The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) lays out specific requirements for employers that need to take adverse action against an applicant or employee based on information received in a background check.
The Adverse Action process is outlined in the steps below:
Step 1: The employer needs to provide specific pre-adverse notice with a copy of the background screening report and a copy of the Applicant’s Summary of Rights.
Step 2: The employer will wait a “reasonable” amount of time (this time frame is not specified - we suggest 7 business days) for the applicant or employee to dispute any information reported in the background check.
Step 3: Provide specific post-adverse action notice.
When an employer takes adverse action, they are obligated to send the applicant of Summary Rights, along with the background report to the candidate.
A lot of background screening companies today are simply providing a “pass” or “fail” criteria, usually based around the client’s preference or what would be considered as “serious offenses”.
These automatic exclusions are the focus of new lawsuits because theoretically, you are not giving the employer the right to consider each candidate individually before making a final decision.
Global Background Screening keeps up with the constant changes that occur in the background screening industry, both on a federal and state level to avoid putting your organization at risk.
Contact us today to see how we can help.
