Assuming you’re F.C.R.A compliant can lead your company down a dangerous road involving punitive damages and civil liability. Who’s handling yours?
In our surveys, we found that many human resource professionals made an assumption that their company’s Fair Credit Reporting Act Compliance was handled or monitored by another person, another department, or solely by the background screening service provider.
With further inquiries, we find a common circle of assumption that often remains undiscovered until a major problem arises.
EXAMPLE: The human resources department assumes the legal department handles that. The legal department says it’s the hiring manager’s responsibility. The hiring manager assumes it’s the background screening company that takes care of that or they point back to the human resources manager.
Common misconceptions can lead to unnecessary risk of litigation:
1. “We don’t run credit reports so the Fair Credit Reporting Act doesn’t apply to us.”
FALSE
2. “The background screening system we use says it is Fair Credit Reporting Act compliant so it’s not our responsibility.”
FALSE
3. “Using an Online Criminal Record Database as a complete background check is a compliant practice.
FALSE
4. “We don’t have to tell the employee why they were not hired. Our company is located in an (employ at will/fire at will) state.”
FALSE
5. “Anything that an applicant did criminally more than 7 years ago is not our concern because the F.C.R.A. limits criminal record searches to seven years.”
FALSE
Over the next few weeks, we will tackle these common mistakes and more here on the SafeScreener.com blog and through our Facebook Page. Be sure to check us out on Facebook and click “Like” so you’ll receive instant notifications of new postings addressing this important issue.
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SafeScreener.com, Background Screening Made Simple Blog, and Background Screening Consultants LLC do not provide legal advice. Postings, articles, press releases and other distributed or verbalized information should be considered as guidelines and suggestions based on professional experience, research, and industry best practices. Questions or decisions regarding employers’ legal rights or applicants’ legal rights should be directed towards legal representation.