The register › Food service › Homeboy Industries
Homeboy Industries
VerifiedYes. Homeboy Industries hires people with criminal records.
This employer states that a criminal record does not rule you out on its own. What we confirmed, and what we could not, is set out below.
Los Angeles nonprofit network of social enterprises, including Homeboy Bakery, Homegirl Cafe, and retail merchandise, that trains and employs formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated people.
How to apply
Enroll or apply through the Homeboy Industries website; its training programs lead to paid roles in its bakery, cafe, and other enterprises.
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 Homeboy Industries's decision, and none of them are a reason not to apply for the work that is open.
Checking a Pennsylvania license before you pay for training Open In Pennsylvania you can ask a licensing board in advance whether your record would block a license, before you spend anything on a training program.
Retail sales associate or cashier Open No law closes general retail work to you, and an employer that rejects everyone with a record is the one taking a legal risk.
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
Pharmacy or clinic job with access to controlled substances A DEA-registered pharmacy or practice may not employ you in any position with access to controlled substances if you have a felony conviction relating to controlled substances. The rule is written as a flat prohibition on the employer, with no lookback and no time limit, and it reaches any agent or employee who has access rather than only the licensed pharmacist. It applies the same way if your own DEA registration was denied or revoked, or if you surrendered one for cause, meaning in the face of an investigation into how you handled controlled substances. Pharmacy and clinic work that does not involve access to the controlled substance stock, and health care employers that are not DEA registrants, sit outside this rule. 21 CFR 1301.76(a) · checked September 17, 2026
Pharmacy technician Restricted Pharmacy technicians are registered or licensed state by state, and in Pennsylvania a conviction is weighed against the actual job instead of triggering an automatic no. Pennsylvania started registering pharmacy technicians on June 28, 2025 and required registration to keep working as one by June 28, 2026. State law there bars licensing boards from denying anyone for good moral character or moral turpitude and makes them run a two-stage test instead: whether your offense is on the board's published list of directly related offenses, and if it is, whether you rebut a presumption of risk with evidence of rehabilitation. The old blanket felony drug bar in the practice acts now reaches only drug trafficking offenses defined by weight, such as at least 50 pounds of marijuana or at least 100 grams of a Schedule I or II narcotic, so a smaller drug felony no longer triggers it. A crime of violence can still be licensed three years after release with evidence of rehabilitation, while a sexual offense conviction is a permanent bar for health care practitioners. Other states set their own rules and several are far stricter, so read yours. 63 Pa.C.S. § 3113 (Pennsylvania) · 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
Armed security guard Restricted Armed security is licensed state by state, and the federal firearms bar applies on top of whatever your state decides. Pennsylvania is one worked example: a conviction for any of twelve named crimes of violence, including murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, arson, recklessly endangering another person, and terroristic threats, categorically blocks certification, while any other conviction only may block it and the decision can be appealed. The state card does not give you any right to carry a firearm that state or federal law otherwise denies you, so the federal bar operates independently. California runs it the other way, as a discretionary fitness review, and state law there generally limits denials to convictions substantially related to the work and within seven years, with no denial permitted on a dismissed conviction, a pardon, a certificate of rehabilitation, or an arrest that led to no conviction. Your own state will differ, so read its rule rather than either of these. Pa. Lethal Weapons Training Act, Act 235 of 1974 · checked September 17, 2026
Unarmed guard at a contract security company Restricted Pennsylvania has no statewide license for unarmed guards, but a licensed guard company there may not knowingly employ anyone with a felony in any capacity, and only an executive pardon lifts that. This is a rule aimed at the employer rather than a license you apply for, and it covers a felony plus a list of other offenses including weapons offenses, receiving stolen property, unlawful entry of a building, narcotics distribution, recklessly endangering another person, terroristic threats, and simple assault. The company faces a fine and can lose its license over it, which is why contract guard firms screen hard even for posts with no weapon. The same act exempts security staff employed directly and exclusively by the business being protected, so in-house security is a separate and more open lane than a guard agency. Other states handle unarmed guards differently, several of them through a license you apply for yourself, so treat this as one example rather than a national rule. Private Detective Act of 1953 (Pa.), Act 361, § 13(a) · 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.
Los Angeles, 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.
Others in food service
McDonald's USA
The largest US fast-food chain; most restaurants are independently owned franchises hiring local…
Read the record →
Starbucks
The largest US coffeehouse chain, with tens of thousands of company-operated and licensed stores…
Read the record →
Tyson Foods
One of the largest US food producers, operating meat and poultry processing plants mainly in the…
Read the record →
Flowers Foods
Packaged-bakery company (Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread distributor network partner) with bak…
Read the record →