The need for identifiers in accurate criminal checks
Identity theft is a growing concern for the American public. There have been many articles, books, and broadcasts on the topic. High-profile data breaches at ChoicePoint and LexisNexis have served to heighten the sense of alarm. Newspapers have been regularly trumpeting the increasing rate of identity theft, while neglecting to mention that this frightening term refers to stolen credit card numbers (as opposed to a true impersonation) 90% of the time.
Much of the concern has focused on the social security number, or SSN. This is understandable as the SSN is the basic number used in the financial world. As more government records come online, there has been increasing pressure to remove SSNs from all records in order to prevent them from getting into the wrong hands. Stories like county officials posting property records with full SSNs that anyone could find horrified readers. Awareness of the problem is a good start to preventing egregious leaks such as this. But that does not mean that SSNs should vanish from all public records.
Social security numbers can be vital for criminal background checks. Criminal checks always require a name and date of birth. But what happens if your investigative subject is named John Williams? With a common name and a broad search area, it is possible for someone to show up with a criminal record and matching birth date who is not the one being checked. […]
Criminal background checks for astronauts
Although the primary goal of this blog is to provide serious and in-depth articles, every now and then we enjoy taking a look at the more bizarre side of criminal background checks. NASA recently had a rare intersection with our world when astronaut Lisa Nowak was charged with attempted murder after allegedly assaulting romatic rival Colleen Shipman. The story rapidly spread in national headlines, as it contained all the Fatal Attraction elements: a married woman obsessed with another man, violent female rage, and a long drive using a diaper so that rest stops would not be necessary. The details are better found elsewhere but this raised the question for us, how does NASA handle its employee screening?
Whatever they are doing must be reasonably effective. According to NASA this is the first time that an active-duty astronaut has been charged with a felony. The agency is currently implementing a security upgrade that will require all employees to have a NACI background investigation, also known as a National Agency Check with Inquiries. This is an very extensive background check that starts with a check of various government databases such as the FBI index (using name and fingerprint), terrorist watch lists, immigration, CIA, State Department, and so on. A credit bureau check and police check are done, covering where the applicant has lived, worked, or attended school in the past five years. The agency will independently verify date and place of […]
Which background check providers are FCRA compliant?
If you are responsible for employment or tenant screening, you probably know that you need to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). And if you have been looking online to find someone to do the background checks for you, you may have noticed that virtually every web site says that they are “FCRA compliant”. Does this mean they can be used to screen employees in a legal manner? Not necessarily.
Many websites rely on a linguistic trick to claim FCRA compliance. The FCRA only applies to background checks that are used for job screening, tenant screening, or other protected purposes. It does not apply if you are checking out a friend or spouse. That means that a website can say in the fine print, “These background reports are not to be used for employment or housing”, while mentioning the FCRA proudly in their ad. As long as the criminal checks are not used for an FCRA purpose, by definition they are FCRA compliant! A neat trick, as long as you are not the unlucky business owner who misses the restriction in the fine print. Employment and housing lawsuits can be very expensive.
How can you tell which is which? A key thing that every screener must provide is a way for people to correct any errors in their record. This can be difficult to do and as a result many non-FCRA sites refuse to help. Since people […]
A guide to using credit reports for employment screening
It can be difficult to decide which type of background checks are appropriate for your organization. Almost everyone will want to do a criminal background check. What else do you need? In this post we explore a popular supplement, credit reports.
Credit reports are a potentially rich source of information. There are different types available, depending upon whether it is being used for tenant screening (which has some similarity to a loan), or employment screening. The version for employers includes:
- Identifying information about the subject, such as past addresses, aliases, additional social security numbers, and previous employers.
- Details on how they manage their debt — this is the “credit” part. This section shows their credit limits on various accounts and whether they are delinquent or have a history of late payments.
- Public records such as liens, judgments, or bankruptcies that are relevant to a person’s credit.
- A record of who else has requested a credit report on this person for purposes of extending credit. (This section is probably more relevant for tenant screening, as a large number of inquiries may indicate the subject’s desire to take out loans.)
Additional features may be available depending on the credit report provider. Note that employment credit reports do not provide credit scores, that is not considered relevant. Scores are available for tenant screening.
Given this high level of detail, it is understandable that many employers are tempted to use credit reports very widely. However, there are some significant risks in that approach. Everyone would agree […]
Doing background checks without a date of birth
There are times when doing a background check without a date of birth can be useful. If you need to check out a neighbor, for example, you might not happen to know his birthdate. For a casual search like this, with no FCRA implications, it is usually possible to search a criminal database by name only — and we provide this option on our criminal search page. Assuming the name is not incredibly common, and you know roughly where the person lives and their approximate age, you can have a pretty good idea of which criminal records are relevant to them.
But this is not good enough for a pre-employment background check. In that case it is important to get records for the exact person in question, and no-one else. So we need to narrow them down by an additional identifier. The two that are most commonly used are date of birth (DOB) and social security number (SSN).
Employers often ask for a reliable way to do a background check without a date of birth. They are afraid to ask candidates for their date of birth because they are concerned that it will open them up to charges of age discrimination. A natural followup question is, “Can you do background checks by SSN, rather than date of birth?” The answer is, not really…but we do have a workaround for the age discrimination issue.
Criminal records are primarily stored by name and date of […]
Understanding FCRA rules for employment screening
At SentryLink we are often asked about the legal rules and regulations involved in beginning employee background checks. Here we attempt to explain some of the basics involved, in particular the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and specific situations may vary. Please consult with your attorney before implementing any screening program.
The federal rules regarding employment screening are contained in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. At a minimum, your screening program must conform to these rules. (State-specific rules may also apply, and we will be covering those in future posts.) The FCRA has two primary goals with respect to employment:
- Ensuring that people are explicitly notified, and agree to, any background checks that are done, and
- Allowing people to correct any misinformation before any decisions are made by the employer.
Job candidates must sign a release form agreeing to permit a background check before it is performed. The most common background checks are criminal record checks, credit reports, and driving records. The release form must provide “clear and conspicuous” disclosure, which is generally interpreted as requiring a separate page rather than burying it in the rest of the job application. Here is a sample background check release form (PDF reader required).
What happens if they are not willing to sign? You cannot perform the background check in that case…but you are not required to hire them, either. It is very important that you have a consistent policy on this to avoid any charges of discrimination.
If you […]