Wade Investigations specializes
in providing in-depth and comprehensive pre-employment investigations for companies seeking a higher caliber of background
needed for the hiring of executives, mid managers and positions requiring greater scrutiny due to access to
sensitive materials & accounts payable.
If you or
your company is seeking general screening for employees please contact us for a referral and as a courtesy the below screening
tips are presented for you.
Make sure your inquiries are related to the job. If you decide to do a background check, stick to information that is relevant to the job for which
you are considering the worker. For example, if you are hiring a security guard who will carry a weapon and be responsible
for large amounts of cash, you might reasonably check for past criminal convictions. If you are hiring a seasonal farm worker,
however, a criminal background check is probably unnecessary.
Ask for consent. You
are on safest legal ground if you ask the applicant or worker, in writing, to consent to your background check. Explain clearly
what you plan to check on and how you will gather information. This gives the worker the opportunity to take herself out of
the running if there is something in her past she wants to keep private. It also prevents the worker from later claiming that
her privacy was unfairly invaded. If a worker refuses to consent to a reasonable request for information, you may legally
decide not to hire the worker on that basis.
Be reasonable. Employers
can get in legal trouble if they engage in overkill. You will not need to perform an extensive background check on every applicant.
Even if you decide to check, you probably won't need to get into excessive detail for every position. If you find yourself
questioning neighbors, ordering credit checks and performing exhaustive searches of public records every time you hire a clerk
or counterperson, you need to scale it back.
In addition specific rules may apply like:
School records. Under
federal law and the law of some states, educational records -- including transcripts, recommendations and financial information
-- are confidential. Because of these laws, most schools will not release records without the consent of the student. And
some schools will only release records directly to the student.
Credit reports. Under
the Fair Credit Reporting Act or FCRA (15 U.S.C. 681), employers must get an employee's written consent before seeking that
employee's credit report. Many employers routinely include a request for such consent in their employment applications. If
you decide not to hire or promote someone based on information in the credit report, you must give the person a copy of the
report and tell them of their right to challenge the report under the FCRA. Some states have more stringent rules limiting
the use of credit reports.
