Dear Key59,
There are several methods in which you could perform a background
check on your employees. Some of them require more resources than
others; some are more reliable than others.
Legal Restrictions on Background Checks
=======================================
There are several types of legal restrictions on background checks, in
order to prevent unnecessary invasions of privacy - namely stalking
and identity theft. The "Fair Credit Reporting Act" (FCRA) and the
"Access to Information" acts both restrict your access to information.
However, businesses, which are less likely to violate individuals’
privacy by stalking them or stealing their identity, have much more
authority than the average John Doe.
"Due to legal restrictions, however, some states do not allow for the
dissemination of their state public records. In other states, special
authorization is required to release information, write
Omni-Background-Checks (see details bellow), at
http://www.omni-background-checks.com/state_criminal_records.htm,
regarding criminal records.
In California, for example, the employee must be aware of the
background check. "In addition, federal law requires that you notify
potential employees if the results of the background check adversely
affect the hiring decision. For example, if you do a background check
on a potential employee and then decide not to hire the person because
you discover he or she is a convicted felon, you may be legally
obligated to provide the candidate with a copy of the report.", writes
Internet consultant Janine Warner in her article "Follow legalities
before undertaking background checks" (Aug. 12, 2002)
<http://www.jcwarner.com/writing/8-12-02-background-checks.htm>.
See:
Freedom of Information Act:
http://www.nv.doe.gov/programs/foia/default.htm
Privacy Act http://www.nv.doe.gov/programs/privacy/privacy.htm#Overview
Fair Credit Reporting Act: http://www.wdia.com/fcra-menu.htm
Read more about the subject in: Background Checks and Investigations
of Applicants and Employees: Four Steps to Basic Compliance with
Federal and State Laws by Littler Mendelson Attorneys, Teresa Butler,
John Skonberg, Rod Fliegel, Russ Jones, Kathleen Mones (Amazon link:
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1592060145/>).
Your options
============
You have several options, some were mentioned earlier:
- To contact a private detective, who'll do the work for you. The
benefit, is the outsourcing to a professional, who is also supposed to
be aware of all legal limitations. Downsides could be the prices (the
better and more reputable the agency, the higher the price), and the
need to outsource. Since I don't know your location, I recommend
you'll look in the Yellow Pages for further information.
- You could contact one of the firms that perform background checks
online. There are dozens of such firms, some more reputable than
others. Several are listed later. Most of these firms also have
features that enable you to move to the next option, that is, to do it
yourself.
- You could do it yourself, using the Internet as well as software
sold by private detectives. DIY investigation - outlines bellow - has
some setbacks. For example, you don't know the laws, and might -
inattentively - commit a violation. It might be cheaper, but it
requires time and energy, as well as some resourcefulness.
Companies that perform background checks
========================================
1stPublicRecords.com <http://www.1stpublicrecords.com/index.htm> -
provides various online public records searches as well as personal
background checks, criminal records, bankruptcy records, SSN
verification and more!
ABW International - http://www.abwintl.com Fraud, financial and
background investigations.
AccuCheck Investigations - http://www.accucheckinvestigation.com/
Accurate Background Checks http://www.accuratebackground.com/ -
recommended in the article "Navigating the Maze of Criminal Records
Retrieval - Updated"
By Lynn Peterson <http://records.4mg.com/criminal.htm>.
Advanced Data Retrieval <http://www.advdataretrieval.com/> - "ADRS,
provides access to background record reports that allows you to
perform detailed background checks for business or personal use. With
the ease of the internet you are just minutes away from conducting
background checks from your desktop PC".
American DataBank - http://www.americandatabank.com/
American Screening - http://americanscreening.com/
Applicant Insight - http://www.ainsight.com
Avert, Inc. - http://www.avert.com/ Nationwide background check
company offers pre-employment screening.
Background Bureau, Inc. - http://www.backgroundbureau.com/
Background Check International, LLC - http://www.bcint.com
Background Profiles, Inc. - http://www.backgroundprofiles.com
BackgroundChecks - http://www.backgroundchecks.com/
Backgrounds Online - http://www.backgroundsonline.com
Career Edge - http://www.careeredge.com/ Public records retrieval for
employers.
Employee Assurance, Inc - http://www.employeeassurance.com
Pre-employment criminal background checks.
Employer's Investigative Services - http://www.pre-employ.com/
Employment Technologies Corporation - http://www.etc-easy.com/
Employee testing and selection systems.
FYI Service - http://www.fyis.com
Hire Image - http://www.hireimage.com
How to Investigate <http://www.howtoinvestigate.com/> offers
background checks, either written by their staff, or tool for you to
do your own search.
Infoquest - http://www.in-foquest.com
Intelligent Background Checks - http://www.intelligentbackgrndck.com/
Know It All Background Research Services, Inc. -
http://www.knowitallbackground.com
Lang Investigations - http://www.langinvestigations.com/
Omni-Background-Checks <http://www.omni-background-checks.com/> - "As
a national Pre -Employment Screening background checks provider we
offer Web-based Pre Employment Screening and provide instant
employment background checks for criminal records, credit reports,
MVRs, & more. All of the employment screening background checks tools
needed in one place. Our pre-employment screening background checks
system is a totally secure internet based background checks submission
and retrieval system. Custom pre employment background checks packages
are available for any employer or property management needs."
Personnel Profiles - http://www.personnelprofiles.com
The Work Number - http://www.theworknumber.com/key.html
US Investigations Services (USIS) - http://www.usis.com/
Verifications, Inc - http://www.verificationsinc.com
Webalution - http://www.fdlecheck.com
Several specialise in certain states:
In Florida, you could find Staftrack, Inc.http://www.staftrack.com
from Largo as well as Florida MVR Services <http://www.flmvr.com >
In Illinois, you could contact VTS <http://www.PIchicago.com>
In Puerto Rico, the “Employers Mutual Association of Puerto Rico, Inc“
< http://www.emplomut.com > offers this service.
In Texas,
Pennell and Associates <http://www.pennellinvestigations.com> , could
do a background check.
In Ohio, Fairfield Information Services -
http://www.usabackgrounds.com
In the DC, the DC Investigations & Associates -
http://www.dc-investigations.com
And in West Virginia, West Virginia Records Research -
http://www.ezwv.com/wvrecords
Criminal records research for selected WV counties.
DIY Guide
=========
If you decide to investigate DIY, also if you decide to handle the
background checks to a contractor, you should have the employee sign a
release form that allows you (or the firm) to commit such search. It
is required in many background checks.
Your first, and easiest, station, is governmental agencies that
maintain information such as birth records, marriages, etc. Most of
these are readily available to the public.
Criminal record check, an important part of every pre-employment
background check, is unfortunately complicated. First of all, as
you'll see in many of the sites mentioned above, they promise to
search nationally for criminal records. However, records exist in
every and each administrative level, from the parish/county and town,
to the federal level (there is such database, which is maintained by
the FBI, but public access to this database is illegal, and it is open
only to the law enforcement community). Another problem, is that in
court cases, the search <http://pacer.uspci.uscourts.gov/> is
conducted by the name of the parties involved, not by the SS number,
which could cause errors in case of identical names or spelling
mistake. On the other hand, a person could not be found if they
changed their name. A recommended article on the subject is
"Navigating the Maze of Criminal Records Retrieval - Updated"
By Lynn Peterson <http://records.4mg.com/criminal.htm>, mentioned
before.
In some States, there is public service, which might reveal essential
details - such as criminal background. For example, in Colorado,
<http://cbi.state.co.us/id/faq.htm>
Wyoming <http://attorneygeneral.state.wy.us/dci/chc.html>
Some free public records research tools, including criminal
background, is available here:
http://www.usapublicrecords.com/free_background_checks.htm
Credit Reports require a release from the employee. Credit Reports
could be attained from Credit Bureaus, like the ones in this list
<http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/Financial_Services/Credit_and_Collection/Credit_Reports/?il=1>.
For example, Credit Research USA <http://creditresearchusa.com/>. Dun
& Bradstreet <http://www.dnb.com/> compose business credit reports.
Bankruptcy checks are conducted by a handful of companies, and usually
cost between $25 and $30 for a simple search, such as the one at
<http://www.instantbankruptcycheck.com/index.asp>
If you'd like to run drugs tests, several companies and labs offer
this service, and the best thing might be to check your local Yellow
Pages. However, companies like Psychemedics Corporation
<http://www.corporatedrugtesting.com/> are also able to do the job for
you; A-Check America <http://www.acheckamerica.com>, also performs
drug checks, as well as "regular" background checks.
Another important source/company could be COMSERV, Inc.
<http://www.comserv-inc.com> that tries to detect fraudulent use of
social security numbers to obtain employment.
Finally, the Net Detective software enables you to do many background
checks on your own: http://www.netdetective2001.com/
Some DIY Guides online:
How to Investigate - http://www.howtoinvestigate.com/information.htm -
repeats some of what I already mentioned, but essentially good.
Free Record Search: http://www.criminalrecords.ws/freelinks.html -
contains a list of all governmental agencies, on which you could
search without additional costs.
Public Records Online: The National Guide to Private & Government
Online Sources of Public Records by Michael L. Sankey, James R.
Flowers, Peter J. Weber (Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1889150371/ref=pd_sim_books_1/103-3166095-8801430?v=glance&s=books)
and similarly, but online, Public Records Research System
<http://www.publicrecordsources.com/PRRS.asp>.
I hope this answers your question.
I used these search terms, among others:
"background checks" - sometimes with other terms such as "credit",
"criminal", "free" and combinations thereof.
"public records" with words such as "database" or "directory"
If you need further clarifications on my answer, please let me know.
I'd be pleased to clarify my answer before you rate/tip it. |
