Critical Tips for Choosing
an Employment Screener
So what should you be looking for in an employment
screening company?
First of all, look for longevity. The longer a company
has been providing background checks, the more experienced
it is, and as a result, the knowledge, they will
have in recognizing the signs of a “suspect” applicant.
This is a field where screeners need not only be
highly trained, but have extensive experience.
Ask for references and then call them. You want
a company with an extensive and positive track record
of providing factual information so you can make
an informed hiring decision.
Look for the company’s professional memberships
in organizations such as ASIS, SHRM, PIHRA, NPRRA,
NAPBS, as well as others. This indicates a combined
knowledge of the screening and security industries.
Do you as the hiring company; have a complete knowledge
of employment law? If not, you need your screening
company to know the laws involving background checks.
If is extremely beneficial if you hire a company
that has an acute knowledge of “negligent hiring”
practices, much in the way that an Expert Witness
would know.
The company should have an intimate, thorough and
long-term knowledge of the Fair and Accurate Credit
Transactions Act (FACTA), and the Fair Credit Reporting
Act (FCRA), as well as Sarbanes-Oxley, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley
Act, and the myriad local statutes that may or may
not apply to the employment process. They should
also have the ability to testify for you in a court
of law if need be; or even better, keep you out
of court in the first place!
Does your prospective screener have knowledge and
understanding of current HR management systems?
How about corporate due diligence programs or factual
employment screening programs that train people
to find fraudulent applications and false identities?
Are you beginning to see how there is so much more
to background checks than first meets the eye?
In short, can your vendor help keep you from unwanted
litigation? Unless you or someone in your company
is an expert in employment law, you are putting
your company at significant risk by using an online
database provider. If you are using any of the multitudes
of online databases, it’s not likely you are protected.
Not only do these online companies increase your
risk of exposure, they may even add to it. For example,
let’s say you are currently using an employment
screener that does not require you to provide a
signed release for each applicant. Sounds relatively
harmless, doesn’t it?
The truth is what these companies have done is had
you waive liability to them when you signed up for
an account so they can avoid the time and effort
it takes involved in this critical step. Their focus
in on increasing their sales; which isn’t necessarily
in your company’s best interest.
In the case of a credit bureau audit, your company
is now responsible for producing an original signed
application and therefore also liable if you don’t
have one on file. A good employment screener is
not only a long-term certified credit bureau, they
also provide signatures for these audits on a regular
basis and you should never even know when theses
audits occur. A typical lawsuit of this nature could
cost your company six figures. There is no upside
for a company purchasing background checks to take
this kind of risk.
What type of criminal conviction research, hand-researched
or online databases, does the company provide? Most
companies do not realize that there is absolutely
NO single source of information available regarding
criminal convictions. It doesn’t exist – anywhere.
Do they verify these discoveries against subject
identifiers and if so, how?
Does your online provider claim to have worker’s
compensation claim records? Any information provided
regarding worker’s compensation claims potentially
provides a false sense of security for the user.
The truth is the only records available for worker’s
compensation are appeals, not claims, and much of
the available files are sealed because they are
not as yet adjudicated. This means the file competency
rate for this type of data is about 40% – not good
enough.
Does the employment screener have international
research capability? If not, how will they screen
people you might want to hire from overseas? Without
the kinds of connections and a network of relationships
developed over long periods of time, this information
would be almost impossible to get.
Has the company you want to hire ever been involved
in a litigation themselves for improper screening
processes? Can they provide you with at least three
long-term references? Do they have professional
liability insurance including errors and omissions?
Are they FACTA, FCRA; CCRRA, and G-L-B compliant?
And of course you need to know the practical things
such as cost, turnaround time and reporting method.
Many competent employment screeners are listed in
publications such as the Security Industry Buyers
Guide as well as industry publications such as those
connected with the Society of Human Resource Management
(SHRM) and the American Society for Industrial Security
(ASIS).
What is needed now in this industry is a standardization
of compliance for employment screeners and someone
to step up and create an industry co-operative that
can police it.
Find out how to protect your company against
Workplace
Violence and Negligent Hiring Lawsuits
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