How do background check companies report a court ordered sealed record to potential employers?

Assuming for the moment that the FL statute is silent on this issue (as is the NJ statute), the private database company is not required to remove the information from their database. The NJ statute and those in other States with which I am familiar, pertain to the removal of the records from the public information databases. The private databases are not mentioned in the NJ statute. As a result, I suggest that my client's here in NJ perform the highest level of private background check that they can adfford, see if anything shows up, and then send a copy of the Court's expungement Order to the company still listing the information, requesting that they remove the data expunged by the Court. We have yet to have any company agree to remove the data when we use this approach. If no FL licensed lawyer answers this posting, consider consulting with your lawyer, or one of the excellent FL licensed criminal defense lawyers who list here on Avvo.com to get the specifics as to how the FL statute can be used to achieve this type of result. Good luck.

DISCLAIMER: I do not practice law in your State. This answer is provided for informational purposes only. This answer does not constitute legal advice, create an attorney-client relationship, or constitute attorney advertising.

These private companies update their databases constantly so that by the time your records are sealed and thereafter unavailable to the public, the investigating firm already has data based on your arrest and disposition. Unfortunately they are not required to purge their records when you get an arrest sealed. A Catch-22 in the system.

The significance of getting a record sealed in Florida is that in most instances you are legally permitted to say "no" to the question of whether you have ever been arrested. (There are exceptions to this). Also, once the record is sealed, it is no longer available as a public record. But, another way these records can be obtained is that FDLE and/or the FBI do not always delete the record from their database. You must follow up with this to have the arresting agency requst that FDLE or the FBI remove the entry from their records as well. There is no protection against what a background check company is required to do under these circumstances.