Today, the size of the business is no longer the basis of whether or not the management should do an employment background check on their prospective employees. Incidents like workplace violence, corporate scandals and for its security purposes as well made pre-employment screening a necessity in not only the large corporations around the country but in small businesses as well. It is believed that the practice of checking out the past of both the candidates and present employees helps avoid unnecessary lawsuits and valuable hiring errors, thus resulting in a harmonious and satisfying progress on the company’s performance as a whole.
Besides the drug testing and psychometric testing common in a pre-employment screening,
background checks are probably the most essential for the company. According to The Society for Human Resource Management Workplace Violence Survey, from 66% in 1999, more than 96% of HR professionals said their companies are requiring them to do background checks for new hires. A simple phone call from previous employers or reference checks is no longer enough to qualify as a thorough background check. Nowadays, employers chose to hire an outside company to do the research for them. But before dwelling in to do the background check, one should be aware of the different precautions concerning the action to be done. This includes possible legal landmines that you might not realize. It is best to ask legal consent as to what should be avoided when going through a background check request.
Among the things the employer or whoever wants to do or request a background check should have is its familiarity to the Fair Credit Reporting Act or FCRA. The FCRA sets the standards as to what the employer or background requester’s limits are with regards to the information that they seek about the past of the prospected employee or person being investigated. It is a common misconception to think that the FCRA is only focused on discrediting or create instability on a person’s credibility when it required companies to do pre-employment screening on its prospect employees. Its presence on consumer reports actually guarantees the privacy of the information contained on the background search result. The FCRA covers the laws limiting the access of the employment background record only to those who are legitimate to see it. It also assures high percentage of accuracy on the reports to be shown.
An example of security that the FCRA offers for a person’s background check includes a required disclosure form granting authorization to perform background check signed by the employee. At some point, the FCRA also covers the requirement of giving the employee a copy of the report, depending on the laws or agreement of both parties. Simply put, the FCRA fairly presents the dos and don’ts that should be followed for an employment background check action.
