Application / Background Check

Beate

While I understand that the employment application may not ask questions regarding age and sex, the Background Check Authorization Form we currently use does and these are questions which need to be answered on the ON-Line screen in order to complete the Background Check request. When then should this form be handed out/completed by the applicant in order to stay in compliance? After the interview or job offer? This would certainly slow down the hiring process or we may have a person working for us who is not legal, or may even have a criminal record which could be a liability to the company, due to the turn-around time of the inquiry.

Thanks for your help.

Theresa Gegen TX

I think you could handle this like a lot of companies handle collecting eeo data from applicants.

The key is to make sure you have a procedure in place so that the people hiring the employee do not have any access to the form. The form could be filled out by the applicant, then placed in a sealed envelope, and given to the person who does the background check. (This person should not be a decision maker -- and it would even be better if this person was not part of your company, but worked for the checking service, that way there would never be any question that the decision maker had access to the information).

Then all the decision maker would ever find out is a Pass or Fail on the check.

Good Luck!!

Theresa Gegen TX

One more thought, if you are doing a credit check, you need to make sure that you comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (which requires notice, consent, and specific information being provided to the applicant if the applicant does not get selected due to the rights of the credit check, and an opportuntity for the applicant to refute the results).

Good Luck!