Is My Secretary A Serial Killer?

No matter how large or small a company, background checks should be an essential component of the hiring process. Though small business owners don’t like to think about it, the wrong hire has the potential to do real damage to a company.

The initial cost of a background check is small compared to the potential cost of negligent hiring. Let’s say you want to hire a driver to make your deliveries. The guy seems nice enough, so you decide not to bother with a background check. A month after the driver is hired, your business gets a call from the police saying that he was involved in an accident that he himself caused, trying to race another car. The other driver is seriously injured. Because your company did not look into the driver’s background, you did not know that he had multiple speeding tickets and reckless driving charges. You not only wasted time and money hiring and training this driver, but because you did not investigate his background, you are now liable for his reckless behavior: Roughly 30 states (including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut) now recognize the negligent hiring doctrine, which makes employers responsible for checking out their employees’ backgrounds.

OK, so now you realize how important it is — what is it that you should be looking for? The foundation of a strong background check is a residency history. The residency history provides a road map identifying where the applicant has lived and the names he or she has used in the past 10 years. With this map, a company can begin to create an accurate picture of the applicant's past and fill in the appropriate searches. An example of an effective combination of searches is: residency history, seven-year county of residence criminal records, federal nationwide criminal records, sex offender index search and a Social Security verification. This package will cost a company between $80 and $100. Other searches can be added depending on the type of position you are hiring for (e.g., credit reports for a financial position, or motor vehicle records for a driving position).

What a business owner does with the information he receives from a background check is, obviously, his decision. If someone’s criminal record includes a DUI (driving under the influence) from 10 years ago when they were in college, this may not have any impact on the decision of whether or not to hire that person. If someone has a pattern of DUIs, though, this may indicate a problem and should play into the hiring decision. Once presented with information obtained through a background check, the decision maker must use it responsibly.

Once a background check program has been implemented, the next step is to follow the rules. Get permission from the applicant to conduct a background check and have him sign a release form (you can make it part of the application process). A copy of the report along with a summary of their rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) must also be provided to applicants. If you choose not to hire someone based on something revealed during an investigation, the applicant must be notified of the reason. The federal FCRA is designed to promote accuracy, fairness and privacy of information in the files of every consumer reporting agency.

Visit http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcrajump.htm  to review FCRA regulations for consumer reports.

While background checks do not predict the future, they are very effective at revealing an applicant’s past. Don’t let that past threaten the future of your company.

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