Background check

Template:Globalize/USA A background check is the process of looking up official and commercial records about a person. A Background check is often done when someone applies for a job that requires high security like a school or a bank. It is traditionally done by the Police but is now most often purchased as a service from a private business. Information in a background check usually includes; past employment, credit worthiness, and criminal history. Background checks are important because they allow better informed and less-subjective evaluations to be made about a person but also pose risks. Other uses of Background checks include improper and illegal discrimination, identity theft, and violation of privacy.

Types of Background Checks

• pre-employment screening
• credit check
• criminal record check
• Government security clearance screenings

Pre-employment screening

Pre-employment screening is used to verify the accuracy of an applicants’ claims as well as to discover any possible criminal history, workers compensation claims, or employer sanctions.

Usefulness

Employment screening can be a practical, low-cost way to significantly reduce employee theft and dishonesty and notably increase productivity and safety. Certain industries require background checks on all employees. Examples include the banking, financial, and security industries, transportation industries, childcare, healthcare, and teaching industries, police, law enforcement, and certain military positions. The level of background investigation may vary from industry to industry or position to position. Employers who actively screen their applicants before hiring also face less liability in the event of a workplace accident or crime. Pre-employment screening is a primary way of eliminating or minimizing negligent hiring liability.

Laws

Due to the sensitivity of the information contained in consumer reports and certain records, there are a variety of important laws regulating the dissemination and legal use of this information. Most notably, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) regulates the use of consumer reports (which it defines as information collected and reported by third party agencies) as it pertains to adverse decisions, notification to the consumer, and destruction and safekeeping of records. If a consumer report is used as a factor in an adverse hiring decision, the consumer must be presented with a “Pre-adverse action disclosure,” a copy of the FCRA summary of rights, and a “notification of adverse action letter.” Consumers are entitled to know the source of any information used against them including a credit reporting company.

Types of Background Checks

There are a variety of types of investigative searches that can be used by potential employers. Many commercial sites, will offer specific searches to employers for a fee. Services like these will actually perform the background checks, supply the company with adverse action letters, and ensure compliance throughout the process. It is important to be selective about which pre-employment screening agency you use. A legitimate company will be happy to explain the process to you and should have some type of application process to ensure they are providing information to only legitimate businesses.

Many employers choose to search the most common records such as criminal records, driving records, and education verification. Other searches such as sex offender registry, credential verification, reference checks, credit reports and Patriot Act searches are becoming increasingly common. Employers should consider the position in question when determining which types of searches to include, and should always use the same searches for every applicant being considered for one position.

Reasons

They are frequently conducted to confirm information found on an employment application or résumé/curriculum vitae. They may also be conducted as a way to further differentiate potential employees and pick the one the employer feels is best suited for the position. In the United States, the Brady Bill requires criminal background checks for those wishing to purchase handguns from licensed firearms dealers. Restricted firearms (like machine guns), suppressors, explosives or large quantities of precursor chemicals, and concealed weapons permits also require criminal background checks. Background checks are also required for those working in positions with special security concerns, such as trucking, ports of entry, and airline transportation. Other laws exist to prevent those who do not pass a background check from working in careers involving the elderly, disabled, or children.

Possible Information Included

The amount of information included on a background check depends to a large degree on the sensitivity of the reason for which it is conducted—e.g., somebody seeking employment at a minimum wage job would be subject to far fewer background check requirements than somebody applying to work for the FBI.

• Criminal and incarceration records.
• Litigation records. Employers may want to identify potential employees who routinely file discrimination lawsuits. It has also been alleged that in the U.S., employers that do work for the government do not like to hire whistleblowers who have a history of filing qui tam suits.
• Driving and vehicle records. Employers in the transportation sector seek drivers with clean driving records--i.e., those without a history of accidents or traffic tickets.
• Drug tests are used for a variety of reasons--corporate ethics, measuring potential employee performance, and keeping workers' compensation premiums down.
• Education records. These are used primarily to see if the potential employee had in fact received a college degree. There are reports of SAT scores being requested by employers as well.
• Employment records. These usually range from simple verbal confirmations of past employment and timeframe to deeper, such as discussions about performance, activities and accomplishments, and relations with others.
• Financial information: credit scores, liens, civil judgments, or bankruptcy may be included in the report.
• Licensing records. A government authority that has some oversight over professional conduct of its licensees will also maintain records regarding the licensee, such as personal information, education, complaints, investigations, and disciplinary actions.
• Military records. Although not as common today as it was in the past fifty years, employers frequently requested the specifics of one's military discharge.
• Social Security Number (or equivalent outside the US). A fraudulent SSN may be indicative of identity theft, insufficient citizenship, or concealment of a "past life".
• Polygraph test. Also known as a psychophysiological detection of deception (PDD) examination.
• Other interpersonal interviews. Employers will usually wish to speak with potential employees' references to gauge employability. More intensive background checks can involve interviews with anybody that knew or previously knew the applicant--such as teachers, friends, coworkers, and family members.

Controversies

Drug tests and credit checks for employment are highly controversial practices. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a project of the Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN): "While some people are not concerned about background investigations, others are uncomfortable with the idea of investigators poking around in their personal histories. In-depth background checks could unearth information that is irrelevant, taken out of context, or just plain wrong. A further concern is that the report might include information that is illegal to use for hiring purposes or which comes from questionable sources."

In May 2002, allegedly improper post-hire background checks conducted by Northwest Airlines were the subject of a civil lawsuit between Northwest and 10,000 of their mechanics.

In the case of an arrest that did not lead to a conviction, background checks can continue including the arrest record for up to seven years, per § 605 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act:

Except as authorized under subsection (b) of this section, no consumer reporting agency may make any consumer report containing . . . Civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest that from date of entry, antedate the report by more than seven years or until the governing statute of limitations has expired, whichever is the longer period.

Subsection (b) provides for an exception if the report is in connection with "the employment of any individual at an annual salary which equals, or which may reasonably be expected to equal $75,000, or more"[1].

Some proposals for decreasing potential harm to innocent applicants include:

• Furnishing the applicant with a copy of the report before it is given to the employer, so that any inaccuracies can be addressed beforehand; and
• Allowing only conviction (not arrest) records to be reported.

In New Zealand, background checks have been affected by the Clean Slate Act 2004, which allows individuals to legally conceal "less serious" convictions from background checks provided they had been conviction-free for at least seven years.

In Michigan, the system of background checks has been criticized in a recent case where a shooting suspect was able to pass an FBI background check to purchase a shotgun although he had failed the background check for a state handgun permit. According to the spokesman of the local police department,

... you could have a clear criminal history but still have contacts with law enforcement that would not rise to the level of an arrest or conviction [that can be used] to deny a permit whether or not those involved arrests that might show up on a criminal history.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has criticized the federal policy, which denies constitutional rights based on a criminal background check only if the subject has been accused of a crime.

Public Records Pay Sites

Taking advantage of public records availability in the United States, a number of Web based companies began purchasing U.S. public records data and selling it online, primarily to assist the general public in locating people. Many of these sites advertise background checks.

Some of the background checks provided by these pay sites are only expanded versions of a basic (people search) providing a 20 year history of addresses, phone numbers, marriages and divorces, businesses owned and property ownership. Usually, these sites will also provide a nationwide criminal check for an added charge.

Further reading

• How to Perform a State Criminal Background Check
• http://www.opm.gov/extra/investigate/IS-15.pdf Federal Investigative Services — Requesting OPM Personnel Investigations.
• Is a Background Check Necessary

External links

• Society for Human Resource Management Magazine article
• Fair Credit Reporting Act
• Employment Background Checks: A Jobseeker's Guide
• CareerJournal | Employers Might Ask For Your SAT Scores
• CareerJournal | Background Checks Draw Increased Scrutiny
• First person account of NSA interview and background investigation (applicable for any intelligence agency applicant)