Don't Get Caught Playing F.C.R.A "Hot Potato".

Assuming you’re F.C.R.A compliant can lead your company down a dangerous road involving punitive damages and civil liability. Who's really handling yours?

In our surveys we found that many human resource professionals made an assumption that their companies Fair Credit Reporting Act Compliance was handled and/or monitored by another person, another department, or solely by the background screening service provider.

With further inquiries we find a common circle of assumption that often remains undiscovered until a major problem arises.

EXAMPLE: The human resources department assumes the legal department handles that. The legal department says it’s the hiring manager’s responsibility. The hiring manager assumes it’s the background screening company that takes care of that or they point back to human resources manager.

Common misconceptions can lead to unnecessary risk of litigation:
1. “We don’t run credit reports so the Fair Credit Reporting Act doesn’t apply to us.”
FALSE
2. “The background screening system we use says it is Fair Credit Reporting Act compliant so it’s not our responsibility.”
FALSE
3. “Using an Online Criminal Record Databases as a complete background check is a compliant practice.
FALSE
4. “We don’t have to tell the employee why they were not hired. Our company is located in an (employ at will / fire at will) state.”
FALSE
5. “Anything that an applicant did criminally more than 7 years ago is not our concern because the F.C.R.A. limits criminal record searches to seven years.”
FALSE

Over the next few weeks we will tackle these common mistakes and more here on the SafeScreener.com blog and through our Facebook Page. Be sure to check us out on Facebook and click "Like" so you'll recieve instant notifications of new postings addressing this important issue.

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Please note: SafeScreener.com, Background Screening Made Simple Blog, and Background Screening Consultants LLC, do not provide legal advice. Postings, articles, press releases and other distributed or verbalized information should be considered as guidelines and suggestions based upon professional experience, research and industry best practices. Questions or decisions regarding employer’s legal rights or applicants legal rights should be directed towards legal representation.