Compliance Concerns? Get Peace of Mind with Checkr
Posted on 10-27-2023, Read Time: 5 Min
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Highlights:
- Legal compliance in background checks is vital to avoid legal issues, and it involves federal, state, and local regulations.
- Key laws include FCRA, Ban the Box, and EEOC guidelines, impacting when, what, and how you can perform background checks.
- Checkr's compliance engine ensures alignment with federal, state, and local laws, promoting confident and lawful hiring decisions.
Background checks are often used by employers during the hiring process to identify qualified applicants and help mitigate the possibility of negligent hiring claims. However, background check compliance is complex. There are screening laws at the federal, state, county and city levels that may restrict the timing of when you can run a background check as well as the type of information you can consider.
Failing to adhere to compliance laws may have serious consequences, which may include potential legal action from government entities or candidates, expensive fines, damage to company reputation, and more.
Organizations should pay attention to the background screening requirements that might apply to them. Using an accredited, professional background check provider that prioritizes compliance for its customers can help simplify the process for you.
Let us discuss which background check laws you need to know, and how we at Checkr simplify background check compliance.
Failing to adhere to compliance laws may have serious consequences, which may include potential legal action from government entities or candidates, expensive fines, damage to company reputation, and more.
Organizations should pay attention to the background screening requirements that might apply to them. Using an accredited, professional background check provider that prioritizes compliance for its customers can help simplify the process for you.
Let us discuss which background check laws you need to know, and how we at Checkr simplify background check compliance.
Background Check Laws to Know
Background screening laws and regulations may vary at the city, county, state, and federal levels. Some of the most relevant laws pertaining to background checks include the following:
- Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): The federal FCRA requires employers who use a background check provider to follow certain rules. These include disclosing to the candidate that a background check is being performed and obtaining consent prior to performing the screening. Employers must also provide job candidates with a copy of their background check report if requested.
- Ban the Box laws: Fair hiring laws, also called Ban the Box laws, may impact when employers are permitted to ask about a candidate’s criminal history or run a criminal background check during the hiring process, among other stipulations. Ban the Box laws vary by state or local jurisdictions (though not all states have such laws), with some states restricting employers from performing a criminal background check until after an interview or making an official offer.
- EEOC guidelines: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces laws that prohibit employers from discriminating against candidates based on their race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, and/or genetic information. EEOC violations may result in fines or legal consequences. Additionally, the EEOC has provided guidelines for the consideration of how a candidate’s criminal background information is used during the hiring process.
- State regulations: Regulations pertaining to background checks vary by state, and even local jurisdictions. These regulations may impact how far back into a candidate’s history the screening can go, which information can be reported, and more. For example, 9 states limit the reporting of felony or misdemeanor convictions to 7 years, unless an exception applies.
Regardless of partnering with a background check provider or searching on your own, employers are ultimately responsible for remaining up-to-date on applicable laws and ensuring compliance based on the needs of your company, your industry, or candidate location.
Managing Compliance on Your Own Is Difficult
There is a complex web of laws impacting background checks and the information employers can consider in hiring decisions. Federal laws, such as the FCRA, may be applicable along with state and local fair hiring laws. The complexity is especially challenging when hiring in multiple locations. A DIY approach to compliance is often a time-consuming, manual process. Moreover, reviewing background check results while trying to understand the myriad of applicable laws is prone to human error and unconscious bias, while slowing down the hiring process.
Utilizing a background check provider may enable your compliance with relevant city, county, state, and federal laws while also providing a streamlined and efficient hiring process.
Utilizing a background check provider may enable your compliance with relevant city, county, state, and federal laws while also providing a streamlined and efficient hiring process.
How a Modern Background Check Provider Helps You Hire Faster with Less Risk
While background check providers may share similarities, not all of them help you meet compliance laws. Using a provider that lacks these capabilities may leave you vulnerable to potentially serious consequences.
Here is how Checkr makes meeting background screening regulations easy:
Disclosure and consent
The FCRA governs how background checks may be administered and requires employers to provide proper disclosure of their intent to conduct a background check and receive authorization from the candidate to do so. Checkr helps streamline this process by providing disclosures and authorizations within the platform for the candidate to sign electronically. If the candidate or job location is in a state with additional disclosure requirements, Checkr may automatically provide the additional state-specific disclosures based on how the screening is ordered.
Smart decisioning tools
Checkr features robust decisioning tools that yield numerous compliance benefits. For example, Checkr features adjudication tools to help speed review time, reduce potential hiring bias and increase efficiency. Our adjudication suite allows you to define which charges are not relevant to the positions you are hiring for and, therefore, do not need to be returned on a background check report. These can be filtered by severity (misdemeanor vs. felony), time elapsed, dismissal status, and more so you only see the information you want—and need—to see. By filtering out irrelevant offenses that do not disqualify a candidate, you increase your pool of eligible candidates, save valuable time, and engage in more consistent hiring practices.
Support with adverse action
There may be times when you are faced with a challenging hiring decision based on the results of a background screening. If you decide you may not hire a candidate, you must inform them of your decision through a process called adverse action. This includes sending the candidate a pre-adverse action notice allowing them to review the background check report and provide additional context about their records or address any information they consider inaccurate, reviewing the candidate’s response, and issuing a final adverse action notice explaining your decision. These notices must provide information about why the applicant was denied employment and their right to dispute any inaccurate information on their report.
Checkr helps you meet adverse action regulations by:
Here is how Checkr makes meeting background screening regulations easy:
Disclosure and consent
The FCRA governs how background checks may be administered and requires employers to provide proper disclosure of their intent to conduct a background check and receive authorization from the candidate to do so. Checkr helps streamline this process by providing disclosures and authorizations within the platform for the candidate to sign electronically. If the candidate or job location is in a state with additional disclosure requirements, Checkr may automatically provide the additional state-specific disclosures based on how the screening is ordered.
Smart decisioning tools
Checkr features robust decisioning tools that yield numerous compliance benefits. For example, Checkr features adjudication tools to help speed review time, reduce potential hiring bias and increase efficiency. Our adjudication suite allows you to define which charges are not relevant to the positions you are hiring for and, therefore, do not need to be returned on a background check report. These can be filtered by severity (misdemeanor vs. felony), time elapsed, dismissal status, and more so you only see the information you want—and need—to see. By filtering out irrelevant offenses that do not disqualify a candidate, you increase your pool of eligible candidates, save valuable time, and engage in more consistent hiring practices.
Support with adverse action
There may be times when you are faced with a challenging hiring decision based on the results of a background screening. If you decide you may not hire a candidate, you must inform them of your decision through a process called adverse action. This includes sending the candidate a pre-adverse action notice allowing them to review the background check report and provide additional context about their records or address any information they consider inaccurate, reviewing the candidate’s response, and issuing a final adverse action notice explaining your decision. These notices must provide information about why the applicant was denied employment and their right to dispute any inaccurate information on their report.
Checkr helps you meet adverse action regulations by:
- Setting up an adverse action email address to send notices on your behalf
- Generating pre- and post-adverse action emails that include additional attachments, like a copy of the required documents or notices
- Managing mandatory waiting periods automatically
- Allowing candidates to provide additional context or dispute inaccuracies on their report within the Candidate Portal
- Providing optional steps to conduct individualized assessments in jurisdictions where it is required
Support with individualized assessments
Individualized assessments are used to review a candidate’s criminal record on a case-by-case basis. The process is used to help you determine whether or not a candidate’s criminal history is relevant to a particular position. The EEOC suggests considering three criteria, known as the “nature-time-nature” test, when reviewing criminal history. This process may help you make more informed decisions as well as give candidates the opportunity to explain their circumstances.
Checkr offers our Candidate Stories feature that enables candidates to share additional context around records or prior circumstances. You can view this information directly on our platform, helping you to make faster, confident hiring decisions based on a more complete picture of the candidate. This can also help you comply with non-discrimination regulations and support fair hiring while expanding your hiring pool.
Get Peace of Mind About Screening Compliance
The legal landscape is ever-changing, and it is important to pay attention to your compliance needs with applicable regulations. Checkr’s compliance engine helps customers comply with federal, state, and local laws to help simplify alignment with requirements by location. Our intuitive and easy-to-use reporting filters, adjudication tools, and automated adverse action workflow also enable compliance for confident hiring.
Disclaimer
The resources and information provided here are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Always consult your own counsel for up-to-date legal advice and guidance related to your practices, needs, and compliance with applicable laws.
Author Bio
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Bryan Sise is the VP of Product & Customer Marketing at Checkr, who is responsible for educating current and prospective customers about the value and use of our products. He is passionate about understanding the needs of companies and candidates who use Checkr and helping them get the most from the platform. |
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