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DC Central Kitchen
Not re-confirmedDC Central Kitchen said it hires people with records, but we have not been able to re-confirm it.
DC Central Kitchen signed the Fair Chance Business Pledge in 2016. That was a public commitment made at a White House event, it carried no expiry and no reporting, and the page that recorded it now sits in an archive. We have not been able to confirm the policy is still in force, so treat this entry as a lead to check rather than an answer.
Washington, DC nonprofit food-recycling and culinary-jobs program that runs a production kitchen and catering business employing people returning from incarceration.
What we confirmed
Each line is one thing we checked, what it means for your application, and the document it came from.
Public commitment One Signed up to Fair Chance Business Pledge. A pledge is a public statement, not a guarantee about any single application. Fair Chance Business Pledge, 2016 White House archive · read September 3, 2026
How to apply
Apply through the DC Central Kitchen website; its Culinary Job Training program places graduates into kitchen jobs, including its own operations.
Which roles are closed to you
A company willing to hire you can still be forbidden by law to put you in a particular job. None of these are DC Central Kitchen's decision, and none of them are a reason not to apply for the work that is open.
Cook, food prep, dishwasher, or server Open Kitchen and restaurant work is open, and the health rules that govern food workers are about illness and hygiene, not about your record.
Airport ramp, baggage, fueling, or terminal worker (SIDA badge) Restricted Working in the secure part of an airport takes a badge, and 28 listed offenses block it if you were convicted within the last ten years. The list runs from air piracy, murder, and espionage to armed or felony unarmed robbery, extortion, felony arson, distribution of a controlled substance, and any felony involving theft, burglary, willful destruction of property, aggravated assault, bribery, possession of stolen property, or dishonesty, fraud, or misrepresentation. It only reaches back ten years from the date you apply, so an older conviction does not count, and an arrest with no conviction is not disqualifying. The airport operator makes the call, must tell you the FBI record is why, must give you a copy of it if you ask, and must give you 30 days to correct it if it is wrong. 49 CFR 1542.209(d) · checked September 17, 2026
Any job at a provider that bills Medicare or Medicaid Restricted If you are on the federal exclusion list, Medicare and Medicaid will not pay for anything you do for a provider, which is why hospitals and nursing homes screen every role and not just the clinical ones. Exclusion is mandatory, and at least five years, for four kinds of conviction: a crime related to delivering care under Medicare or a state health program, any conviction for patient abuse or neglect including a misdemeanor, a felony conviction for health care fraud, theft, embezzlement, or breach of fiduciary duty, and a felony conviction for making, distributing, prescribing, or dispensing a controlled substance. A second qualifying conviction raises the minimum to ten years and a third makes it permanent. Other convictions, such as a misdemeanor drug offense or fraud against a government program that is not health care, are permissive, which means the Inspector General may exclude you, usually for three years, but is not required to. Exclusion is a payment rule rather than a hiring ban, so an employer that does not bill a federal health program can still hire you. 42 U.S.C. 1320a-7 · checked September 17, 2026
Non-clinical healthcare work while excluded (billing, IT, kitchen, HR) Exclusion is not limited to hands-on patient care, and the government says it reaches administrative, kitchen, IT, and management work at a provider that bills federal health programs. The Inspector General has said in writing that the payment ban covers services well beyond direct care, naming executive and leadership roles, human resources, billing and accounting, strategic planning, staff training, health information technology, and support work like preparing surgical trays, whether or not the work is separately billed. It applies the same way to employees, contractors, volunteers, and staffing agency placements, and it follows you if you change professions while excluded. The one opening the agency itself recognizes is work a federal health program does not pay for directly or indirectly, which is why cash-pay and non-billing employers are a real option. OIG Special Advisory Bulletin (May 8, 2013) · checked September 17, 2026
Nurse aide, CNA, or any job in a nursing home A nursing home may not employ you in any role if a state registry carries a finding of abuse, neglect, exploitation, mistreatment, or theft from a resident against your name. This is separate from a criminal record and separate from the federal exclusion list. A state survey agency enters the finding after its own investigation and a hearing, with no arrest, charge, or conviction required, and findings of abuse and misappropriation stay on the registry permanently. Only a neglect finding can be petitioned off, and no sooner than one year after it was entered. The same rule separately bars anyone a court has found guilty of those acts and anyone with matching license discipline in effect, and it reaches every individual the facility employs, not only aides. 42 CFR 483.12(a)(3) · checked September 17, 2026
School employee with direct contact with students Restricted No federal law decides who can work in a public school, so which convictions disqualify you and for how long is set entirely by your state. Pennsylvania shows the shape most states use: a permanent list plus tiers that expire. There, homicide, aggravated assault, kidnapping, sexual offenses, endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, and any felony under the state drug act bar you for life, while any other first, second, or third degree felony bars you for ten years from the end of your sentence, a first degree misdemeanor for five years, and repeat DUI graded as a first degree misdemeanor for three years. The rule covers cafeteria workers, janitors, bus drivers, and contractors, and it does not reach employees with no direct contact with children. Pennsylvania treats a felony drug conviction as a lifetime bar, which is the opposite of how federal child care rules treat it, so do not assume one state answers for another. 24 P.S. § 1-111 (Pa. Public School Code, Act 14 of 1949) · checked September 17, 2026
Where they hire
These are the places we can name. We are building a real location list so this can answer "near me" properly.
Washington, District of Columbia Location A site we can name for this employer.
Your rights in District of Columbia
A DC employer with more than ten workers cannot ask about your record until after they have offered you the job.
When they may ask After a conditional offer An arrest or a charge that is not pending and did not end in a conviction can never be asked about at any stage. After the offer they can only pull it for a legitimate business reason judged against six factors, including how long ago the offense was and what you have done since. You file with the DC Office of Human Rights, which is your only remedy because the law gives you no right to sue, and fines run to $1,000, $2,500 or $5,000 depending on employer size with half of it paid to you.DC Fair Criminal Record Screening Amendment Act of 2014, D.C. Code §§ 32-1341 to 32-1346 · checked September 17, 2026
If they say no You have a step Within thirty days of being turned down you can demand every record they used, including your criminal record, plus written notice of your right to complain. They have thirty days to hand it over.
How this entry can change
If you have applied here and what happened does not match what this page says, tell us and we will check it again. Corrections go to our reviewers, not to the employer, and we publish what changes. Report a problem.
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