What Do You Need To Know About Employee Criminal Background Checks?Employment criminal background check is an important part of the screening process of potential employees nowadays. Not only large companies but also small companies have started checking the employee background for any criminal activity. The companies either carry out the employment criminal background check themselves or they employ human resource companies to do the background check. A lot of work goes into conducting an employee criminal background check. Therefore, some companies prefer to outsource this work to human resource companies. The background check must be done according to the rules and regulations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). It is stipulated in the FCRA that those who earn less than $ 75,000 annually cannot be reported for criminal acts that were committed more than sever years back. The employee background check is always done with the consent of the person whose background check is being conducted. Background checks, not only criminal but also medical are an important screening procedure. It is always better to find out more about a candidate than finding out that one of the employees has a past criminal record which puts all the work that the employee has done for the company in serious doubt. Employee criminal background checks are better than finding out too late that one has entrusted a known thief with a lot of money. In several states in the USA, criminal background checks are mandatory for candidates who apply for jobs in places like adult care centers, educational institutions and nursing homes. Those that do these background checks can access records in county courthouses and also databases in some states of convicts and those accused of crime. Pre-employment background checks include finding out about the place of residence, verifying the name, social security number and date of birth. These records can be obtained from federal, state and county resources. The county courts can provide detailed information like criminal charges if any, the dates, sentence and disposition. County courts also offer dockets and other related information. The amount and detail of information that can be obtained varies from state to state. The information supplied is generally from police records and from the local courts. Federal records can be accessed for information on crimes outside a state or a local jurisdiction. The criminal acts which can be found in federal records are arson, dacoity, drug trafficking, dealing in stolen materials and abducting among others. It can take anytime between one and three days to obtain information from the federal and county. An employee back ground check can also be obtained from the Department of Justice. The information provided by the Department of Justice is limited to criminal history. It does not provide information about illegal immigration and consumer credit data. As there is no national database of criminals, obtaining background information about people who may be employees, personal communication and investigation is a good way of unearthing information about a potential employee's background. |