Pre-Employment Checks

Whenever you are thinking about hiring someone for a job - you may want to conduct some type of screening...

First here is the scoop on the FCRA -Fair Credit Reporting Act

Employers regularly screen employees or potential employees using criminal records, employment histories, etc. Due to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"), employers must comply with certain disclosure and reporting requirements while performing background checks. The FCRA was enacted primarily to protect the privacy rights of individuals relating to credit information. The law, however, covers significantly more than just credit reports. To review the FCRA in its entirety, please visit www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra.htm.

The FCRA requires any employer intending to obtain a consumer report to first make a clear and conspicuous written disclosure to the applicant or employee that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes.

To obtain a consumer report from a consumer reporting agency, the employer must first provide certification to the consumer reporting agency that the employer:

1. Is requesting the report for employment purposes (which includes evaluating an applicant or employee for employment, promotion, reassignment, or retention as an employee).
2. Has provided the required disclosure to the applicant or employee.
3. Has obtained the necessary written authorization to request the report.
4. Will provide the applicant or employee with a copy of the report and a written description of the applicant or employee's rights before taking any adverse action based in whole or in part on the report.
5. Will not use the information from the report in a manner that violates federal or state equal opportunity laws.

If the employer plans to take any adverse action based wholly or in part upon information contained in a consumer report, the FCRA requires the employer to make certain notifications to the applicant or employee. 
 

For employment purposes, an "adverse action" means either: 1) a denial of employment; or 2) any other decision for employment purposes that adversely affects any current or prospective employee. The FCRA requires an employer to provide a copy of the consumer report to the applicant or employee and provide the applicant or employee with a copy of his/her rights under the FCRA (the "Summary of Rights Under the FCRA") before taking adverse action based upon information contained in the consumer report.

After the employer takes adverse action, the employer must provide the applicant or employee with notice of the following:

1. The name, address, and telephone number of the consumer reporting agency issuing the report
2. A statement that the consumer reporting agency did not make the adverse decision and is not able to explain why the adverse decision was made
3. A statement regarding the applicant or employee's right to obtain a free disclosure of the applicant or employee's file from the agency if the applicant or employee requests the report within 60 days of notice of the adverse action
4. A statement regarding the applicant or employee's right to dispute directly with the consumer reporting agency the accuracy or completeness of any information provided by the agency.

Does this mean that you cannot check criminal records yourself before hiring the employee? You cannot use a credit reporting service without their knowledge. There is however, nothing that prevents you from running your own investigation on someone you may hire. You cannot turn down the potential employee based solely on that fact, but it can be something that you may bring up n an interview, and ask the potential employee to verify suspicious information.

How can you check that information? You can start the search right here on this blog, or you can search at beyourowndetective.net - or you may want to use the Net Detective. Look them over and see which you prefer. They can all give you good information