Hello, everyone.

I am currently working on a long-term contract in the state of Texas. I am a permanent employee of my company, I'll call them company B, and my company has a long-term contract with the company on whose premises I am working (I'll refer to them as company A). I have currently been working onsite at company A for 5.5 years.

Company A is a defense contractor; however, I do not currently hold a DoD or DoJ security clearance. Now after Company B and Company A have negotiated an extension to the existing contract, Company B started checking all of their employees who are working for Company A, and realise that a number of us (including me) have not had background checks performed on them. They are now wanting to perform a background check on me, and part of their request is a list of any arrests that do not include minor traffic violations.

Now, this makes me nervous, as several years ago, I was arrested for attempting to deposit a forged check -- a friend of mine had given me a forged check to resolve a debt between us, and when I attempted to deposit the (unknowingly) forged device, I was arrested for suspicion of a class C felony. However, no charges were filed in this case.

My question is: how should I handle this background check? Should I report the arrest on my background check, or say "no, I have never been arrested"? Would this arrest show up on a background check if no charges were filed? Also, can Company A legally deny my employment on their premises based upon the results of such a background check? Or am I being completely paranoid about this whole thing?

Any advice would be appreciated.