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Real Estate
The Guide to Real Estate Background Checks
The real estate industry is one that virtually every person will interact with at some point in their lifetime. Whether renting an apartment, shopping for a house with the help of a real estate agent or purchasing property, you will find yourself exploring the unique world of real estate and the professionals who make that industry run.
For many reasons, ranging from the high-value nature of most real estate to the ethical missteps that led to the Great Recession, this industry tends to be bound by the concept of trust but verify. Said another way, you can put your trust in a real estate agent, a tenant, or a buyer, but finding ways to verify that trust can save you from costly mistakes. No strategy is more central to the trust-but-verify philosophy of the real estate world than conducting real estate background checks.
What exactly are real estate background checks, you may ask? In truth, there is no one concise answer to that question. Instead, real estate background checks can vary in shape and form depending on the application at hand.
For instance, the term “real estate background checks” is often used to describe the vetting protocols employers or prospective clients use to ensure that real estate agents and other professionals working in the real estate industry are safe and trustworthy. Real estate agents have unique responsibilities that allow them to enter customers’ homes, drive their clients from one showing to another, and share one-on-one meetings in empty houses. Agents often have keys or access codes to the homes of clients or sellers. A great deal of trust is needed to give a person you don’t know any of these privileges. The companies that employ real estate professionals and the clients who work with them need to know these professionals won’t abuse their position. As a result, real estate background checks tend to be highly in-depth for real estate professionals.
However, not all real estate background screenings are directed at realtors or other industry professionals. On the contrary, another equally common real estate background check is aimed at tenants or renters. Landlords who own property but rent it out to specific tenants want to ensure they place their real estate assets in good hands. As such, tenant background checks are an everyday part of many leases or rental agreements.
At backgroundchecks.com, we pride ourselves on offering a dynamic range of background check services that clients can use to build sound vetting processes for their businesses. We work with numerous clients that do business in the real estate industry and can provide background check solutions that are effective for vetting agents, employees, investors, buyers, renters, tenants, and anyone else who might need to be screened for real estate purposes.
What is a Real Estate Background Check?
Whether it’s a background check of a real estate professional or a screening aimed at determining the trustworthiness of a prospective tenant, a real estate background check will typically consider various factors, including criminal history, sex offender registry listings, aliases, address histories, and more. (To learn why landlords run these types of checks on their tenants, read our blog, Top 5 Reasons to Perform Tenant Screening.) Read on to learn more about the different background screenings that make up the typical real estate background check.
Criminal background checks
Why do landlords run criminal background checks on prospective tenants, and should they? These questions are frequently bandied about in conversations about housing access and criminal justice reform. One argument is that criminal background checks for tenants create substantial housing challenges for the formerly incarcerated. Advocates for criminal justice reform ask questions like, “How are ex-offenders supposed to rejoin and make positive contributions to society if they are denied housing based on past mistakes and misdeeds?” Denying a leasing application based on a criminal conviction, these advocates argue, only makes it more difficult for past offenders to rebuild their lives, in turn exacerbating problems with homelessness, recidivism, and mass incarceration.
Simultaneously, there are reasons why a landlord would wish to know about a prospective tenant’s past criminal activity. For instance, someone previously convicted of murder, assault, or rape, may pose a risk to the landlord, other tenants, or neighbors. Alternatively, a person whose record shows convictions for manufacturing meth may pose risks to the physical property.
Ultimately, landlords should use their best judgment when using criminal history checks for housing decisions. Crimes of violence, sexual assault or property damage may indicate bigger risks or liabilities than the landlord is willing to accept. Other less severe offenses, meanwhile, may be less expressly relevant to housing decisions.
Criminal background checks also hold considerable value for prospective real estate professionals. Real estate agents spend a good deal of one-on-one time with buyers, have access to sellers’ homes, and will often be a go-between for paperwork containing sensitive personal or financial information. For all these reasons, it’s vital for real estate agencies to make sure they hire trustworthy, safe people, and criminal background checks can be a significant part of that process.
At backgroundchecks.com, we offer criminal background checks at the county, state, and federal levels, as well as a multi-jurisdictional search that spans 650 million records from across the nation.
Sex offender registry searches
Sex offender registry checks are another vital consideration for landlords. While most sex offenses will show up on a criminal background check, many of those crimes only require perpetrators to register as sex offenders for a specified number of years.
Meanwhile, a person on a sex offender list should stand out as a bigger liability to a landlord than someone who committed a sex crime 40 years ago and is no longer required to register as a sex offender. Specifically, there are laws around how close to schools sex offenders may live, and registered sex offenders are broadly considered to be at a higher risk than many convicted criminals. For all these reasons and more, landlords will often use sex offender registry checks to inform their leasing decisions.
Employers in most sectors will incorporate sex offender registry checks into their background screening policies. Real estate firms are no exception to this rule. Running sex offender registry checks can help ensure the safety of buyers, sellers or other agents who will need to interact with the real estate professionals you choose to hire.
Alias and address history checks
Alias and address history checks are valuable for their ability to add extra information and contexts around criminal background checks. Criminal history searches are often conducted on a name-based search model. This model means that a person can sometimes avoid detection in a criminal background check by lying about their name.
Similarly, background checks are often geographically-based since most criminal records are filed at the county level. A landlord who only runs criminal history searches in one county or state can risk overlooking convictions that a prospective tenant has from a different geographic area.
At backgroundchecks.com, we can incorporate aliases and address history checks into our criminal background checks. While a person can adopt an alias or relocate to a new area, their real name will still be linked to their Social Security Number, as will their address history. We can provide this information to our customers and use it to expand background checks to include other names, counties, or states.
The value of alias and address history checks is the same for real estate professionals and tenants. Just as landlords can expand the reach of their background checks with this extra information, so too can employers get a better sense of their potential hires.
License/certification verifications
While the checks we’ve covered have value for both sides of the real estate world – tenants and real estate professionals – the license verification part of the process is only necessary for real estate agents. Prospective tenants don’t need any specific license or certification to be eligible for most housing. However, real estate professionals must be licensed to work in the profession.
Different states have different rules and processes for real estate agent licensing. In most cases, agents will have to complete an educational process and pass an examination to prove they are knowledgeable enough about the job to be qualified. Real estate employers should take care to verify the credentials of each agent they hire to avoid problems with competency or any liability that may result from unqualified, unprofessional performance.
Employment verifications
Regarding verifying employment, landlords are primarily concerned with current employment. The typical landlord wants to know that a tenant is stably employed before granting them a lease, as stable employment helps minimize the chances of late or missed payments. Some landlords conduct a formal background check to verify employment, while others merely ask for a recent pay stub or other proof of income.
Meanwhile, real estate agencies may verify employment history to check a candidate’s past jobs in the real estate field. Hiring an experienced and successful real estate agent is a boon for any agency. Verifying employment and sales volumes at past agencies and other on-the-job statistics can be essential to the vetting process.
Reference checks
Reference checks can be a part of both real estate background checks. When vetting tenants, landlords may want to hear about their experience with a tenant from previous landlords. Speaking with a previous landlord about payment reliability, property care, noise, manners, and other key tidbits can be the difference between leasing a house or apartment to a problem tenant and avoiding that situation entirely.
For real estate agencies, meanwhile, reference checks can help to hire managers to learn more about a prospective hire’s character, work ethic, demeanor with clients, and more. This information can be as important to a people-centric industry like real estate as any educational credentials or work history details.
Driving history checks
Some real estate agencies may conduct driving history checks on their agents simply because real estate agents drive their clients to showings. Ensuring an agent has a driver’s license in good standing and doesn’t have a history of reckless driving, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or other dangerous behavior is an important way to keep clients safe in these situations.
Driving history checks are irrelevant to tenant background checks and should not be included in that process.
Best Practices for Tenant Screening
Are you a new landlord putting together an effective tenant background screening policy or a long-time landlord revising your tenant background checks? In either case, consider the four tips below as your best practices for smart tenant screening.
Familiarize yourself with all laws and regulations
The most critical thing to remember with tenant background checks is that you don’t have free reign. There is considerable debate about the ethics of tenant screening, including whether landlords should even be allowed to consider the criminal history and other background information during the tenant application process. In jurisdictions such as Seattle and Detroit, ordinances now restrict which background checks landlords can run on prospective tenants.
As a landlord, you need to familiarize yourself with all relevant legislation. Every landlord or potential landlord should be aware of the tenant background checks controversy and how the debate around tenant background checks is shifting the legal landscape around them. For instance, while tenant background screening may be legal in your area now, that doesn’t mean it always will be. If you need to find and vet a new tenant in six months or a year, you should plan to review the latest legislative happenings again. Because of this fair housing debate, it’s possible that what was once allowed in your state or jurisdiction is now banned or restricted.
While the biggest factors here are restrictions and outright bans on tenant background check strategies, also remember that landlords must abide by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) when vetting potential tenants. The FCRA is a federal law dating back to 1970, which outlines the protocols you must follow when conducting any tenant background screening.
Plan a compliant and relevant background check
Once you know what you’re legally permitted to do with your tenant background checks, you can begin the next step: crafting a tenant screening policy that is detailed, relevant, and fully compliant. If you’re wondering what to include in a tenant background check, the question of relevance is typically the biggest determining factor. Regarding relevance, you want to focus on categories such as criminal history, credit history, employment, identity and address history, and rental history. Other background checks, including driving and education background checks, are irrelevant to housing situations, and landlords would be wise to skip them.
It is also wise to take proactive steps toward eliminating bias in tenant background checks. One of the biggest criticisms of tenant vetting policies – and one of the top reasons that landlords in some parts of the country have been restricted in running background checks on tenants – is the worry of bias and discrimination. Sometimes, background checks and other screening policies (such as rental applications) can be designed to introduce or reinforce housing biases. Policies that create intentional or unintentional biases against any group – whether families with young kids or People of Color – can lead to costly lawsuits.
Look beyond the credit report
For many tenant background screenings, landlords emphasize the financial situations of would-be renters. Simply put, the top consideration for the average landlord is ensuring they are getting a tenant who can make full and timely payments every month. As a result, while they typically include criminal history searches of some variety, tenant background checks will often focus just as much on factors that might indicate a tenant’s ability to pay.
Specifically, landlords want to know if their tenants are employed, where they are employed, their income, whether a former landlord has evicted them, and if they’ve generally made payments on time throughout their credit history. At backgroundchecks.com, we offer screening services to verify employment and check a tenant’s credit history.
While employment, income, and credit history can undoubtedly speak to a tenant’s likelihood to make rent payments consistently and on time, landlords should avoid putting too much weight on the credit report.
Bad credit can result from many factors, from student loan debt to unexpected medical expenses. Sometimes, landlords are overeager to read any credit report that shows considerable debt or a few late credit card payments as a red flag. Just because a person doesn’t have perfect credit or a totally stable financial situation doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t financially responsible, and it shouldn’t mean they aren’t allowed fair housing opportunities.
Too often, dire financial straits result from unforeseen circumstances, some of which happen to people through no fault of their own. Take, for instance, the Covid-19 pandemic, during which many people lost their jobs and found themselves in difficult financial situations. No one could have predicted those events, and avoiding them was equally impossible. Such is the case for many people, for many diverse reasons, and landlords should be sensitive to those struggles. The bottom line, landlords should try to avoid penalizing prospective tenants for past financial mistakes or unavoidable periods of economic struggle.
A better option might be speaking with past landlords and other references to understand a tenant’s character and reliability. These personality traits often contribute more to “good tenant” behavior than spotless credit.
Don’t overlook spouses and partners
When couples apply for housing together, one member often does most of the paperwork and interfacing with the landlord. In these situations, remember that you’re considering two tenants. Running a background check on only one of the prospective tenants leads to the risk of overlooking a red flag in the other person’s background. Vetting the two tenants identically will give you the information you need to make a smart leasing decision.
Background Screening FAQs
Read on for answers to many of the most frequently asked questions about vetting employees with help from background screening companies.
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When screening new tenants, criminal history, sex offender status, credit history, income, and past evictions are the five things landlords will most typically want to know about when screening new tenants. However, note that landlords in some parts of the country may be restricted in their ability to run background checks in one or more of these categories. Understanding the laws and ordinances in your area is essential to ensure compliant tenant background checks.
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A mix of criminal background checks, sex offender registry checks, reference checks, credit history checks, civil court checks, and employment verifications can give you all the information in the five categories mentioned above. Landlords use a cross-section of checks to get the clearest portrait possible of who a prospective renter is and how responsible they would be as a tenant.
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The term “real estate background check” can refer to two things. In one context, a real estate background check is the screening landlords use to vet prospective tenants. In another, it can be the pre-employment background check that a real estate agency uses when hiring a real estate agent. These checks often focus on many overlapping aspects, including criminal history and employment background.
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One question frequently discussed in the real estate world is whether tenant background checks will always be allowed. Some locales, such as Seattle, Washington and Oakland, California, have prohibited landlords from running criminal background checks on tenants. The idea is to reduce barriers to housing wherever possible to end rampant poverty, criminal recidivism, and other social problems. However, these bans place landlords in a challenging position by giving them less awareness and control over whom they let into their property. Currently, proposed tenant background check bans are far from the norm, but all landlords should pay attention to legislative trends in the coming years. Local, state and even federal governments could continue to restrict landlords’ use of background information in the future.
Additional Resources
Rhode Island Background Check Law Has Passed
After a week of debate, Rhode Island lawmakers have passed a new background check law that will make it mandatory to perform a criminal background check on adult volunteers who wish to participate in youth mentoring. This law would require all applicants who want to work with children through state programs to undergo a full criminal background check.
Currently, Rhode Island requires background checks for all adults who work in schools, but mentor programs are not included in that law, though some of the mentor programs do take place in school locations. Lawmakers believe that the expansion of the previous law will help keep children safer both during the school day as well as when participating in afterschool activities.
Many companies, as well as schools, all over the country use third party background check companies like backgroundchecks.com for their background checks. This company in particular has a wide variety of products that would be great to use when checking the backgrounds of those who work with children. One of them is called US Offender OneSEARCH and it will be able to show companies if the person in question has a history of sexual crimes anywhere in the US, as well as in some US territories.
backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.
Lawsuits Filed Against Schools Due to Changes in Background Check Policy
The state of Pennsylvania have been sued by four teachers who are fighting to save their jobs after new laws have been put in place to protect children. Under a new Pennsylvania state law, all school employees, including teachers, administrators, contractors and support staff, must report certain arrests or convictions within three days. The crimes that must be reported include physical assault, sexual assault, homicides and kidnapping. In total, there are 28 crimes that must be reported to authorities.
Four separate lawsuits have been filed against the state due to this new law as the interpretation of the law seems to be causing problems. The language of the law states that anyone who is convicted of one of these 28 crimes would be terminated from their job immediately. However, it seems to imply that this is only for future employees, not those who are already employed by Pennsylvania schools. It is important to note that those who are filing lawsuits are those who have been convicted of one of these 28 crimes and are at risk of termination due to this new law. If they lose the lawsuits, they will lose their jobs as teachers.
The teachers will be fighting that the law is unconstitutional and that the results of these background checks should not apply to current employees. They state that it violates the due-process rights of the employees and they should not have to suffer further for these crimes as they have already paid their dues to society for the crimes that they have committed. This will be a hard sell in court, however, since many schools have programs where criminal monitoring is done continuously and most companies in the US have similar policies as Pennsylvania schools have. In general, most people believe that this is the right thing to do in order to keep school children safe while in a learning environment.
When it comes to the companies who do these background checks, many of them, like backgroundchecks.com, offer some excellent products that allow companies to make sure they are hiring and retaining employees who have a clean criminal background. There are even products like Ongoing Criminal Monitoring that will be used as an add-on to their other products. When used in conjunction with their other products, criminal monitoring can be used to continuously scan a person’s name and report when new crimes appear on their records. Using these tools can help keep children safe and well while they go through their school day.
Some Pre-Schools are Not Performing Background Checks on Volunteers
It has just been uncovered by a local television station that some Washington state pre-schools are not performing background checks on their volunteers. Parents are, of course, outraged by this development and many are calling for action to be taken. Though there are some pre-schools that are making the responsible choice and performing background checks on everyone who is in contact with children, those who are not area only putting kids and other employees at risk.
According to news reports, the schools that have been found to be lax in their background check policies are those in the Pasco, WA area. The television station who has released this information state that their research yielded the frightening statistic that only 4 out of 7 pre-schools that were contacted actually check their volunteers against criminal databases. For the 3 that are not performing these checks, the children who attend these pre-schools could be in a lot of danger.
Those schools who are currently performing background checks on volunteers and employees like Small World Learning Centers, has a defined process that everyone must go through who will be working with children. They need to get a background check done though the Department of Early Learning then send the official information back to the Small World Learning Center where they will be working. Only then will they be able to volunteer their time.
It is important to note that only parents and guardians of other students at pre-schools are generally allowed to volunteer for things, but these people can certainly have criminal backgrounds that many people would not be comfortable letting their young children communicate with. Gateway, another pre-school in the area does not background check any of their volunteers. According to a representative of the school, volunteers are not allowed to be in the classroom without a teacher, so they do not feel the need to background check everyone. However, just because there is a policy that a volunteer cannot be in the classroom alone, doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
For those pre-schools that are not performing background checks, hiring a third party company like backgroundchecks.com would be extremely beneficial to them. There are several great products that backgroundchecks.com offers like US Offender OneSEARCH which searches all sex offender registries nationwide. With this and other products that backgroundchecks.com provides, these schools could be thoroughly checking volunteers as well as employees, which can help keep children safer.
backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.
Source: http://www.keprtv.com/news/local/No-background-checks-on-volunteers-139410258.html
Oklahoma Lawmakers Considering Forcing Volunteers to Pay for Their Own Background Checks
Lawmakers in Oklahoma are seriously considering a bill that would make it legal to force volunteers who work with children to pay for their own background checks. Some of the background checks, which cost about $40, could be paid for by organizations, but the organizations would not be responsible for the payment and would have the option to pass the fee along to the volunteers. Currently, Oklahoma law does not make it mandatory for volunteers to undergo a background check, but this bill aims to change that as well.
Oklahoma State Rep. Joe Dorman, who initiated this bill, states that he wants to make sure that honest adult volunteers are not swayed from volunteering because of this charge, but also wants to make sure that quality adults with no criminal history are the ones who are mentoring Oklahoma’s children. He additionally states that these volunteers would only need to go through a background check one time and stressed that organizations have the choice to pay for the background check, so the fee may not even be applicable.
These background checks would cover any adult who volunteers to work in any capacity where they would be with a child overnight or someone who volunteers to be in any position where they would be with a child in a locker room.
Though some opponents of this bill believe that the biggest problem is the cost, others say that this bill is simply not enough and other measures should be put into place in order to protect the children in Oklahoma State. For example, it is stated that anyone who works with children, such as a coach, who may be with children overnight will have to have a background check, but other volunteers, who may be with children during the day would not have to go through a background check.
For those organizations who want to perform background checks on volunteers, third party companies offer dedicated programs like backgroundchecks.com’s selectCHECK tailored to volunteer screening. Screening packages can be customized for each organization’s standard, including the addition of the US OneSEARCH which will be able to instantly search criminal records across all fifty states and several US territories. This product also includes a search of sex offender registries, which is always a high priority for screening solutions targeted towards subjects working with children.
backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.
Iowa Lawmakers Re-Evaluate Background Checks for Nursing Home Workers
In the state of Iowa, the law that requires nursing home workers to go through background checks is fourteen years old and many believe these requirements are outdated and need an update. A new bill has been introduced into legislation that would alter the way that background checks are done on nursing home employees. These new changes are supported by both state regulators as well as by the nursing home industry.
Currently the background check done on new nursing home workers only takes a few seconds and is simply an initial search for records. If there are no matches for felonies, certain misdemeanors or abuse, the job applicant can be hired at that time. If there is a match during the few seconds that the background check is going on, the applicant will go through a more stringent process where it will be determined how serious the previous crimes are and if these crimes would be detrimental to the position or would lead to putting patients in danger.
Though this background check system is thorough, each time a person switches agencies or gets a new position, they must go through the background check again, including the extra work if any crimes are found. This wastes a lot of time and money as it is estimated that about 22% of all applicants need to go through the second background check. Lawmakers in the state believe that eliminating the second check and focusing on automatic elimination on some results would be a more efficient process when checking the backgrounds of potential hires.
Another way to streamline the hiring process would be to partner with a third party background check company like backgroundchecks.com. Due to the enormous volume of searches they perform they have already perfected the re-verification process of instant searches that result in hits and brought the research time down to just a few days instead of a weeklong process. During that re-verification backgroundchecks.com can also apply standardized grading criteria so that offenses that would NOT lead an applicant to be barred from working in an Iowa care facility would be removed. That way the nursing homes would know that in the final reports they would only be looking at criminal records that according to predefined criteria would typically lead the nursing home to bar the applicant. Saving the nursing home time and ensuring the consistent application of screening standards within and across nursing homes in the state of Iowa.
backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.
Are Universities Doing Enough When it Comes to Background Checks
Ever since the Penn State and Syracuse scandals came to light, colleges and universities across the country have been asked if they are doing enough when it comes to background checking their staff. One of these universities, Indiana State University, is really asking themselves that question as over the past two months three ISU employees have been arrested. Though the university states that all employees went through a background check and that the arrests are not related to their policy, there appear to be several employees who have been hired that have backgrounds that are less than desirable.
The current policy at ISU states that all new employees of the university are put through background checks including student employees who have access to sensitive information. However, these background checks are only done when an employee is hired and never again. In the case of ISU, they would benefit from hiring a third part background check company like backgroundchecks.com that would be able to offer specific products to enhance the way they are checking their existing employees. Products like their Ongoing Criminal Monitoring service can be added to traditional background checks to monitor for the occurance of new criminal records. ISU would be notified of any new criminal record that appeared for an employee's name.
backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.
Source: http://www.indianastatesman.com/news/background-checks-can-isu-do-more-1.2776783#.Tzj5CFFAXK4
Chicago Daycare Hires Sex Offender Even When They Knew His Background
A registered sex offender has been working at a Chicago area day care without the knowledge of parents, the community or other employees. Eric Ellis, the employee in question, was hired by the day care through a temp agency. Though Ellis worked in the kitchen and had no access to children, as soon as the management found out about the history of Ellis, they immediately removed him from the property.
Ellis states that both the day care center and the temp agency knew of this background as he informed them both. The day care, on the other hand, states that they only hire temps when regular employees are sick. They rely on the temporary agency to do the background checks on these employees. The day care does not do the background checks on temporary employees themselves, though they do background checks on permanent employees.
Parents had mixed thoughts about Ellis being inadvertently hired by the day care center. Some were understandably upset and are considering removing their children. Others, though happy that Ellis was quickly found, believe it was an honest mistake and do not hold the day care responsible. Both sides believe that the day care needs to re-evaluate the way they get employees, even those through background checks. Though the day care relies on the temporary agency to perform the background checks, they may consider taking a closer look at the results.
It is true that the temporary agency does background checks, but the day care did not take on the responsibility to actually look at the results of the background checks in question. It may be difficult to place blame in this situation as some would say the temporary agency is at fault for not informing the day care center of Ellis’ background and others would say the day care is to blame as they did not take the responsibility to check the background of Ellis themselves. Both agencies should likely re-evaluate their practice in this situation.
There are many third party companies like backgroundchecks.com who perform background checks instantly and have products like a US Offender OneSEARCH that can search through records in seconds. It contains records from all 50 states and US territories like Puerto Rico, Washington DC and Guam. If the day care in question had considered an option such as this, it is very possible that this entire situation could have been avoided.
backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.
Schools Move to Require Background Checks for Volunteers
In a move that follows many other schools, the Parsippany, NJ Board of Education has made the decision to consider performing background checks on volunteers who have the chance to work closely with children. New Jersey recently made it law to require all members of the Board of Education to undergo background checks and it seems as if the momentum is continuing down the line to include volunteers. The volunteers who would be covered under this requirement would be both those who work in the classroom as well as those who work in after school activities like sports coaches.
Though many are supportive of these changes, others have concerns like cost. The cost of these background checks would have to come out of the schools budget. Another consideration is parents not wanting to go through the hassle of getting a background check done. Some feel that it could deter parents from interacting with students in school which is needed for not only support of the school, but for building relationships.
Should the school decide to go through with this, companies like backgroundchecks.com are able to provide services for full background checks and can also offer products like US Offender OneSEARCH which can search offender databases all over the US.
backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.
Source: http://parsippany.patch.com/articles/boe-again-takes-on-issue-of-background-checks
Should Door-to-Door Salesmen Under Go Background Checks? Some Say Yes
The city of Huntsville, AL has a proposal on the table that would require door-to-door salesmen to undergo a background check and have to carry a city ID if they want to legally sell their wares. The goal of this move is to not only keep residents of Huntsville safe, but to also weed out anyone who may be selling illegally or selling unsafe products door-to-door.
It is important to note that these background checks would only be required for those who are commercial sales people and professional fundraisers. The background checks would not be required of school children, girl scouts, political candidates, and charitable or religious groups. The proposed legislation in the city would look at the criminal background of each door-to-door salesperson and make a determination based on their background if they will be given an ID card from the city of Huntsville. This ID card would need to be worn continuously and shown when the salesperson approached a home. There would also be a provision added which would make it illegal for them to approach a home with a “No Solicitation” sign. Violators could be subject to a fine of up to $500 and/or spend up to six months in jail.
Should this legislation pass, it seems that those who are ex-convicts or who are paroled would be unable to participate in this program. Even certain misdemeanor crimes would be considered disqualifying events.
The city of Huntsville says they simply want to keep their residents safe, and this is one way that they can go about it. Should a sales person who previously received a city ID card be convicted of a crime, they would immediately lose their ID card and be unable to keep selling in the city limits.
Companies like backgroundchecks.com can be useful to cities like Huntsville who may be considering a move such as this. Not only can backgroundchecks.com perform these checks, they can offer products like Ongoing Criminal Monitoring that would let the city know, immediately, if one of these sales people were indicted or convicted of a crime. This would help the city keep track of who is out on their streets and interacting with their residents.
backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.
Source: http://blog.al.com/breaking/2012/01/huntsville_considering_backgro.html
Taxi Drivers to Go Through Background Checks to Ensure Public Safety
A bill has been introduced that will ensure taxi drivers in certain areas are subject to background checks before renewing their licenses. there is no law or policy that forces taxi drivers to get their backgrounds scrutinized but if lawmakers have their ways, this will soon change.
Not only will this change of policy protect the public, it will standardize the way cities across the nation hire their cab companies and drivers. The plan is for licensing authorities to make the final call when it comes to granting a license to be a cab driver based on the results of the background check. In many cities, people rely on taxi’s for transportation and when they know the have gone through criminal background checks, they will feel better about taking cabs. Protecting the public is one of the main reasons these checks are being done.
Cities that will bring this policy into their borders can choose to use a third party processor like backgroundchecks.com in order to get the checks done. backgroundchecks.com has products that would be perfect for checking the background of taxi drivers including instant criminal checks and motor vehicle record checks. The information from these types of companies can be to cities and companies who hire taxi drivers.
backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about ’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.
Fire Department May Require Background Checks for New Employees and Volunteers
Some cities in the nation are taking steps in order to fully protect citizens. For example, the city of Coatesville, PA is considering putting employees and volunteers from their fire department through full criminal background checks. In Coatesville, there are currently both full time and volunteer firefighters. The new policy, if passed, would only apply to new volunteers and employees, not those who are already serving. One of the main reason the city is considering this change is so full time employees and volunteers will be going through the same process when it comes to background checks.
Though the idea is certainly out there, the city is currently forming an exploratory committee as to decide what will be checked and how extensive these background checks would be. It is important when checking the backgrounds of all employees and volunteers that all of them go through the same process.
The city of Coatesville states that there was no single event that caused this idea to take hold, but there is a history of issues when it comes to the fire department and their lack of background checks. One example is the case of Robert Tracey, who was a volunteer fire fighter. He was serving as the assistant Fire Chief of the city when a series of arsons took place. Tracey was convicted of the arsons. After his arrest it was found that he had a history of arson as well as two counts of writing bad checks and two counts of theft. He had never been subject to a background check until he was arrested. The fire department has never said that this case is the cause of the move towards background checks, they only say they wish to move in a positive direction.
Companies like the Coatesville, PA fire department can continue to move in a positive direction when it comes to background checks by using the services of third party companies like backgroundchecks.com. The company backgroundchecks.com have a lot of different products, like Ongoing Criminal Monitoring which would be a great idea for the fire department since they are only planning on performing background checks on those who are new hires. This would allow the department to be notified if any of their employees or volunteers are indicted or convicted of any crime. Keeping the residents of Coatesville safe from fires is one job of the fire department and now they are also moving towards keeping them safe from criminals.
backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.
Source: http://dailylocal.com/articles/2012/02/01/news/doc4f29ce103245e156859826.txt?viewmode=2
Should Poll Workers Get Background Checks
With presidential primaries and caucuses looming in many states, plans for the next election cycle are in full swing. Many polling locations are planned to be in schools and the city of Madison, WI has something to say about that. They want all poll workers, who will work in one of their city schools, to go through a background check before being allowed to work on Election Day.
Currently the city is looking into ways to get the background checks done, as well as the criteria that will be used in order to make a decision on who can work in a school and who cannot. The question has also been raised asking if all poll workers should be subject to a background check or just those working in schools. The city of Madison has over 2000 poll workers and over 200 of them are scheduled to work in schools throughout the city.
At this time, poll workers are not subject to any type of background check, though they are required to take an oath and attend a training course. If the city of Madison is going to get this enacted, they are running out of time. The primary in Wisconsin will take place on February 21 and the next election is April 3.
It is important to note that the school districts plan to begin putting poll workers through background checks is not caused by any specific incident, it is only to get in line with school policies and procedures when it comes to employees and volunteers. Since poll workers will be in the school and will technically have access to children, it is important, according to the school, for these workers to go through the same process. The district also states that putting poll workers through background checks will bring a greater sense of safety in schools as well.
Organizations that are planning on doing large volume background checks may want to consider using a third party background check company like backgroundchecks.com. Not only can backgroundchecks.com perform background checks quickly and easily, they can handle high volume business accounts. In addition to doing traditional background checks, they have several products available that will give companies an even better overview of employees and volunteers. One of these products is called the US Offender OneSEARCH which should always be done when someone will be working around children. Taking care to check the background of anyone who is in contact with children is the safest way to conduct business.
backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.
backgroundchecks.com Legislation and Compliance Update: FTC Warning: A Consumer Report is A Consumer Report Even if You Think It’s Not_1229
The Federal Trade Commission warned several mobile app makers that their products may be consumer reports. According to the FTC’s website, these app makers all performed instant database checks into individual’s criminal histories. The FTC noted that this information, if used for employment purposes, is a consumer report. The on an app that it is not for employment purposes. Instead, the FTC said it would look to indications of actual use, such as where the mobile apps were advertised and who was on the app-makers’ customer lists.
This is who use anything other than a regulated consumer reporting agency for their background reports. (whether mobile apps or websites) . The FTC points out that a consumer report is a consumer report, regardless of whether the companies providing or obtaining it think so. The FTC is absolutely correct.
At a minimum, the FTC and plaintiffs’ lawyers would be able to show a violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(f)(2), which prohibits anyone from obtaining a consumer report without having first certified to a consumer reporting agency the purpose for which the report will be used. Most likely, they would also be able to show a violation of:
· 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2), which prohibits anyone from obtaining a consumer report for employment without having first told the subject that that it will obtain a consumer report and having obtained the subject’s authorization;
· 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(3), which requires anyone intending to take adverse action based on a consumer report obtained for employment purposes to give a specific notice before taking that action, and
· 15 U.S.C. § 1681m, which requires anyone who takes adverse action based on a consumer report to give a further notice about the action.
It seems probable that the FTC would show this to be a knowing violation, which would entail . More significantly, plaintiffs’ lawyers would show this to be willful, which means that the employer would be liable for
Using a regulated consumer reporting agency like backgroundchecks.com avoids this particular problem. More importantly, it assures employers that the reports on which they make critical hiring decisions were prepared by a responsible agency using processes designed to produce accurate, complete, up-to-date reports. When another service – whether mobile or web – disclaims the FCRA, that is a sign that the report may be too unreliable to be used for hiring.
