Tag Archives: VerifyProtect.com

Employment screening services tackle criminal record searches state by state, county by county

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It would be super-convenient if there was some magical nationwide database that held every criminal record of every person ever arrested or convicted of a crime. Unfortunately, that database does not exist. While there are private databases that hold millions of records from all 50 states, none claim to have all records from all states. And while many states have adequate databases of the crimes committed by residents of their states, they do not include crimes committed by current state residents while they lived in other states.

Using these private databases can be a good back-up measure, a resource to use to double-check the background information gleaned from other sources. But they shouldn’t be considered an exhaustive search.

The smartest thing for an employer to do is to hire a professional employment screening service that can attack the background check process thoroughly and systematically. Gathering previous addresses and former names used by the applicant in the last 10 years is a good first step, that way criminal records can be found in all states, counties and towns where the applicant has resided in the last decade.

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A professional pre-employment screening service will take care of such details for you, and will therefore give you the most thorough and trustworthy results.

Be Clear About Background Check Policy to Ease Parents’ Fears

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Chances are if your business or organization deals with children, you’ve taken steps to ensure their safety through the use of background checks on every teacher, coach, minister, volunteer and staff member that comes in contact with youth. If so, good for you! But are you doing an adequate job of conveying to parents and guardians all the hard work you’ve done checking into people’s pasts?

As the school year starts and fall sports start revving up, don’t make it difficult for parents to find the information that’s on all their minds: Will my child be safe in your hands? Be sure to clearly state your background check policy on a letter, handbook or whatever material goes out to all parents at the beginning of your school year or program. Be specific, too. Don’t merely include a line about how staff and volunteers undergo background checks: Tell them exactly what is checked. Does your background check include a look at national and state sexual offender registries? What about criminal records? Does the report include just felony convictions in a certain number of years, or does it include every misdemeanor and conviction dating 10 years, or more?

The more specific you are, and the more clearly stated your background check policy is, the happier and more secure parents will feel trusting their children with you. Plus, such a strongly worded, clearly stated background check policy is a clear sign to would-be offenders that they’ll never get past your security gates, so they may as well not even try.

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Follow Protocol to Avoid Mistakes in Background Check Process

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There’s a reason the Fair Credit Reporting Act regulates the way employers use professional third-party background check companies, and that’s to ensure everyone is treated fairly and mistakes aren’t made. Consider the 53-year-old man in Michigan who recently was stripped of his new job because of a felony conviction found in the background check process — a conviction that belonged to another man with the same name.

The man who lost his new job has now filed several federal lawsuits, including one against the background check company that allegedly compiled the report. He claims the background check company didn’t follow FCRA regulations when handling his background report.

It’s not uncommon for background checks to turn up false information on applicants, which is why FCRA regulations must be strictly adhered to, to make sure an applicant is informed of the background check is being done, and is notified if something is found on the report that could have a negative impact on the applicant’s chances for the job. Then the applicant should be given the chance to dispute errors in the background check, although the employer is not required to hold the job open during that process.

Besides being sure to follow proper protocol during the background check process, do some quality research to make sure you’ve hired a reputable, accredited background check firm that has checks and balances in place to ensure accuracy in its reports.

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FTC Weighs In On Social Media Background Checks

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The Federal Trade Commission has now weighed in on the growing issue of social media background checks for employers.

The FTC recently released a statement regarding employers who hire a third party service to do a social media background check, calling such a third party service “a consumer reporting agency because it assembles or evaluates consumer report information that is furnished to third parties that use such information as a factor in establishing a consumer’s eligibility for employment.”

That means those services need to be in compliance with Fair Credit Reporting Agency rules. Employers that do hire out special employment screening services for social background checks should consider the following steps to help ensure they are in compliance:

  1.  Update the notice and authorization documents given to applicants to include social media BEFORE searches are requested.
  2. If an applicant is eliminated as a result of a social media search, send the applicant a pre-adverse action notice along with the report given to the employer by the screening service.
  3. After rejecting an applicant, send a final adverse action notice to them containing the language required by the FCRA.

Note: Employers that opt to use an internal social media background check are not subject to FCRA standards.

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Match.com Settles Lawsuit by Agreeing to Background Checks

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Last week Internet dating site Match.com agreed to conduct background checks on its members in order to settle a lawsuit brought by a woman who was raped by a man she met on the dating service website. The man had six previous convictions for sexual offenses. He pleaded “no contest” to a charge of sexual battery and is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 19.

Before the lawsuit, Match.com was not conducting background checks on its members, despite the fact that another former Match.com member also had been convicted of raping his date. Instead Match.com included disclaimers on its website that advised members to meet in public places and take other safety precautions.

But because it is sending potential dates to other members, there will be more responsibility taken to lessen the risk of harm being done to a Match.com member by using background checks and sex offender registries to weed out those with criminal records.

The development signals a probable shift in the way other online dating services conduct business as well. Industry experts and lawyers expect other dating sites to follow suit with some kind of formal, across-the-board criminal background check.

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Is That Jobseeker’s Previous Employer Real or Fake?

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One of the most important tools an employer uses as part of the pre-employment screening process is to speak to an applicant’s former employer, to check professional references and find out from former bosses and colleagues whether the applicant has the experience, knowledge, leadership skills and other assets listed on their resumé.

Now there’s at least one company sabotaging this effort by offering fake job references, complete with job titles, salary details, and start and end dates. Jobseekers pay a fee and a monthly subscription to get a complete stranger to pose as a previous employer and offer glowing reviews of the applicant’s performance and skills.

The fees range, with more expensive plans promising three different “references” to act as a phony human resources manager, a fake immediate supervisor, and a phony secondary supervisor. Those giving the fake references also are paid subscribers to the service.

The job market is tough for many industries right now, but using deceitful means to land a job hurts both the employee and the employer in the end. The best way to wade through the increasingly murky waters of employee verification is to hire a reputable employment screening service trained to weed out the scammers, con artists and thiefs and find those deserving of a job at your place of business.

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What Can’t You Find Out?: Some Personal Information Is Protected by Law

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Employers use a variety of means during a background check to find out more about a potential hire. Criminal records, sex offender registries, credit reports, driving records and motor vehicle registrations, Social Security numbers, past employers, and even fingerprints are sometimes used to dig into a person’s background for information pertinent to the job for which the person has applied.

There are, however, several things pertaining to the pre-employment screening that an employer is not allowed to do. According to the Small Business Administration, the following rules apply to pre-employment screening:

• Lie detector tests: Lie detector tests are unlawful in the pre-employment screening process, according to the Employee Polygraph Protection. Exceptions to this rule include armored car services and pharmaceutical businesses.

• School records: School records and transcripts are protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and are to be kept confidential.

• Medical records: Employers can’t request a job applicant’s medical records, and some state laws protect the confidentiality of medical records. Employers are within their rights to ask about an applicant’s ability to perform the duties of the job, but if the disabled person can do all tasks, then the disability must not factor into an employer’s decisions when hiring or promoting.

• Bankruptcies: Bankruptcies may show up on a candidate’s credit report, but the Federal Bankruptcy Act prohibits employers from discriminating against a potential hire or an employee due to a bankruptcy filing.

• Military records: The military may choose to disclose limited information without the candidate’s consent, including name, rank, salary, duty assignments or status, and awards. Consent is likely to be required for other types of information.

Hotel Crime Shows Importance of Background Checks for Employees

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The case of a hotel worker in central Florida who recently was arrested and accused of raping a hotel guest underscores the importance of all employees working in the hospitality field to undergo criminal background checks. According to a report from an NBC affiliate in Orlando, an employee who lived and worked in the hotel used his master key to enter a female guest’s hotel room in the middle of the night and sexually assault her. The man had been in and out of state prison seven times for crimes ranging from burglary to battery.

The hotel owner hasn’t said whether a criminal background check was done on the employee, but the crime — and the fact that it was preventable — is a prime example of why it’s important for hotel workers to go through a pre-employment screening process. Owners of many smaller hotel chains and single hotels and motels skip this crucial step to save money. But trusting employees with access to guests’ rooms and personal property is a risky endeavor. Hotel owners should always check a prospective employee’s criminal record, and the applicant’s name should be checked against national and state sex offender registries.

Those with criminal histories should be given a second chance to make a life change, to hold a job and prove they are responsible and trustworthy. But checking someone’s criminal past can reveal patterns that make it easier for an employer to make an informed decision about a prospective hire’s potential to do well — or become a liability and a safety risk to those around him.

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Contractors Who Work At Schools, Health Care Facilities Should Undergo Background Checks

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Employment background screening has been standard protocol for all schools, day care centers, nursing homes and other facilities and businesses that care for and supervise children, the aged and the sick. If you are involved in the school system or in health care, you are no doubt well aware of the policies and procedures necessary when hiring someone. They include a thorough background check, including a criminal background screening and drug testing.

But businesses outside those two categories — health care and education/child care — are increasingly finding themselves in the position of having the backgrounds of their employees called into question when working for or even near schools and health care facilities. For example, a new piece of legislation in Delaware, if passed, would require all employees of contractors and subcontractors working on school premises to undergo a criminal background check and a child protection registry check.

If a contract your company wins means your employees will be working near students or other vulnerable people, chances are they’re going to need to undergo a criminal background screening. It’s best to have such records on file from the start, which is why pre-employment screening is so important for businesses across all industries.

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