December 2018
Restricting Criminal Background Checks – Will it Affect Your Right to Protect Your Company
The City of Seattle enacted its Fair Chance Housing Ordinance last year (Seattle Municipal Code Sec. 14.09) that restricts the use of criminal record information in tenant screening reports. Will this create a trend that will prevent companies from obtaining criminal background checks for tenant screening, employee screening or other [...]
October 2018
Issues with Searching Criminal Records through Publicly Available Court Websites
There are issues with searching for criminal records on publicly available court websites. The indented language below was taken verbatim from one state’s public access to court information website. Although it is the language from one particular website, it is reflective of most publicly available court websites. Please be aware [...]
January 2017
E-Verify is Not a Criminal Background Check
Many employers proudly display their E-Verify participation posters, and when asked if they perform criminal background checks on their employees, point to their poster and say, “yes, see we E-Verify.” Unfortunately, E-Verify is not a criminal background check. E-Verify is a free service that verifies the legal status employment eligibility [...]
October 2016
Denying Employment Based on Criminal Convictions
Here’s the scenario: Your company performs a pre-employment background check. It obtains the properly signed “separate and distinct” employee disclosure and authorization form that is required. The background screening report, i.e., the consumer report that is provided by the background screening company indicates that your employee applicant is a convicted [...]
