While it is completely legal to conduct employee background checks, there are certain regulations that need to be followed. The biggest thing is complying with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. As an employer, there are a few points that relate specifically to what and how you can conduct this pre-employment screening.
In order to protect the employee, only certain outside people can have access to this person’s credit report. An employer is one of the people who have a legitimate need for this access. The Fair Credit Reporting Act calls this having a “valid need”.
However, this does not mean that as an employer you have carte blanche access to anyone’s credit report whenever you want. To further protect the potential employee, they must give a written consent prior to you conducting a background check that involves their credit report.
Upon completion of the background checks, the employee has a right to know if they were declined employment based upon the information found within the report. This gives the employee an opportunity to determine the validity of the items reported. If there is an error, the employee has the right to have those items corrected and resubmit the report to the employer (you).
While it is in the hands of the credit reporting agencies to validate these disputes, they must still be completed within 30 days. Your applicant will probably tell you that the information is inaccurate, but a month’s time may go by before the applicant comes back with an updated report. This may delay the employee background checks ability to be redone. Don’t get too suspicious if you don’t hear back right away.
To purchase Pre-Employment Screening Services or for more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547
