Today, employers have a heightened concern about arrest records.
They want to know if they will show up on a background check, if it will be clear on the report that the record found is not a conviction and of course, what should they do when an arrest is reported.
When conducting a criminal background check it is important to know that most courts will provide arrest records in the same manner as they report convictions. It is then up to your background screening company to decipher the information that has been reported.
When it comes to arrest records there are a few designations to look for:
The quick answer to this question is that the federal statute that governs the use of employment background checks, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) allows employers to use arrest records when making hiring decisions. Employers can consider arrests that occurred within the last seven (7) years.
Now before you act on that information, consider that there are a few specific-state laws around the country that preclude this practice. For instance, if you are conducting background checks in California, you should know that arrest records cannot be considered.
Further complicating matters are myriad anti-discrimination laws such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance on this use of criminal records that cautions employers that they better have a good reason for denying employment based on an arrest.
I know you want me to wave a magic wand and give you a straight-forward answer. Unfortunately, every company is different and has there own practices, policies and regulations. That, and our general counsel would tar and feather me if I dared opine on the subject.
While I can’t give you the answer to this question, I can provide some guidance on things to consider:
There are some things that your background screening company should do to help you in this regard.
First and foremost, they should honor your requirements when it comes to reporting arrest records. Some organizations want/need to see these records, while others don’t want to touch them with a 10-foot pole. They should be able to apply your criteria accordingly.
If you do not want arrest records reported, they should take steps to remove those records from the final report before completion.
If you do want arrest records, background screening companies should make it clear when reporting a record whether the record for a conviction or an arrest. They should also take steps to ensure you are not looking at the same case multiple times throughout the report. In other words, you don’t want a report that shows the arrest as one record and a resulting conviction as another record.
This was originally published on the EmployeeScreen IQ blog.
