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February 27 2019

Guidance on "best practice" background checks

What are considered the best practice guidelines when conducting background checks and what is the Fair Credit Reporting Act?  HR Dive Associate Editor Katie Clarey discusses best practices and how to avoid violating FCRA and local laws.
 
What steps should an organisation take to ensure compliance? From candidate consent to analysing the background report this article helps outline what steps organisations and HR professionals need to take. Ensuring your candidate is informed of your intention to conduct a background check (with this information alone in the document to avoid confusion) and that they give their written consent, is of utmost importance, as several law suits have involved companies that failed to do this first. Then if a conviction comes up in the check, this must be shown to the candidate and they must be given their rights, before being told of any decision.
 
Ensuring managers communicate to candidates via HR is also advised, rather than directly about any decision, and getting HR to check the forms to ensure they are in line with ever-changing new or local laws, is also highly recommended.