I never quite understood the importance of background checks until I started working for Crimcheck.com. After beginning my new job I soon learned that the easiest way to ensure a safe work environment begins with one of the first steps, the background check. Read more…

On June 10, 2008, Connecticut enacted a law which will require businesses that maintain personal information (e.g. Social Security number (SSN), driver’s license number, account number, or credit/debit card number), to, among other things: Read more…

Info Network Intl., the parent company of several online dating sites has announced that it will begin conducting background checks on their prospective clients. Read more…

Digg and other social news sites are very popular web services that are used by millions of people. People submit stories and they are voted on by other members, they can also make comments on these stories. Unfortunately if your company is in the public eye some of these stories can be bad PR for your company or even your company leadership. You may even have an internal leak posting stories about your company. So, how do you track down the source of these PR nightmares or determine what employees might be disparaging your company? Short of hiring a computer forensics expert there are some simple ways to track stories about your company Read more…

One question I am asked frequently is ‘What is the worst lie you have ever seen on a resume?’ I will relate a story about an individual that we were vetting for a large corporation for a c-level position. Read more…

Do you know the I-9 Status of your employees? How about their visa standing? Read more…

How long does a background check take?

That depends on the components ordered and what type of check you are doing. For employment purposes a background check can take anywhere from 24 hours to 1 week. Our company generally gets a background check request back to the client within 48 to 72 hours. That would include a criminal record check, motor vehicle report, employment verification, and education verification.

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An essential step in creating and maintaining a safe workplace environment is to implement a drug free workplace policy.  A drug free workplace policy is a written employment policy that clearly states the expectations of the company that all employees remain drug and alcohol free.  The mixing of drugs and alcohol with work can be the cause of a variety of damages, including personal and financial injury.  In order to enforce the company’s drug free workplace policy, employee drug testing must be conducted.

Employee drug testing is a complicated subject.  Not only are there numerous methods of performing effective employee drug testing, there are also many laws that regulate the use of employee drug testing.  The first step in implementing an employee drug testing policy is to evaluate and determine what your company’s exact employee drugs testing needs are.  To do this, determine what your business’ drug abuse risk is.  For example, if you have noticed a decrease in productivity or an increase in employee-caused accidents, you will want to focus your employee drug testing protocol on solving these problems.  In these situations, using random employee drug testing may be your best option. 

The second step in implementing an employee drug testing policy to understand the applicable law relating to employee drug testing.  Depending on the state your company is in and the type of work your company does, various state and federal laws may effect how employee drug testing can be done.  Since the area of employee drug testing and employee privacy rights is a rapidly evolving area of the law, it is highly recommended you seek the professional legal advice of a qualified attorney who can help you understand how to set up a legal employee drug testing program. 

Once you know what your employee drug testing need is and what the relevant employee drug testing laws are, the third step is to decide what type of employee drug testing system you want to implement.  There are many different methods of performing employee drug testing and each have their own individual advantages and disadvantages.  For example, your company can chose between using random employee drug testing or regularly scheduled employee drug testing.  Further, employee drug testing, whether random or scheduled, can be performed using a variety of different procedures.  For example, you can use urine, saliva, sweat or hair samples for employee drug testing.  

Usually employee drug testing is only valid if performed by a medical professional.  Therefore, it is highly advised that your company hire a professional employee drug testing business to perform all of your employee drug testing needs.  Such companies as Background Network can coordinate professional testing labs, medical review professionals and accurate reports to ensure your employee drug testing is done efficiently and effectively.  Using a nationwide network of OSHA, ODAT and NODA compliant drug testing labs, a national network of collection sites, and pre-employment physical examinations, a professional employee drug testing company will get you the employee drug testing information and services you need to ensure you operate a drug free and safe workplace.

In our last installment we discussed how to obtain motor vehicle records. Today I will discuss how to verify someones employment. Just so you know this is not a way to find out where someone is employed that is another can of worms completely. We will discuss how to determine if someone worked at a particular company and if they have a good work record.

First of all you will need a signed release to do these checks. If you are doing a background check on a prospective employees then the FCRA still applies as well as your state and local laws.

If the person you are doing the check on has filled out an application or has sent you a resume’ then you will have to look in the section that lists their previous employment. Most times they will list the address, phone number and their supervisor. You will want to call the company and try to get a hold of the supervisor. This way you can talk to the person that was directly responsible for that persons work.

A typical call may go something like this:

ABC Company: Hello ABC Company may I help you?
You: Yes may I speak to John Smith in the widget department?
ABC: One moment please.
ABC: Hi this is John Smith how may I help you?
You: Yes John, my name is Harry Mann, I have a gentleman by the name of (whatever the subjects name is) and he is applying for a job with us. He listed you as a contact for his previous employment. Is it ok if I ask you a couple of questions?
ABC: Sure go ahead!
You: (Subjects name) says that he was a widget wrangler with your company is that true?
ABC: Why yes it is!
You: He also states that you were his supervisor?
ABC: Yes, yes I was!
You: Was he a good worker for you then?
ABC: Yep, he was pretty good.
You: Pretty good? Were there any problems?
ABC: No not really.
You: Was he ever late?
ABC: Yes sometimes he was.
You: Well, I know how that goes. I had a guy that was always late and he smelled too.
ABC: Oh yeah, well let me tell you about (subject).

Now all calls may not go like that, but my point is once you start talking to these people be a little personable. It will get you far more information.
Some companies are huge and you will never get through to the supervisor or they may have a policy that they do not give out any information. Almost always though you can at least get dates of employment, salary and if they eligible for re-hire.

If you are willing to spend a little money you can use a service called The Work Number. They have an automated system that can verify someones previous employment. It’s a pretty nifty little tool. If you have any questions that I left unanswered feel free to leave them in the comments section. I will try and answer as many as I can.

In our next article I will cover the basics of verifying someones education. Hope to see you then!