Background Criminal Checks - Please Advise

Lori1 · September 2002

Can anyone recommend a company that does background/criminal checks that is reputable and affordable. Our company is in NH. Thanks for your help.

HR Guy · September 2002

I have worked for several years (and had great success) with Clarence M. Kelley and Associates. They are based in Kansas City, MO, but I understand that they work nation-wide. Take a look at their website - [url]www.cmka.com[/url].

Don D · September 2002

We work with a company named LABORCHEX and they are multi-state operators. They do very thorough work. Most of these companies do no more or less than the others in terms of securing the national, state and county police reports and such. The difference is typically in what they do in the work background piece and I have found LABORCHEX to be very thorough and reliable. Their website is [url]www.laborchex.com[/url]. Their 800 is 844-2722. Steven Austin is my contact there. They do nationwide employment screening and will provide the necessary forms for your applicant's to sign as well.

dolores · September 2002

Is there a reason why you would not just get your prospective employee to sign a release and have your state police, or law enforcement agency which is the central depository for criminal records, do the check? Check their charges for each check, and ascertain if they have specific releases they use to conduct the checks. In West Virginia the State Police are the central depository. They have their own card which requires a thumbprint to insure they get the right individual.

Don D · September 2002

Our problem has been that there is absolutely no centralized information collection point for 'county' crimes anywhere in the country. Each separate municipality and county we request on the form has to be queried to get down to that level. It can be really time intensive spending hours on the phone trying to get some of the information or sending out requests that are never responded to. It's also cumbersome to have to write multiple checks to municipalities and agencies instead of paying a monthly bill for the service being done quickly by someone else. Oh, for the days of Mayberry when we could just call down to the courthouse and ask, "Barn, ya'll got anything on John Doe. Is he a pretty good boy?"

Rexxies · September 2002

We use Avert--they are the largest in the U.S.and are now owned by ADP. I've set up set amount based on how many people I'm going to hire--they divide that & bill us monthly. We do criminal, credit, SSN & Name check, & MVR--that costs about $55 per person & that's an excellent price. Takes 3-5 days for completion & all done online, even your billing. I also have a package that includes all the above + 2 references and an educational reference for about $75. I checked into several others (you can find them on a search on the Internet if you want) but felt these were the most responsive. Also, if you goof up when you're inputting something, you just call their customer service 24-7 and they fix it for you! Good luck

kaw413 · September 2002

I recommend Corporate Investigations, Inc. out of Pittsburgh, PA. (800) 600-0244. They are a national and international company. They are very reasonably priced and go straight by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. There are alot of privacy issues when it comes to back ground screening and the information you obtain. You have to follow procedure to the tee.

Perfect example is of a very well known company who did not hire someone based on his/her background check. Well, the company sent him/her a post card notifing her they didn't hire her but said nothing of why...well, she knew it was based on her background. You are obligated by law to send an employee a pre-adverse action letter. Alot of companies don't do it by the books. The settlement in this case ended up being a class action law suit of $1.8 million, which comes from your "Bottom Line."

I do recommend this company above b/c of this fact, but no matter who you decide to use, make sure they follow the guidelines of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Don D · September 2002

Are you saying the contracted company sent the postcard? I'm not as up on this as I should be. I thought the employer is obligated to furnish to the applicant any report upon which a rejection was based, on request. Is it not that way?

valentine · September 2002

We are a healcare/retirement community and must do background checks by law because of our health center. We send the CORI Criminal Offender Record Investigation form out to the Criminal Board of Massachusetts when doing paperwork with the new hire. They are hired subject to the check. Never had a problem. We weren't discriminating because it was done AFTER the hire and the employee was told their employment was conditional on receiving a satisfactory CORI. It has been interesting, in some instances those whose CORI would be less than satisfactory never showed up for work and when the CORI came back we found out why. Had one person challenge us in unemployment and lost.

windjam · September 2002

We have been using a company called OPENonline (formerly Commercial Information Systems in Oregon) for about the last 5 years. We are extremely happy with the results. We are able to access 27 state correction databases online. We can also access OR and WA in real-time mode so as soon as the court has updated records I can see them. They are adding more states as the laws make them available - they are up from about 5 from when we started! There is also access to credit reporting, public records, phone records, SSA verifications and lots of other databases. Because most of what we need is available through their website, I am able to get instant results - no more 4 -5 days waiting! I am able to search many ways and to print everything I find (or want). I am also able to order through them any walk-in go-to-the-courthouse requests for those states that are not available online yet.
They are very strong on following FCRA and provide recommended forms and letters for use.
Their eastern contact is 800.935.6736 (Columbus OH) and western is 800.454.6575 (Portland OR). Their website is [url]www.openonline.com[/url] or [url]www.cis-usa.com[/url].
If you have any questions about them, write!
Good luck - one of the best decisions our company made was to start doing background checks. It is amazing how a person convicted and having served 15 years and still on probation for attempted murder doesn't realize that comes under "have ever been convicted of a crime involving dishonesty or breach of trust". When he questioned our decision to not hire him, I calmly explained that most reasonable persons would consider it a breach of trust for someone to try to kill them!

Background Criminal Checks - Please Advise

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