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Golden State Foods
Not re-confirmedGolden State Foods said it hires people with records, but we have not been able to re-confirm it.
Golden State Foods 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.
Irvine, California-based processor and distributor of condiments, sauces, and meats for major quick-service restaurant chains, with facilities in several states.
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 Golden State Foods careers page for production and distribution roles at its facilities.
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 Golden State Foods's decision, and none of them are a reason not to apply for the work that is open.
Warehouse associate, picker, packer, or forklift operator Open Warehouse and fulfillment work is open, and a forklift certification is a training record your employer issues, not a license a state can deny over your history.
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.
Construction laborer, helper, or apprentice Open General construction labor is open, and the cards people ask for on a jobsite are safety training, not licenses that screen your history.
Delivery or truck driver (CDL) Restricted A DUI or a drug conviction involving a vehicle can disqualify you from driving commercially, for one year or for life depending on the offense. A first conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, refusing a breath test, leaving the scene, causing a death through negligent driving, or using any vehicle to commit a felony takes you off commercial vehicles for one year, or three years if you were hauling placarded hazardous materials. A second conviction for any combination of those offenses is a lifetime disqualification, though a state may reinstate you after ten years if you complete a state-approved rehabilitation program. Using a commercial vehicle to commit a felony involving manufacturing, distributing, or dispensing a controlled substance, or a severe human trafficking felony, is a lifetime bar with no ten-year reinstatement. Your state licensing agency applies this, not the carrier. 49 CFR 383.51 · checked September 17, 2026
Box truck or straight truck driver (no CDL) Restricted Even without a CDL, a DUI or a drug offense while you were on duty in a commercial vehicle can take you off the road for six months to three years. This rule covers any driver of a commercial motor vehicle in interstate work, including smaller trucks that need no CDL. The disqualifying offenses are driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, refusing a required test, transporting, possessing, or using Schedule I drugs, amphetamines, or narcotics while on duty, leaving the scene, and any felony involving the use of a commercial vehicle. The offense has to have happened during on-duty time; a first offense is one year, or six months if it only involved transporting or possessing those substances, and three years if you had another disqualifying conviction in the three years before. 49 CFR 391.15 · checked September 17, 2026
Hazmat driver (CDL hazmat endorsement) Restricted A hazmat endorsement runs through a TSA security check, and a set list of serious felonies blocks it, some for good and some only while they are recent. TSA uses one offense list for hazmat endorsements and TWIC cards. Twelve are permanent: espionage, sedition, treason, a federal crime of terrorism, a crime causing a transportation security incident, improper transport of hazardous materials, explosives offenses, murder, bomb threats, certain RICO convictions, and attempts or conspiracies to commit them. Fifteen more are interim, meaning they only count if you were convicted within seven years of the date you apply or were released from incarceration for them within five years, and they include drug distribution, robbery, extortion, arson, kidnapping, assault with intent to kill, immigration violations, smuggling, bribery, firearms offenses, and felony dishonesty or fraud. TSA decides, you can appeal a mistake in the record, and you can request a waiver for every offense except espionage, sedition, treason, and terrorism. 49 CFR 1572.103 · checked September 17, 2026
Port, dock, or maritime worker (TWIC card) Restricted A TWIC card is what gets you into a port or onto a vessel, and TSA uses the same offense list it uses for hazmat, with most of it timing out after seven years. Twelve permanent disqualifying felonies cover espionage, sedition, treason, terrorism, a transportation security incident, improper hazmat transport, explosives, murder, bomb threats, and certain RICO convictions. The other fifteen are interim and only disqualify you if the conviction came within seven years of your application or you were released from incarceration within five years, which means an older robbery, drug distribution, arson, or fraud conviction drops out on its own. Being wanted or under indictment for a listed felony holds up the card until the warrant clears or the indictment is dismissed, and you can request a waiver for any interim offense and for most of the permanent list. 49 CFR 1572.103 · checked September 17, 2026
Appealing a TWIC or hazmat denial Restricted If TSA turns down your TWIC or hazmat endorsement over a conviction, you can ask for a waiver, and the request is decided on your record since the offense. You have until 60 days after TSA serves the final determination to send a written waiver request, and you can ask during the application instead of waiting. TSA weighs the circumstances of the offense, restitution you made, any state or federal mitigation such as a pardon or expungement, and anything else showing you are not a security threat, then answers in writing within 60 days. Waivers are available for every interim offense and for the permanent offenses other than espionage, sedition, treason, and a federal crime of terrorism. 49 CFR 1515.7 · checked September 17, 2026
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
Any job that puts a firearm or ammunition in your hands If you have a conviction for a crime punishable by more than a year in prison, federal law makes it a crime for you to possess or receive a firearm or ammunition, and that quietly closes more jobs than people expect. This is a bar on possession rather than on any named occupation, but it reaches every duty that puts a gun or a box of ammunition in your hands: a sporting goods counter, a warehouse aisle that stocks ammunition, armed security, parts of some manufacturing lines. Federal law separately makes it a crime for anyone to sell or hand over a firearm or ammunition to a person they know or have reason to believe is prohibited, which is why licensed dealers are careful about which roles they fill. The definition leaves out business regulation offenses such as antitrust, and leaves out state misdemeanors punishable by two years or less. An expungement, a set aside, a pardon, or a restoration of civil rights takes the conviction back out unless the order itself says your firearm rights are not restored. 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1) · 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.
Irvine, California Location A site we can name for this employer.
Your rights in California
A California employer with five or more workers cannot ask about your record until after they have offered you the job.
When they may ask After a conditional offer Until the offer is made they cannot put the question on the application, run a background check, or search you online. They cannot use an arrest that did not end in conviction, a sealed or expunged record, or a juvenile case at all. If you work in unincorporated Los Angeles County, the City of Los Angeles, or San Francisco, local ordinances add more on top.California Fair Chance Act, Cal. Gov. Code § 12952 · checked September 17, 2026
How far back they may look No hard cutoff, but a blanket rule against convictions older than seven years is presumed unlawful, and the clock runs from your release, not your conviction Older convictions than that cannot be held against you by an employer covered by this law.
If they say no You have a step Written notice naming the exact conviction, a copy of your conviction history report, at least five business days to respond, five more if you tell them the record is wrong, then a written final decision telling you how to appeal and how to file with the Civil Rights Department.
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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