Brooks Law Firm
Does a pending charge show up on a background check? Usually. The useful answer is where, what it says, and what changes when the case ends.
The questions to ask this week
Does a pending charge show up right now?
Yes, in the places that matter. Shelby County court records are public and searchable the day the charge is filed. A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation check — used by many healthcare, education, and government employers — returns Tennessee arrests, including those that never became convictions. Commercial screeners such as Checkr, HireRight, Sterling, and First Advantage pull county court records and report an open case as pending. What varies is whether a given employer may consider it, and whether it does.
What exactly does it say?
The charge as filed, the date, the court, the status. Not the facts, not the evidence, not your side. A pending line reads very differently from a conviction, and a dismissal replaces it.
Can it be used against me?
In Tennessee, a private employer may consider a pending charge. When a screening company is involved, federal law gives you three things: notice before an adverse decision, a copy of the report, and the right to dispute it before the decision is final. Errors are common — the wrong person, a closed case shown as open. Tennessee’s ban-the-box law covers state government jobs only.
What about mugshot sites?
Booking photos are public records, and commercial sites scrape them. They are not the court record, and clearing the record does not clear them automatically. Do not pay a removal fee before asking us.
What changes when the case ends?
A dismissal shows as a dismissal. A diversion that ends in dismissal can be expunged, and an expunged Tennessee record leaves the court file and the TBI record — a screener that re-pulls finds nothing. That is why the goal in a first-offense case is a record that reads clean, not a lighter sentence; our guides to first-time offenders and expungement cover what it takes. Convictions run the other direction: most Tennessee misdemeanor convictions can never be expunged.
This week
- Search your own name in the Shelby County court records. See what they see.
- Applying now? Answer truthfully in one sentence: “There is a pending charge. I am represented, and it is unresolved.”
- Wrong report? Dispute it in writing. A reinvestigation is required.
- Do not pay a mugshot site.
Where this connects
- Charged and your job | Charged and your license
- Expungement in Shelby County | Misdemeanor expungement in Tennessee
- First-time offender in Memphis
Talk to a Memphis criminal defense lawyer
How a charge reads a year from now is decided in the next few months. Call the office at (901) 324-5000, or call or text the criminal line at 901-412-2973, for a free, confidential consultation.