| Common
Questions about Background Checks |
What are the real benefits derived by using background
checks as part of your hiring process? Negligent
hiring, wrongful discharge, and company theft can expose
your firm to possible lawsuits. Background checks
can determine high-risk employment candidates.
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1.
Should our company obtain a pre-employment
inquiry
release form signed by the applicant? A
signed release form by the applicant is required in order
to comply with the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
and other applicable state law. A signed release also
allows the applicant to self-report information which
is helpful in researching criminal history.
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2.
What is the turnaround
time? In most
circumstances, our response time on criminal history checks
is within 24 to 48 hours of your request, excluding weekends
and holidays. back
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3.
What is the cost
of a background check?
Our background checks can cost as little as
$10.00 per individual, and often do. Utilizing background
checks in all your hiring decisions is a surprisingly
affordable and effective method of preventing greater
costs down the road.
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4.
Are there any privacy
laws violated by having a background check performed on
a prospective employee?
All information that is accessed and reported back to
you is obtained from governmentally created and held public
records. As a potential employer, you have the right to
access this information.
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5.
Why should your company
do a criminal background check?
Usually a great deal of time,
energy, and money goes into finding the right employees
for your company. Obviously, you want those new hires
to be productive and efficient members of your existing
team. There are some pitfalls, however, you can avoid
upfront with a background check, making the probability
of a good choice more likely.
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6.
Negligent Hiring. A
real threat of liability employers now face under current
legal doctrine is "negligent hiring". If an
employee causes damage to a third party, your company
could be found liable for failing to heed the warning
signs. An example would be hiring someone inappropriate
for the job, such as a bus driver with a long history
of negligent driving. back
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7.
Wrongful discharge.
An increasing
number of lawsuits are being filed by employees who
feel they have been wrongfully discharged by their companies.
Are you hiring someone who has initiated one of these
lawsuits more than once? Studies show that claimants
win the majority of the cases that go to trial. Careful
pre-employment screening will reduce the risk of many
problems like this down the road.
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8.
Company Theft. As
technology advances, employees have greater access to
data banks and crucial company files. You can protect
your company, your employees, and your customers by being
proactive. A thorough background check can determine
high risk employment candidates before a problem occurs.
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9.
Leverage in Hiring.
When you're interviewing
a candidate, you generally would not know if there were
exaggerated or falsified credentials on the employment
application. Having input from several sources, including
a background investigation, gives you important leverage
in a hiring situation by knowing fundamental facts in
the candidate's background. This allows you to hire the
person best suited for the job and your company. It's
important that you know who you are hiring before you
hire them.
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10.
Does a criminal background check include traffic/moving
violations?
Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, North
Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Washington background checks
include traffic/moving violation information.
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11.
Does a criminal background check include juvenile
records? Washington
background checks include a juvenile conviction history.
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12.
How far back is criminal
background information able to be reported? In
most states and counties criminal conviction history goes back
a minimum of 7 years.
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13.
How and what information
is reported? Crime
of conviction, date of sentence, and disposition of
sentence are available on most cases.
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14.
Is a full name, date of birth,
and social security number
necessary for an individual criminal background check
to be done? In order to provide the most
accurate criminal background check, we will need your
applicant's full name, any aliases used, date of birth,
and social security number. back
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15.
Are pending
felony charges
included? Background
Investigations, Inc. adds this unique feature to our background
checks. In Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico,
North Carolina, Oregon, Utah, and Washington we notify
you if there are any pending felony criminal charges against
an individual. In Washington state we notify you when an applicant is on active
parole or probation supervision.
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