discrimination

Visit our website to on the problems surrounding Facebook and pre-employment background screening. cibackgrounds is a quality criminal record check company that delivers affordable and accurate screening services in addition to tips and advice for example how you can run pre-employment criminal background checks in a safe and ethical manner.

By: Thomas Winthrop

Pre-employment Background Checks And Facebook: Have Companies Gone Too much? Probably the most important laws about background checks may be the Fair Credit Reporting act, or FCRA. According to this legislation, employers must tell applicants if they will be undertaking pre-employment background screening. A company could face expensive litigation and fines when they fail to follow the letter from the law regarding drug testing, credit rating, and professionalism when doing criminal background checks. Increasingly, however, social media has become a contentious area in pre-employment background screening. The great majority - 91%, according to Reppler's 2011 survey of 300 hiring professionals - of companies have researched social networking profiles while conducting criminal background checks.

A range of viewpoints exists about this issue. Many applicants purposely tailor their social networking profiles for potential employers. These pro-social media types would reason that a contemporary job search is incomplete without social media networking. Yet however, many state that companies go too far with social networking pre-employment background screening, for example by asking each interviewee for Facebook password. (Your password would be required to view profiles for those whose pages are just visible to friends.)

Until recently, those who work in the general public sector were most often requested Facebook passwords in pre-employment background screening. Cops, teachers, and doctors are used to this type of thing during in-depth background checks. NPR tells of one instance whenever a Maryland corrections officer was inspired to provide his Facebook access during a pre-employment background check. Apparently, the state hiring agency wanted to make sure that they didn't have gang connections. Nowadays, however increasing quantity of private information mill also requesting social networking login data.

At the moment, this form of pre-employment criminal record check is legal across the country, however the Maryland, Michigan, Illinois, and California state legislatures will work on legislation that may ban it, underneath the argument that social networking profile discrimination should be illegal, much like it's illegal to discriminate against a lady applicant because she implies she would like to have children in the next couple of years.

Watch legislative news and court proceedings within the years to come to determine where legal boundaries are drawn regarding social media background checks, discrimination, and privacy rights. Until then, protect your company's reputation and main point here by following these pre-employment background screening tips:

1. Remember that courts can mandate that you explain the reasoning behind your hiring practices. The threat here is you could be sued with a rejected applicant. If that's the case, you will need to testify in court why you're considering not to hire this individual. Don't select or reject employees according to parental status, race, age, or sexual orientation - that way your choice will stand up in court. It seems obvious, but it's still good to remember: Hire people based on their abilities and also the position's requisite skills.

2. Follow FCRA guidelines. Those who execute pre-employment background screening in-house must have their criminal record check procedure reviewed by a lawyer, to make sure it's kosher.

3. Ask third-party pre-employment background check companies to only tell you information associated with the task itself. Likewise, in-house specialists in criminal background checks must only let you know data that is relevant to the position at hand.

4. Beware of "Quick Fixes" for criminal background checks. Smartphone apps and other "immediate" pre-employment background screening programs are rarely in complete compliance with employment laws.