Can you afford NOT to conduct thorough background checks?
Conducting thorough background checks is simply good business. In today's litigious environment, employers are being held legally responsible for the wrongful acts of their employees. Pre-employment screening not only helps you avoid lawsuits based on negligent hiring, but also ensures that troubled applicants do not become employees. Consequently, your company saves hiring and training costs and avoids productivity losses.
Here are just a few staggering facts from the US Chamber of Commerce:
Theft by employees in US based companies totals nearly $40 billion every year.
Negligent hiring lawsuits are on the rise, with average awards of $1.6 million.
Incidents of workplace violence have increased over 750% during the past decade.
Obviously, what you don't know can hurt you!
Recognizing the benefits of pre-employment screening is the first step. Understanding the best practices for screening potential employees and learning to identify a proper background search are also critical.
Contrary to popular belief, there are no fool-proof background searches and there are no "national database" searches that cover the entire country. As a matter of fact, many states do not submit criminal records to national databases and those that do only submit incarceration records. With the absence of a true national database, the best search option available is hands-on research at the primary source which is the county courthouses. However, with over 3000 counties throughout the US and over 10,000 courthouses housing criminal records, it would be an onerous and costly task to search a person's criminal history in every courthouse.
A comprehensive background search begins with an address and social security verification. This search verifies the applicant's social security number and reveals aliases and addresses from the past seven to ten years. With this information, county criminal courthouse searches are conducted in all counties the applicant has lived during that period. State repository and/or database searches can be a valuable supplement to county courthouse searches. These supplemental searches allow you to broaden your search and possibly identify an applicant's criminal past in an area outside of his/her counties of residence. Although these searches may reveal crimes that were committed outside an applicant's counties of residence, it is important to note that information is often outdated or incomplete. Consequently, when databases reveal a record, a county criminal search should be conducted in an effort to verify the information. Remember, a good search is a thorough search!
Federal criminal searches are also recommended as they search for violations of Federal law that are recorded in US District Courts rather than local county courthouses. Federal crimes usually involve serious offenses such as embezzlement, robbery, drug trafficking, mail fraud, racketeering and kidnapping. Unfortunately, the searchable index for Federal District Courts have very little identifying information, so confirming a record match can be time consuming.
Depending on the position applied for, additional recommendations may include sex offender registry searches, Patriot Act searches and verifications of education, employment and professional licenses. Credit reports, driving records and drug testing are also valuable screening tools. Your pre-employment screening company should tailor a search that best suits your company's needs.
Both federal and local governments have regulations that must be adhered to when screening applicants. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) applies to companies utilizing a third party vendor to obtain background reports. The FCRA requires an employer to provide written disclosure regarding the investigation and must receive authorization from the applicant before initiating the search.
If an employer chooses not to hire an applicant whether in whole or in part due to the applicant's screening report additional rules must be followed. They include a two step process of providing the applicant with a pre-adverse action letter followed by an adverse action letter. The pre-adverse action letter will include a copy of the applicant's screening report along with the summary of the FCRA's consumer rights. After a sufficient waiting period, usually five to ten days the notice of adverse action should be provided along with other information as proscribed by the FCRA.
Many states have laws that provide stricter rules than the FCRA and must be followed. Although your background screening company will provide you with current procedures to follow, an employment attorney should be consulted to ensure compliance with all federal and local regulations.
Pre-employment screening can be vital to your company's overall success. Ignoring it or performing cheap, substandard searches can cost your company a lot more than the cost of a comprehensive screening process.
In a post 9/11 era, the growth of the background screening industry has been tremendous. Many companies have added background screening to their list of services, but do not specialize in the industry. Your company should engage a reputable background screening company that specializes in employment screening. For a free guide, "What every employer needs to know before hiring a background screening company," send your request to info@hireimage.com.
