Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
Employee Background Check Overview
If you’ve applied for a new job, you might be subject to an employee background check when you become a serious candidate or right after you’re hired.
There are laws protecting potential employees as they’re undergoing background checks. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law, and states often enforce laws of their own pertaining to an employee background check. Employment background checks must abide by FCRA regulations.
When an Employee Background Check Becomes a Consumer Report
If a potential employer hires a third party to conduct the background check, the Fair Credit Reporting Act deems it a “consumer report.” The laws governing consumer reports require specific procedures designed to protect the job applicant.
The employer has to notify you in writing and receive your written authorization before a third party can begin to gather information for a consumer report. If the employer sees something on the consumer report that results in you not being hired for the position, the employer is obligated to provide you with a pre-adverse action disclosure that includes a copy of the report and pamphlet detailing your rights as a consumer.
The employer also has to provide you with an adverse action notice that explains why the company has decided not to employ you, plus the name and phone number or email address of the third party that conducted the consumer report. Instructions on your legal right to dispute the consumer report should be provided to you as well.
Your Searchable Information
A potential employer will look at the work history that you list on your resume, any educational degrees or certifications reported and possibly even awards you claim you received if such awards are relevant to the job. But they can look at much more.
Depending upon the job you’re applying for, employers or third party companies might look into different aspects of your personal history in their background check. Most places initially verify the Social Security number you provide.
If you are going to have responsibilities that involve driving to different locations, making deliveries, or attending offsite meetings, the company might check your driving record. Public information such as criminal records, bankruptcy history 10 years back, whether there are liens on any of your properties, and what property you own are all available for an employer to search.
Your potential employer might verify your previous addresses and even contact your friends and neighbors to obtain an idea of your general character.
Your name might be searched to find out whether you’re on a terror watch list or on a sex offender registry. In the event a third party background check company finds a criminal record, the third party company is mandated by the FCRA to provide you with a 613 Contemporaneous Notice. The notice can be in the form of an email to you that says the company might report criminal records or other public records that could affect you adversely when supplied to the company that requested such records.
If you have been in the military, your basic information of name, rank, assignments, salary and honors may be disclosed, but your entire military service records are confidential, with few exceptions.
All items fall under the purview of the FCRA. Any violations of the law can be reported – and some have led to employee class action lawsuits against the businesses conducting the background check.
