Applicants/Felony Convictions
shackmorris
11 Posts
Our company currently considers applicants with felony convictions on a case by case basis (crime committed, position applied for and etc..) We use a background company for investigative reports and have been pleased thus far. However, recently I discovered that the background company when running the criminal check, does not verify any other matching criteria besides the applicant's name. For example, when they do a criminal check for applicant John A. Doe and they find public records showing ten convictions for John A. Doe, they assume that any and all convictions belong to our applicant and will include all convictions on the report they send to us. The background company does not verify that it is the same person by going further to match D.O.B., social security number or anything! I was basically told by the owner of the background company that reporting all convictions that match the spelling of our applicant's name takes the liability off them.
While I always assumed the background company was requesting criminal reports specifically by name and date of birth, I felt safe relying on their info. We have denied employment to two applicants recently because of felony convictions reported on their criminal report. One applicant verified that the convictions the background company reported belonged to someone with the same name but a different gender! The other applicant verified that the convictions belonged to someone with a different date of birth. Offers were later made to both applicants and the background company reran the reports free of charge.
Though I am pretty green in HR, I feel this puts an undue burden on our applicants when we treat them as if they are guilty and make them prove their innocence. Though I should probably look at other background companies, has anyone else run into this? Does anyone else think this is unfair? Any suggestions, please!
While I always assumed the background company was requesting criminal reports specifically by name and date of birth, I felt safe relying on their info. We have denied employment to two applicants recently because of felony convictions reported on their criminal report. One applicant verified that the convictions the background company reported belonged to someone with the same name but a different gender! The other applicant verified that the convictions belonged to someone with a different date of birth. Offers were later made to both applicants and the background company reran the reports free of charge.
Though I am pretty green in HR, I feel this puts an undue burden on our applicants when we treat them as if they are guilty and make them prove their innocence. Though I should probably look at other background companies, has anyone else run into this? Does anyone else think this is unfair? Any suggestions, please!
Comments
>Though I am pretty green in HR, I feel this puts an undue burden on
>our applicants when we treat them as if they are guilty and make them
>prove their innocence. Though I should probably look at other
>background companies, has anyone else run into this? Does anyone else
>think this is unfair? Any suggestions, please!
Your background company is not giving you your money's worth. When you fill out the request forms, you list name, DOB, ssn and possibly other information. They are doing a cheapie of a search for you. Change companies immediately. Don't even explain the problem to them. They know they are screwing you. Background investigation results like you describe are absolutely worthless! The disservice is not to the applicant.....IT IS TO YOUR COMPANY!
The one we use is very good and up front about all aspects of the background. Call Randy with TSW at (800) 447-5530 he will help you. Tell him Earl had you call.
But, what ever you do CHANGE YOUR BACKGROUND COMPANY NOW!!!!
The company I use will actually call me to verify DOB's and even middle initials or full middle names in the case of possible duplicates! They are VERY detailed. I appreciate the extra effort in that it minimizes my company's exposure in this messy area.
Gene
If you subscribe to the Employment Law Letter in your state, you can read the article in the Subscribers Area of this website:
[url]http://www.hrhero.com/lc/[/url]
James Sokolowski
HRhero.com
Thank you!