Background services are not all equal. Know what is checked and have a representative who can explain the different elements and search process. This is NOT an area to cut corners and take the cheapest provider!
Before offering a prospective employee a job, many companies will first perform a background check. As with credit reports, any inaccuracies in these transcripts can affect an applicant’s eligibility for employment. To that end, federal regulators have ordered two of the country’s largest employment background screening report providers to pay $13 million in penalties and refunds for providing inaccurate information. The Consumer Financial PRotection Bureau announced that General Information Services (GIS) and its affiliate, e-Background-checks.com, Inc. (BGC), will provide $10.5 million in relief to consumers who were negatively affected by the companies’ erroneous reporting.Employers routinely use these background reports – which include criminal history information and civil records – to determine hiring eligibility of applicants and make other types of employment decisionsAccording to the CFPB consent order [PDF], GIS and BGC – which collectively generate and sell more than 10 million reports about job applicants each year – failed to employ reasonable procedures to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in reports provided to potential employers.The CFPB found that GIS did not require employers to provide consumers’ middle names, and neither company had a written policy for researching applicants with common names.
Source: Nation’s Biggest Employment Background Screeners Must Pay $13M Over Inaccurate Reports – Consumerist