Corporate Intelligence Consultants is an FCRA-compliant consumer reporting agency headquartered in Perrysburg, Ohio. For nearly 50 years, Ohio businesses have trusted CIC for background checks confirmed at the source, with a research and QA team reviewing every report before it reaches you.
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National screening platforms run your applicant through an automated system and email you a PDF. CIC runs a real investigation. Every report passes through human review by our research and QA team before it reaches you, and county-level court records are checked at the source, because statewide and national instant checks routinely miss local filings.
That difference matters in Ohio, where record sealing keeps expanding and where using a sealed or expunged record in a hiring decision creates real legal exposure. A human reviewer catches what an instant check passes through.
There is no single “Ohio background check.” A screening program is assembled from components matched to the role: a delivery driver needs a motor vehicle record, a controller needs employment verification and possibly a credit check, and a home health aide has a state fingerprint requirement on top of everything else. These are the components CIC runs for Ohio employers:
We serve employers statewide, with deep roots in Northwest Ohio: Toledo, Perrysburg, Maumee, Sylvania, Bowling Green, Findlay, and beyond, plus multi-state programs for Ohio companies hiring nationally. Explore our criminal background checks and court record research for the full component list.
Ohio sets no state limit on how far back a criminal conviction can be reported, so convictions are generally reportable regardless of age under federal law. The limits that do apply come from the FCRA and from Ohio’s sealing statute:
Under the FCRA, non-conviction information, such as arrests that did not lead to conviction, civil suits, and civil judgments, generally cannot be reported once it is more than seven years old. The FCRA provides an exception for positions with an expected salary of $75,000 or more.
Whatever the age of a record, if it has been sealed or expunged under Ohio law it is off the table entirely. See the Ohio law section below.
Ohio motor vehicle record abstracts cover a 3-year lookback for both commercial and non-commercial drivers.
Most CIC employment background checks for Ohio employers complete in 24 to 48 hours. Components that involve in-person courthouse research in certain counties, or third-party verifications that depend on a previous employer responding, can add time, and our client portal shows live status the whole way.
State fingerprint checks run on a different clock. A BCI or FBI check ordered through Ohio’s WebCheck system typically returns within several business days, but processing can stretch to several weeks during high-volume periods, and there is no paid way to expedite it. Employers with statutory fingerprint requirements often run the CIC report and the BCI check in parallel so the slower check never becomes the bottleneck.
Ohio offers real public lookup tools: county clerk of courts portals, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction offender search, and municipal court records are all free to search. For employment decisions, they come with three problems.
First, they are incomplete by design. A county portal covers that county. A candidate who lived in Michigan, Indiana, or anywhere else leaves records no Ohio lookup will ever show. Second, free lookups carry no FCRA process, and the disclosure, authorization, and adverse action steps that federal law requires around employment screening do not disappear because the search was free. Third, public portals sometimes still display records that have since been sealed, and acting on a sealed record exposes the employer, not the portal. A consumer reporting agency exists to solve all three: multi-jurisdiction court research, the compliance process built in, and human review that filters out what cannot legally be considered.
Ohio employers regularly mix these up, partly because BCI, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, sounds a lot like CIC. They are different tools. A BCI or FBI check is a fingerprint-based criminal records check run by the Ohio Attorney General’s office, required by statute for specific roles: school employees, childcare workers, home health and other direct care positions, foster and adoptive parents, and many licensed professions under ORC 109.572.
The fingerprint check answers one question: what does the government’s criminal history file show. It does not cover out-of-state court records beyond what agencies have reported, and it verifies nothing about employment history, education, licenses, or driving. Employers in regulated industries typically pair the required fingerprint check with an employment screening program that fills those gaps, and CIC helps map where one ends and the other begins. The full breakdown is in our employer guide to BCI and FBI background checks in Ohio.
Under Ohio Revised Code 2953.32, employers cannot ask about or act on sealed, expunged, or pardoned records. Ohio’s expanded sealing eligibility means more records qualify every year, and instant checks often still surface them. Our human review process screens them out before they ever reach your report.
Ohio’s ban-the-box law covers public employers, and Senate Bill 143 would extend restrictions to many private employers. Several Ohio cities already have their own rules. The common 2026 practice: hold the criminal history question until after a conditional offer.
Ohio statute requires fingerprint background checks for specific positions, including school and childcare employees and direct care roles, under ORC 109.572 and the licensing rules built on it. Employers in these categories may want to confirm the reason codes and renewal schedules for their roles with their licensing agency or legal counsel.
Toledo’s Pay Equity Act bars employers with 15 or more employees from asking applicants about salary history. Columbus and Cincinnati have their own ordinances. If you hire across Ohio cities, your screening program needs to account for each one.
Want to see what a hiring mistake actually costs? Try our free Bad Hire Cost Calculator, or request a consultation and we will walk through the 2026 Ohio rules with you.
The process most Ohio employers follow looks like this. The screening components get matched to the role first, since a one-size package either overpays or underchecks. The candidate then receives a standalone written disclosure and provides written authorization, both required by federal law before any check runs. The report comes back, and for most CIC clients that is within 24 to 48 hours. If the results raise a concern, EEOC guidance calls for an individualized assessment rather than a blanket rule, and if the decision is not to hire, the FCRA’s two-step adverse action process applies: a pre-adverse action notice with a copy of the report, time for the candidate to respond or dispute, then the final notice. CIC provides compliant sample forms and supports clients through each step, and our adverse action support covers the notice process end to end.
Most CIC background checks are completed in 24 to 48 hours. Checks that require in-person county courthouse research or third-party verifications can take longer, and we keep you updated in our secure client portal throughout.
With proper FCRA disclosure and written consent, Ohio employers can review criminal records (excluding sealed and expunged records), employment and education history, driving records, professional licenses, and more. What you may consider in the hiring decision depends on the role, and EEOC guidance calls for individualized assessment.
Ohio’s ban-the-box law applies to public employers. Private employers are not covered statewide as of 2026, though Senate Bill 143 is pending and several Ohio cities have local rules. Many employers wait until after a conditional offer to ask about criminal history as a best practice.
No. Under ORC 2953.32, sealed, expunged, and pardoned records cannot be asked about or used in hiring decisions. Because instant checks sometimes surface stale records, CIC’s human review process filters them out before your report is delivered.
Yes. Federal law requires a standalone written disclosure and the applicant’s written authorization before any background check, plus a specific notice process if you decide not to hire based on the results. CIC provides compliant sample forms and adverse action support.
Pricing depends on the packages and volume your hiring requires. Most Ohio employers mix a base criminal check with role-specific add-ons like MVR or license verification. Contact the CIC team for a quote matched to your hiring, with no platform fees or minimums.
Most Ohio employers order employment background checks through a consumer reporting agency like CIC. After a written disclosure and the candidate’s authorization, we run criminal record research at the county, state, and federal level plus the verifications the role calls for, and most reports complete in 24 to 48 hours. Roles with a state fingerprint requirement, such as schools and direct care, pair their BCI check with this kind of screening program.
Tell us about your hiring, and we will build a screening program that fits it. A conversation, not a sales pitch. Family-owned in Perrysburg since 1977.
The Bad Hire Cost Calculator shows what one wrong hire costs your company, and our compliance blog tracks the rules as they change, in plain English.
