Chelsea Mehbod has been a valued member of SELECTiON.COM® since 2017. Here’s a little more about her:
Favorite part of working at SELECTiON.COM® My favorite part is all the amazing friends I have made at SELECTiON.COM®.
Favorite Food
Potatoes of any kind
Favorite Quote
“Never suppress a generous thought.” -Camilla E. Kimball
Bucket List Item:
Ride an elephant
Fun Fact
I was born during a full moon.
When searching the pool of job candidates, finding the right person is not always an easy task. One essential piece of the hiring process is running a background check. Ninety-six percent of employers run background checks on candidates, according to a PBSA national survey.
It is a critical part of recruitment and onboarding. When searching for a candidate, you want to make sure they are the right fit, and there isn’t anything in their background that could be a risk to your organization.
Here are some simple tips to keep in mind when running background checks.
The candidate must understand why they are consenting to a background check. Transparency is essential when you’re running a background check. This allows you to continue establishing a relationship with the candidate while remaining compliant with the law. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires employers to obtain the applicant’s consent before running a background check. The release form for the background check must stand-alone and be separate from the employment application.
You should know beforehand what background check you are running. Also, understand why the background check is needed. Look at your industry and the job requirements to determine what type of background check should be run. There are numerous types to choose from, but make sure you are only running reports that are vital for the job.
For example, if you are hiring someone who will be driving a company car, then you should run a Motor Vehicle report. We recommend that you apply the same standards to everyone, based on the job description. It’s illegal to check the background of applicants when that decision is based on a person’s race, natural origin, color, sex, religion, disability, genetic information, or age. Blanket hiring practices often lead to unintentional disparate impact. Disparate impact refers to employment policies that have an unintended and adverse effect on members of a protected class, even if the policy’s language seems neutral. Have a conversation with your legal team about your hiring process and see how background checks best fit.
Contact a third-party background screening provider to run the background checks for your company. Don’t rely on a Google search or look up a candidate on Facebook. These searches are not enough and do not show the whole picture of the candidate. Although this will require a budget, your company will receive quality background check reports.
Make sure that you are giving all candidates an equal chance. Best practice is to not immediately disqualify a candidate from a job because of a hit on their record. You could be missing out on a dedicated, hard-working employee, because of a criminal record that is unrelated to the job. Work with your legal counsel to define what types of criminal records will disqualify an applicant for each position. Use the information on the background check to make an informed, thoughtful decision.
Whatever you find on the background check report, be open with your candidate. If a question arises, ask them. Keep the conversation going. There are many reasons why an issue can occur, so be comfortable speaking about the process with the candidate. If you choose not to hire the applicant, based on any reason in whole or part of the background check, then you must send a Pre-Adverse Letter, copy of their background check and consumer rights. Wait five business days to mail an Adverse Action letter to allow the applicant time to dispute the claim. You don’t want to miss out on a fantastic employee in the future because you didn’t ask the candidate about something in their background check.
Contact us today to see how SELECTiON.COM® can take your employment background check process to the next level.
This article gives a general overview of the legal matters. However, it is your responsibility to ensure compliance with all the relevant federal, state, and local laws governing this area. SELECTiON.COM® does not provide legal advice, and we always suggest consulting your own legal counsel for all applicant approval matters.
At SELECTiON.COM®, we have received many questions from hiring managers about criminal record requests over the years. As an expert in criminal record research, you can count on us to have the answers you need.
In this article, we’ll discuss some of the most common questions we receive when it comes to criminal record research.
No. There are over 3,000 jurisdictions nationwide that each has its own system. Every county has its own procedure for handling public record access. While many allow online access to their public records, some counties still use ledger books or microfilm for storage of their court records. Even when electronic records are available, additional details sometimes need to be obtained directly from the courthouse by our well-trained researches to hand-search dockets, gather information from an on-site portal, or request information from clerk personnel.
Turnaround times for public record research can be impacted by several factors, including the availability of records and the lookback period. Also, not all criminal data is available digitally, which causes variances in turnaround times from county to county. The research time can be delayed when there is a “hit” on a record, and the researcher needs additional time to verify the record further. Many courts have restricted or redacted personally identifiable information such as date-of-birth, from public indexes, requiring extra time to confirm that records belong to a specific person.
Typically, employers go back seven-years, although some states go back further. Each state has its restrictions. In several states, reporting dismissed cases is limited to seven years from the date of disposition. Some states prohibit the reporting of certain types of non-convictions or convictions.
It is essential to have an experienced team of researchers with a well-established quality program. It is also necessary to have procedures in place that allow the organization to understand what information is available at the court levels, whether it’s accessible online or in-person. Public record research and criminal record research are both vital for background screening and require a high level of specialization and experience.
At SELECTiON.COM®, we have a nationwide network of court researchers to complete the thousands of requests we receive in a day. The researchers transcribe criminal records into our Fastrax® system, so it is readily available for our in-house team. The records are then sent to our quality assurance team for final review.
Contact us today to see how SELECTiON.COM® can take your employment background check process to the next level.
This article gives a general overview of the legal matters. However, it is your responsibility to ensure compliance with all the relevant federal, state, and local laws governing this area. SELECTiON.COM® does not provide legal advice, and we always suggest consulting your own legal counsel for all applicant approval matters.
We are excited to announce that the BCI and FBI fingerprint hours at our conveniently located Tri-County office are extending into the evening. By lengthening our hours, it allows a more significant window for applicants and volunteers to be fingerprinted.
Our Tri-County location will continue to be open for walk-ins from 8 AM- 4:45 PM, Monday through Friday. Beginning November 4th, we will add additional appointment only hours from 4:45 PM-6 PM. Applicants can call 513-522-8764 ext. 3034 for booking or use the online booking system on our website under Fingerprint Services.
“We are constantly listening to what our clients want, and then analyzing our services to serve them better,” said James Boeddeker, SELECTiON.COM® President. “The extension of hours allows us to serve our clients better and in doing so, provides much needed extra time for individuals to make their way in for fingerprints.”
We also offer mobile fingerprint sessions for clients. We will travel on-site to provide fingerprint services for parties of ten or more for a fee, or parties of twenty or more at no cost.
Founded in 1991, SELECTiON.COM® is one of the nation’s leading providers of pre-employment background screening services. We offer the largest network of in-house researchers, the fastest turnaround on criminal background checks and drug screening, and unsurpassed customer service. The average turnaround time on criminal background searches is two business days. Thousands of employers nationwide rely on SELECTiON.COM® to help them make smart hiring decisions.
According to the U.S Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), over 90 million individuals, approximately 30% of the population in the country, have a criminal record on file in state criminal history repositories.
This statistic does not include traffic infractions (e.g., improper turns, parking violations, failure to stop, some speeding violations, among others) which are the most common form of infractions and also do not appear in criminal records (when they are paid, or the court citation was fulfilled), because traffic tickets are classified as infractions and are considered non-criminal offenses.
Misdemeanors (e.g., Driving Under Influence (DUI), disorderly conduct, use of controlled substances, simple assault, among others) are more serious offenses than infractions and appear in criminal records. In some circumstances, a misdemeanor can escalate to a felony. Felonies are the most serious types of crimes (e.g., DUI that causes injury, serious bodily injury or death, murder, robbery, aggravated assault, rape, among others). Like misdemeanors, felonies also appear in the criminal history on file in state criminal history repositories.
Criminal records vary from one-time arrest, where charges may be dropped completely, to violent, serious, and lengthy criminal histories. The BJS statistics show that the majority of arrests are for non-violent and minor offenses, only 4% of the arrests are for felonies, and most arrests, both misdemeanors and felonies, do not end in a conviction.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management, nine out of ten employers run criminal background screens on applicants as part of their hiring process. Employers require consumer reports in order to ensure a safe work environment for employees and to assess the overall trustworthiness of the job candidate. Background screenings also reduce theft, embezzlement and other criminal activity. Some background screenings are required by state law for a position such as a teacher or licensed medical practitioner. Employers are not only protecting the company’s reputation but are also reducing the risk of legal liability for negligent hiring. Thus, in the selection process, some companies reject applicants who have criminal charges.
Employers should be aware that it is highly likely that consumer reports may have negative information about the applicants. In these instances, a greater understanding is important to dispel some employers’ myths or paradigms. “The fact of an arrest does not establish that criminal conduct has occurred. Arrests are not proof of criminal conduct. Many arrests do not result in criminal charges or the charges are dismissed,” according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). By contrast, records of convictions of crimes will usually serve as sufficient evidence that a person engaged in improper conduct.
Finding a point of balance and justice between millions of people with criminal records at the time of getting a job and the legitimacy of the employers to not consider an applicant for employment based on their criminal records, has become a great challenge. The law, jurisprudence, and institutions like the EEOC have all weighed in on this situation.
First, the Fair Credit Reporting Act restricts Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRA’s) reporting any non-convictions older than 7 years, unless the applicant is expected to earn 75,000 or more annually [15 U.S.C. 1681c (a) (2) (5)]. Some state laws and local ordinances also restrict CRA’s from reporting non-convictions regardless of age.
Thereby, the large number of applicants who have criminal records are not marked for life because non-convictions (records of arrest and certain adverse information) are not reflected in the consumer reports with the passage of some years and may not be reported at all. These restrictions create a point of balance between employers and applicants with criminal records. For employers, they can still know relevant information about the applicant, like convictions, and for the applicants because not all the information about their criminal history may be disclosed. SELECTiON.COM® works diligently on compliance with federal and state law regarding these restrictions.
Second, the jurisprudence has cited three factors that employers shall seriously consider in their hiring policies when the applicant has a criminal record (Green v. Missouri Pacific Railroad, 549 F.2d 1158, 8th Cir. 1977). The three factors are; the nature and gravity of the offense or conduct; the time that has passed since the offense, conduct and/or completion of the sentence, and the nature of the job held or sought.
Finally, the EEOC has consolidated and updated enforcement guidance regarding the use of arrest or conviction records in employment decisions. The guide describes two types of discrimination in employment decisions, disparate treatment and disparate impact. According to the EEOC, disparate treatment means “a violation may occur when an employer treats criminal history information differently for different applicants or employees, based on their race or national origin.” For its part, disparate-impact liability may occur when “an employer’s neutral policy (e.g., excluding applicants from employment based on certain criminal conduct) may disproportionately impact some individuals protected under Title VII and may violate the law if not job-related and consistent with business necessity,” the guide explains.
It is very important for decision-makers, hiring officials, and managers to know the law, jurisprudence, and the EEOC enforcement guidance to allow employers to make hiring decisions appropriate and equitable, without engaging in discrimination.
In conclusion, employers are challenged to provide this large number of individuals the opportunity to apply, be considered, and hired for a job. In the end, it is in the employer’s hands to analyze the seriousness of the applicants’ conduct and create a balance between an opportunity and responsible hiring.
This article gives a general overview of the legal matters. However, it is your responsibility to ensure compliance with all the relevant federal, state, and local laws governing this area. SELECTiON.COM® does not provide legal advice, and we always suggest consulting your own legal counsel for all applicant approval matters.
LeAnn Bick has been a valued member of SELECTiON.COM® since 2000. Here’s a little more about her:
Favorite part of working at SELECTiON.COM®
My work family, everyone is always helpful, supportive and passionate about their work. We work diligently to keep our clients safe. SELECTiON.COM® is the difference!
Favorite Food
Lasagna
Favorite Quote
“Live for today, tomorrow is promised to no-one.”
Favorite Hobby
DIY projects, especially repurposing old furniture
Fun Fact
I love muscle cars. I drove a 1971 Nova in high school.
