Educational Articles

Pre-Employment Screening Background Check

Have you ever wondered what steps you can take to ensure you will hire the employee you need without any negative consequences in the future?

You have to conduct a pre-employment screening. This is a necessary practice recommended for all employers, regardless of the size of their business. By conducting pre-employment screening, you are safeguarding your company from negligent hiring lawsuits that would cost dearly.

Nowadays, doing simple reference check, calling some people connected with the applicant and asking a few questions to the applicant during interview is not an effective hiring process anymore.

Due to the rise of security matters, scandals in the business arena, violence and even terrorist activities in the workplace, pre-employment screening is becoming a trustworthy practice.

What is pre-employment screening background check and how do you go about conducting it?

Pre-employment screening makes use of psychometric testing, background checking and substance abuse testing. These processes are done to find out the background and genuine identity of a newly hired employee or an applicant who is on the verge of being hired.

Conducting background checks is one of the more popular methods in pre-employment screening. According to statistics 96% of human resources professionals owned that they conduct pre-employment screening background checking of newly hired employees.

This is a significant increase from 1996 statistics, wherein only up about 66% conduct background checks in 1996. This is according to The Society for Human Resource Management Workplace Violence Survey.

Basic information to obtain in a pre-employment screening background check:

• social security number
• credit history and records
• driving and vehicle records
• criminal records
• educational background
• workers’ compensation
• personal references

As an employer of a business, you must know that there are certain legal landmines or potential disputes regarding the conduct of pre-employment screening background check of your newly hired.

You must be adequately warned and cautious about these issues.

Things to look out for in conducting pre-employment screening background check

While doing some background checks on an employee soon-to-be hired is helpful in minimizing the dangers of negligent-hiring lawsuits, be aware that such practice also has its share of liabilities.

Before launching a background check, here are important things to remember.

You must comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) – In simplest terms, the FCRA requires your company to let employees sign their names on a disclosure form. This signed disclosure form is a manifestation you are your employees conceded authorization to conduct a background check.

FCRA does not only require authorization of employees on your obtaining credit reports. This includes all kinds of other consumer reports.

Each state has a directive in how to obtain and what data you can use in the pre-employment screening process.

Some state laws prohibit the use of certain parts in a person’s criminal record obtained in a background check. California, in particular, has the Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act.

It is advisable to meet up with local state law regulators and hire an expert legal counsel before delving deeper into criminal history of a recruit.

Abide by the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) – A disabled person is defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as someone who:

• has an impairment, either physical or mental that significantly limits a person from performing one or more important activities in everyday life.

• has official records of impairment

• is recognized to have an impairment

ADA ruling protects people with disabilities from being subjected to discrimination by employers. Employers cannot use medical or disability data of an applicant or let it affect in hiring decisions.

Whether you decide to do pre-employment screening on your own, or hire professional investigators to do it for you, be aware of the legalities involved. Take time to educate yourself and your hiring team on such processes.

Source: http://www.positivearticles.com/blog