Hiring is an expensive, time-consuming process — employers want to make sure they get it right the first time. For many employers, background checks represent a key tool in ensuring the people they hire are trustworthy and have the skills, experience and education they claim to possess. Delving into a job applicant’s background can also help insulate organizations from lawsuits and charges of negligent hiring in case something goes wrong.
But a growing number of federal, state and local laws have complicated the types of background checks employers can perform and how companies can utilize the information that checks provide. Federal laws, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which prohibits discrimination), to name only a few, all come into play when an employer conducts background checks, and recent interpretations of these laws have made background checks more complicated.