Background and Verification Reporting
- EstateJobs Job Seekers may authorize a background screening on themselves according to product and service offerings on the EstateJobs.com website.
EstateJobs offers to individuals who have registered on the site as a job seeker, one or more background check services from third-party consumer reporting agencies (“Background Checks”). All background checks require payment of a separate fee by the Job Seeker who is initiating the background check request and are subject to the consent of the Job Seeker on whom the check is being performed. An authorization form will be requested prior to initiating any background check.
Each of these Background Checks is regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), and the background reports resulting from these services are considered “consumer reports” under FCRA. Consumer reports may contain information on your character, general reputation, personal characteristics, and mode of living, including but not limited to consumer credit, criminal history, workers’ compensation, driving, employment, military, civil, and educational data and reports.
EstateJobs will receive a copy of each Background Check you order or authorize through any form of communication with EstateJobs. You are responsible for making sure that the email address you provide to EstateJobs is correct, knowing that sensitive information will be sent to it.
- If you are a Job Seeker and you authorize a third-party background check ordered by an employer or placement agency, the results of that background check will be made available to the authorized party who ordered it, regardless of its contents.
If you are a Job Seeker and you have ordered a Background Check on yourself from a third-party consumer reporting agency through EstateJobs, we may indicate in your profile that you have completed that check. However, we will not share the results with any other site visitor or Registered User without your specific authorization.
- Special Responsibilities of Users of Background Check under FCRA
The use of any background check reports obtained through the Site is governed by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) and certain state laws. If you order or request access to background check on a Job Seeker, you are considered an end user of the check, and must agree to a required End User Certification before the check will be processed. This End User Certification requires you to certify that you will comply with the FCRA and any applicable state laws, and summarizes key legal obligations. A summary of your responsibilities in using the information contained the background check can be found https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/using-consumer-reports-what-employers-need-know. If there is negative data in a check you receive, and you choose to take “adverse action” (i.e. if you choose to pass on that individual’s candidacy) on the basis of this negative data, you must agree to take certain procedural steps, which can be found at https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/using-consumer-reports-what-employers-need-know. These include notifying the individual who is the subject of the report of your decision to take adverse action based on information contained in the report and the subject’s right to contest the accuracy or completeness of the report. Depending on the specific background check you order, EstateJobs may provide a mechanism for you to request that the consumer reporting agency who performed the check complete these steps on your behalf. Where such a mechanism is not available, you are responsible for making any required notifications yourself. If the subject contests the report with the consumer reporting agency, you are required to suspend the hiring process while the agency researches the accuracy and completeness of the report.
- EstateJobs May Review and Use Background Checks You Order or Authorize About Yourself
By registering for and using the Site or Services as an individual Job Seeker, and subject to your authorization, you acknowledge and agree that EstateJobs may review and use any Background Checks you have ordered or authorized about yourself for the purpose of protecting the safety and integrity of our Site and its users, which may, in the case of certain Job Seekers, be considered an employment purpose pursuant to the FCRA. EstateJobs reserves the right to terminate your membership based on the information contained in such report, even if such information was subsequently dismissed.
If EstateJobs terminates your membership or access to the Site on the basis of information in a Background Check, we will notify you and provide you the name and contact information of the consumer reporting agency that created the report. We will also provide you a copy of the report unless the consumer reporting agency has already provided you a copy or access to it. You hereby represent, understand and expressly agree that EstateJobs does not have control over or assume any responsibility for the quality, accuracy, or reliability of the information included in these Background Checks. Furthermore, any inaccuracies in the report must be addressed with the consumer reporting agency that issued it and not EstateJobs.
BY AGREEING TO THESE TERMS AND USING OUR SITE, AND, IF APPLICABLE TO YOU AS A JOB SEEKER, SUBJECT TO YOUR ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION, YOU AGREE TO ALLOW ESTATEJOBS TO PERFORM THESE INTERNAL BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR THE PURPOSES DESCRIBED ABOVE. IF YOU DO NOT WANT THESE INTERNAL BACKGROUND CHECKS TO BE PERFORMED, YOU SHOULD NOT USE ESTATEJOBS.
- Important Limitations About Background Checks; Release of Liability for Results of Background Checks, Internal Background Checks, and Verification Checks
SPECIAL NOTICE FOR MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW HAMPSHIRE: Criminal County Searches conducted in Massachusetts and New Hampshire as part of the Criminal Records Check and the Criminal+MVR Records Check (for individuals who are believed to have lived in one or both of these states during the seven years preceding the background check request) search only the Superior Court and a single District Court in the county seat or its equivalent for each county listed below. Criminal records (including misdemeanors and felonies) from other courts in these states will not be searched.
This is an illustrative, non-comprehensive, list of certain state and county limitations of the background checks offered through EstateJobs; additional limitations may apply in certain jurisdictions, including on the federal level. For example, for many states only certain registered sex offender information is reported, and for many states, only a subset of felony convictions are reported (and not any misdemeanors, charges or arrest records).
In addition to legal and reporting system limitations of background checks, each check is performed with the authorization of the person being checked, using information he or she provides, such as home address, social security number, date of birth, and name. If a candidate provides incorrect information, the check might be run with inaccurate identifying data, which can impact the validity of the criminal check. Finally, criminal records are not always reported accurately or promptly, and human and electronic error can result in inaccurate or incomplete reporting. Consequently, even the most comprehensive background check offered may not disclose the existence of all criminal records in all jurisdictions.
If you decide to access, use, or share information provided by a Background Check, you agree to do so in accordance with applicable law. You also agree to release, indemnify and hold harmless EstateJobs from any loss, liability, injury, death, damage, or costs that may result from your use of, reliance on, or sharing of the information contained in a Background Check regardless of the cause, including, without limitation, due to the inaccuracy or incompleteness of any such information.
You expressly acknowledge that EstateJobs has no obligation to perform Background Checks, Internal Background Checks, or Verification Checks on any Registered Users. To the extent EstateJobs performs such checks on certain Registered Users, the checks are limited and should not be taken as complete, accurate, up-to-date or conclusive evidence of the accuracy of any information those users have provided or of their eligibility to use the Services.