How far back are employers allowed to go for background checks?

How far back are employers allowed to go into someones criminal record for department store work?

as far as they need, The only way you can avoid it is if you were granted youthful offender status, then its hidden from them

Ya I'm pretty sure there's no limit to how far back they can go. But keep in mind that they have to pay an investigation company and the further they want to go back, the more they have to pay. The standard is 7yrs. A more prestigous company like Verizon Wireless, for example, will go back 10yrs. Nobody is going to look back more than 10 years unless it is a hi profile job like with the government or any high security job where you would have access to a lot of information or anything else of value. But your standard fast food job or a factory job is not even going to do a background check unless you are applying for a managers position. Also, depending on the state you live in, you can have your record expunged (cleared) after a certain amount of time. In Washington State, you can have a Class C felony removed after 6yrs, a Class B after 8, and a Class A after 10. misdemeanors I don't know about. good luck!