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Background Check Shows Federal Case: Your Complete Rights & Options Guide
The email arrives on a Tuesday afternoon. “We regret to inform you that we are unable to move forward with your application.” You stare at your screen, confused. You’ve passed background checks before—multiple times. Different employers, different states, always cleared. What changed?
Then you see it: a federal criminal case on your background check report. Maybe it’s from years ago. Maybe you thought it was sealed or dismissed. Or maybe you didn’t even know it existed in the first place. The panic sets in immediately.
You’re not alone, and you’re not crazy. The U.S. criminal background check system operates like two parallel universes that rarely intersect—and most people don’t discover this until it costs them a job. Federal cases live in a completely separate database from State criminal records, which means you can pass dozens of “standard” background checks while having serious federal convictions that only certain employers will ever see.