Increasingly, background checks are a resource heavily relied upon by companies to investigate potential candidates prior to hire. Clearly, there are numerous benefits experienced by employers interested in protecting company assets or their reputation. For instance, background checks guard against negligent hiring practices, which can result in a lawsuit. A comprehensive background check can also identify inflated or even false information. Further, some state and federal laws require a background check when hiring individuals who works with the elderly, children, or the disabled.
As this practice grows in popularity, some candidates are confused or even intimidated by the process. Others perceive this requirement as a violation of their privacy. Some are concerned there may be details uncovered that may prove irrelevant to the hiring process but are deeply embarrassing to their professional career. For all of these reasons, it is important that potential candidates and new hires gain a better understanding of background checks in general, the legal ramifications, and its overall intent. It is also important that candidates understand background checks offer a huge benefit to employees in that the practice promotes a safe work environment.
The information provided in a background check can include driving records, past work history, criminal records, sex offender lists and many other confidential pieces of information. Many of the sources used to acquire this information are publicly available through government databases. Additionally, Vault.com reported in an October 2007 survey that 44% of employers utilize social networking sites to screen prospective new hires and 39% search these sites for existing employee information.
The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) provides standards third party vendors must use to conduct background checks on behalf of employers. However, these standards do not regulate background searches conducted in-house. Instead of a background check, the FCRA refers to this document as a consumer report, which is the name also used to describe a credit report. The FCRA prohibits the following: inclusion of bankruptcies after ten years old; civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest after seven years from the date of entry; paid tax liens more than seven years old; accounts in collection after seven years; and other negative information that is more than seven years old. The only information excluded from these restrictions is criminal convictions, which are reportable indefinitely.
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Although federal law prohibits disclosure of certain items, employees have no ability to confirm what information will be uncovered during a background check. Employees are most vulnerable to this breach in confidentiality when background checks are conducted online. Alternatively, information may be discovered that is no longer accurate, which results in erroneous reporting. For instance, an arrest may be uncovered that if researched in its entirety would be acknowledged as an acquittal. For this reason, credible employee verification companies will always confirm adverse findings prior to relaying them to their client for review and consideration. Prior to conducting an employee background check, employers should disclose the purpose of the screening as well as the type of information under examination. In all cases, the employer should clearly explain any security procedures that govern background checks including how the information will be disseminated throughout the organization. If an unfavorable incident is identified, prior to an adverse action being taken, a verification company must provide the individual a pre-adverse action disclosure, which must include a complete copy of the report as well as an explanation of the individual’s rights under federal law. After the information is reported to the employer, the screening company must also provide an adverse action notice that includes the verification company’s name, address, and phone number along with a reminder that the adverse decision was made by the hiring manager and not the screening company. This notice also informs the applicant of their right to dispute the report’s findings.
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