Tips to Avoids Conflicts and Discrimination in National Background Checks
Posted on: October 12, 2019 by Gavin MuirheadBackground checks are mainly used by employers who are looking for more information on potential employees. They can also be used by property owners, when a potential tenant is looking to live in their property.
When performing a background check, information is usually only gathered in the surrounding local area. This can provide the searcher with only a limited amount of information, because it is only pulling from local databases that the person may show up in. When you use a national background check system, information is pulled from databases all around the country. This is very useful because the searcher will have a complete background profile of the person in question, especially when they have previously lived in another state.
What does a national background check provide?
When accessing information from national databases in all 50 states, future employers and property owners have peace of mind because they will know upfront if their next employee or tenant has had potential red flags attached in a different state.
In addition to a criminal background check, which a national background check provides, the searcher will also gain information about any outstanding warrants and credit report history. All of these pieces of information are important when making a decision to hire someone or lease their apartment out. Even though the information provided should be carefully considered, the searcher should be cautious to ensure that this is not the only information they are basing their decision on. This could lead to conflicts and discrimination against the person being searched.
Be Aware of the Laws Surrounding Background Checks
It is against the law to perform a background check on a potential employee without permission. There are 2 specific laws that employers need to be aware of prior to using a national background check to ensure that they are not breaking any laws. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the department that is in charge of the anti-discrimination laws that protect future employees. It is against the law to perform a background check on someone in regards to their race, nationality, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or genetic information. If you are going to perform a background check, you must ask permission of that potential employee first. There is a separate form from the employment application where the potential employee can give consent to the background check and acknowledge that that information could be used in the employment decision process.
Once an employer has received the background check information, it may not be used in a discriminatory way. The employer has to apply the same standards to everyone in order to remain inside the law. This means that an employer cannot deny employment solely on the fact that the person is of a certain race or nationality with a specific financial limitation and then turn around and accept a person of a different race or nationality who has that same financial limitation.
The employer should also ensure that they are not basing employment decisions on a background problem that is commonly found in one category of race, nationality, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or genetic information and not another. This can also lead to legal problems, conflicts, and discrimination law suits.
More Information on National Background Checks
Knowing all the limitations and laws concerning background checks can be difficult. In order to keep all your facts straight, you should ensure that you are doing all the proper research ahead of time before performing a background check. Once that research is completed, you can use the Affordable Background Checks website to get a comprehensive background check report.
This report will give you information about any criminal records, marriage and divorce records, contact information, asset records, birth details, and personal information.
On our website, Affordable Background Checks strive to allow anyone and everyone the right to perform a national background check without having to worry about cost. We will provide all who visit our site with an affordable background check that provides more information than other background services while still providing quality reporting. As always, we like to remind you that you must adhere to the laws in regard to anti-discrimination before you use any information on the complete and extensive report we compile.
