future through fair chance hiring.