Tag Archive for: Background Checks

Understanding Background Check Requirements and Complying with EEOC as an Employer

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If you’re hiring a new employee, and require a background check, there are a few key components you need to know.

Ban the Box

As an employer in the State of Minnesota, Ban the Box simply requires an employer to wait until later in the hiring process — at the interview stage or a when a conditional job offer has been extended — before asking the applicant about their criminal record or conducting a criminal background check.  The Ban the Box legislation passed by the State Legislature required all employers in Minnesota to remove the box asking about criminal convictions from all applications.

No Blanket Policies

You cannot have a policy that makes blanket statements like “No Felony.”  Every employee must have their criminal history examined carefully against the criteria for the job.  This doesn’t mean you have to hire felons.  It simply requires that in order to exclude a candidate based on their criminal history, it must be relevant to the job.  For example, a driving offense is relative to a driving position, not a receptionist position.

Do not ask about Medical History

As an employer, it’s only human that you want to know as much as you can about your future employee. After all, the more information you have, the better hiring decision you can make, right? Wrong. There are certain pieces of information that you’re not allowed to ask about until you’ve offered the potential employee a job, and medical history is one of those pieces of information.

Be Careful You are not Discriminating

If you make a judgment based on someone’s race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or age, for example, you could be liable for a lawsuit on behalf of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. When you’re asking questions about your potential employee’s background, make sure that you aren’t making any decisions about hiring or not hiring that candidate based on personal information such as the above-mentioned factors.

Obtain Written Permission

Before you actually initiate the background check, your potential new hire must sign and give written permission that the results could influence your decision regarding whether or not to hire her/him. This will save you legal grief if your check does affect your hiring and the candidate objects. It also lets the potential new hire know that you are serious about hiring the best candidates possible for your position.

Follow Proper Protocol after Receiving a Negative Report

If you do find something negative in your potential hire’s background check, you need to provide them with a copy of the background check and a “Summary of Rights.” If the candidate feels like a mistake has been made, the summary will include instructions for him/her to follow. Be prepared to write a letter of justification if the negative check results in a “no hire.” Interested in learning more about the EEOC? Visit the EEOC website.

 

FINDING YOUR TALENT

Want to learn more about how Award Staffing can help your organization with your staffing and employment needs? Start by providing our team with a few pieces of information about yourself, and we will take care of the rest.

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Why You Should NEVER Skip Background Checks

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Background checks can be a tricky subject. Some employers require them, whereas others feel that they can be a breach of trust. When done properly, a background check can serve as a great way to preserve the integrity of your workforce and ensure that the hires you’re making are consistent with the rest of your team and company’s values. Here’s why you shouldn’t skip background checks:

Knowledge is Power

The more you know about the team you’re putting together, the better. While background checks can be a time-consuming process, it’s essential to know who you are hiring exactly and what you should be made aware of in the onboarding process. For example, if a new hire has been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor, you should know what that was and the circumstances surrounding it, so you can make the best decision for your company as to whether or not that new hire is the right fit.

Skipping Background Checks Can Be Costly

Background checks exist for a reason: to make sure you don’t hire someone who is going to hurt you, your company, your company’s reputation, or your employees. If you don’t do a background check, you could end up hiring someone who has some of those intentions and/or runs your business into the ground. While conducting a background check isn’t cheap, think about the costs associated with hiring a corrupt individual who can do so much more damage on his or her own.

Can Improve the Seriousness of the Applicants

One way you can make background checks efficient for your company is if you tell hires that their hire is contingent on them being able to pass a background check. This improves the seriousness of the applicants for several reasons. First of all, if a person has a big enough concern that s/he wouldn’t pass a background check, s/he likely wouldn’t apply out of fear that s/he would make it to the final interview stage and then not be offered the job.

Second of all, it shows that you take pride in your company and the employees you hire, so they will be much more apt to take the entire interviewing process more seriously and only come to you when they are ready to be a responsible, hard-working employee. Once you see the value in performing background checks, your interview process will run much smoother because your interview process will have a type of pre-qualification process put in place.

If you need help from a staffing agency to make those initial connections with potential employees, contact Award Staffing.

 

FINDING YOUR TALENT

Want to learn more about how Award Staffing can help your organization with your staffing and employment needs? Start by providing our team with a few pieces of information about yourself, and we will take care of the rest.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.