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What Does My HR Team Need to Know About Background Checks On Current Employees?

Employment background checks are a nearly universal HR practice. Organizations generally screen potential employees before they offer them a position. However, it can be helpful to occasionally run background checks on current employees.

By running background checks on your current employees, you can hold your team continuously accountable. This also ensures your employees maintain company values. Each organization requires a unique set of screening procedures, but you can tailor your recurring screenings to fit your needs.

Today, we’ll talk about why some companies screen their current employees. We’ll also discuss what you can do with the information from new background reports. One Source tailors screening solutions for your needs—we can help you determine how your HR team handles background checks.

Why do companies screen their current employees?

Employment screenings help you ensure the new people you bring into your organization meet your expectations and will perform their jobs properly. After you hire your team members, however, it can be a good idea to perform occasional checks to make sure they’re still qualified to work with you.

This especially applies if your employees have to operate cars or machinery. To keep your organization safe, you can check your employees’ driving records periodically. By making sure they’re still in good standing and can safely operate machinery, you protect yourself from the consequences of any potential accidents. You can also run comprehensive backgrounds checks on all of your team to keep the most current information on them.

What can I do with the information from these background checks?

Your HR team likely has clear guidelines that explain what charges or violations will remove them from hiring consideration. When you’re hiring team decides not to hire an applicant because of the information in their background report, they are taking adverse action against the applicant. You must be able to back up your decision with your HR policy and specific parts of the applicant’s report.

For your current employees, you can create a termination policy based on your adverse action policy. By aligning these policies, you hold all current and potential employees to the same standards. If you rescreen your employees once a year, you can determine if they are still upholding the expectations of your organization and if they are qualified to complete their jobs. 

How can One Source help me?

At One Source, we offer solutions that make rescreening employees efficient and easy. Applicant Recheck allows you to instantly run a screening on your employees you’ve put in the One Source system. We also offer bulk background checks. To complete bulk checks, we’ll send you a spreadsheet to fill out, you’ll send it back securely and we can then run checks on your whole team at once. 

One Source can help you set up company-wide screenings at any frequency that makes the most sense for you. Reach out to our Client Relations team to learn more about how we can help you build the best screening process for you.

2020 Q3 FCRA Compliance Update

As we enter the winter of 2020, it is a good time to take a look at your company’s policies and processes. This new season will bring different challenges and opportunities for businesses. Whether you plan on hiring this fall or not, it’s always in your best interest to stay up to date with new FCRA compliance policies.

The first half of 2020 brought some policy changes in the world of hiring and screening. Here, we’ll cover some of the most prominent new FCRA compliance policies to keep your hiring practices compliant with state and local laws.

Salary History Bans

Recent measures have been taken that prevent employers from asking applicants about their salary history. They are intended to stop employers from basing their pay on previous compensation. In general, these bans seek to increase pay equity and ensure employees are paid fairly—regardless of any previous salary.

Maryland recently passed a version of salary history ban that includes additional expectations for employers. After October 1, 2020, employers must upon request provide applicants with a range of wages they expect to pay the person they hire. Employers cannot retaliate against an applicant for requesting pay information. Additionally, employers can’t use previous earnings as a baseline to set pay for new hires.

Toledo, Ohio and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania also each passed salary history bans in their local governments. Both bans went into effect in June 2020.

Ban-the-Box Laws

A ban-the-box law delays the time an employer can ask about an applicant’s criminal history. Instead of inquiring about criminal history at the beginning of the hiring process, employers under ban-the-box laws must wait. A potential criminal record must be obtained later in the hiring process. Ban-the-box laws can also change the way an employer is allowed to respond to a candidate’s criminal record.

In Waterloo, Iowa, organizations with 15 or more employees cannot take adverse action against applicants based on arrests, pending charges or expunged records. They also cannot take adverse action against any criminal charge without a “legitimate business reason.” The new law in Waterloo defines a “legitimate business reason” as instances where a criminal record would pose a risk to other employees, the public or any vulnerable populations served by the business.

The communities of Suffolk County, New York and St. Louis, Missouri also just passed ban-the-box laws. Suffolk County’s law went into effect on August 25, 2020. St. Louis’s ban-the-box ordinance will start on January 1, 2021.

Whether or not these new laws impact your business, they reflect trends that may spread to your community. As you develop plans and policies for the coming months, One Source will keep you updated on compliance laws and help you find screening solutions. Learn more about our tailored background check solutions here or get in touch with our Client Relations team.