Criminal background checks for astronauts
Although the primary goal of this blog is to provide serious and in-depth articles, every now and then we enjoy taking a look at the more bizarre side of criminal background checks. NASA recently had a rare intersection with our world when astronaut Lisa Nowak was charged with attempted murder after allegedly assaulting romatic rival Colleen Shipman. The story rapidly spread in national headlines, as it contained all the Fatal Attraction elements: a married woman obsessed with another man, violent female rage, and a long drive using a diaper so that rest stops would not be necessary. The details are [...]
Which background check providers are FCRA compliant?
If you are responsible for employment or tenant screening, you probably know that you need to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). And if you have been looking online to find someone to do the background checks for you, you may have noticed that virtually every web site says that they are "FCRA compliant". Does this mean they can be used to screen employees in a legal manner? Not necessarily. Many websites rely on a linguistic trick to claim FCRA compliance. The FCRA only applies to background checks that are used for job screening, tenant screening, or other [...]
A guide to using credit reports for employment screening
It can be difficult to decide which type of background checks are appropriate for your organization. Almost everyone will want to do a criminal background check. What else do you need? In this post we explore a popular supplement, credit reports. Credit reports are a potentially rich source of information. There are different types available, depending upon whether it is being used for tenant screening (which has some similarity to a loan), or employment screening. The version for employers includes: Identifying information about the subject, such as past addresses, aliases, additional social security numbers, and previous employers. Details on how [...]
Doing background checks without a date of birth
There are times when doing a background check without a date of birth can be useful. If you need to check out a neighbor, for example, you might not happen to know his birthdate. For a casual search like this, with no FCRA implications, it is usually possible to search a criminal database by name only -- and we provide this option on our criminal search page. Assuming the name is not incredibly common, and you know roughly where the person lives and their approximate age, you can have a pretty good idea of which criminal records are relevant to [...]
Understanding FCRA rules for employment screening
At SentryLink we are often asked about the legal rules and regulations involved in beginning employee background checks. Here we attempt to explain some of the basics involved, in particular the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Disclaimer: We are not lawyers and specific situations may vary. Please consult with your attorney before implementing any screening program. The federal rules regarding employment screening are contained in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. At a minimum, your screening program must conform to these rules. (State-specific rules may also apply, and we will be covering those in future posts.) The FCRA has two primary goals [...]