A private background search company divulged expunged records to potential employer
I am from Georgia, just a 15 minutes south from Atlanta. I applied for a job that I worked very hard to get. Long story short they call me back all of a sudden and say it's a no-go. I was asked to check a box saying whether or not I have ever been arrested. I have infact been arrested, but it was dismissed, and expunged. I checked no, because my privacy is protected under this expungement. I have had many background searches and nothing has ever come up. Now all of a sudden a private company contracted to background searches finds the case information, and discloses it to the company.

Does anyone have any helpful information? What are your thoughts?

An expunged criminal record means that the record was removed from government archives that are accessed by the public. But the government still keeps a record in their private archives. So, if you apply for certain government jobs, you can bet that it will show up in an FBI background check. For example, it will show up if you apply for a job that gives you control over vulnerable people, such as teacher, child care, elder care, nursing, or doctor. It will show up if you apply for security related jobs, such as policeman, fireman, air travel, or for a government security clearance.

And, the expunged record can still show up in a background search run by a private company. The reason is that the criminal record was public information right after the arrest or conviction. It took some time for you to go through the legal process of getting the record sealed. In the meantime, a company like BackgroundSearch.com (and others) may have already put the court’s public record in their private database. Once there, it is there forever.

An expungement will apply to the government records only, but the private database can still report the information. You can try to contact all the private background search companies and ask them to remove the information, and some of them will comply.