Guides on choosing, evaluating, and working with background screening providers, from the All Screeners team.
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Before you can run a background check, federal law says you have to give the applicant a disclosure form that stands completely alone. Mix it into your job application or add extra legal language, and you've built a template that can turn into a class action.
ComplianceThe FCRA never spells out an exact number of days before you can finalize a rejection. Here's what "reasonable time" actually means, why five business days became the default anyway, and how it's different from the separate 30-day dispute reinvestigation clock.
ComplianceBefore you reject a candidate over a criminal record, EEOC guidance says you have to actually look at three things: the offense, how long ago it happened, and whether it connects to the job. Here's what that step really involves.
ComplianceA step-by-step order of operations for a company that's never run background checks before: write the policy, pick a provider, build your forms, train your team, and set up adverse action before you need it.
ComplianceFCRA violations can trigger actual damages, statutory damages commonly cited at $100 to $1,000 per violation, punitive damages, and attorney's fees. Here's why one bad form usually turns into a class action instead of a single complaint.
ComplianceA real audit checks five things: is your disclosure form actually standalone and current, is adverse action handled the same way every time, are records disposed of properly under FACTA, is your policy applied consistently, and are you following the rules in every state you hire in.
ComplianceA background check policy on paper doesn't stop a manager from skipping a step to move fast, or making a legal judgment call that should have gone through your process. Here's how to actually get it followed: a short checklist, one clear person to call, and spot checks that catch problems before a lawyer does.
Choosing a ProviderStaffing agencies screen candidates before they have a job to put them in, then place them fast. That flips the usual background check playbook. Here's how to buy a program built for volume, not for one hire at a time.
ComplianceLos Angeles employers have to satisfy the state Fair Chance Act and the city's own Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring ordinance. The local layer adds its own written assessment before you can withdraw an offer over a conviction.
ComplianceIllinois law won't let you reject someone over a conviction just because it's there. You need a real link between that offense and that job, or a real safety risk, and you owe the candidate a written explanation if you turn them down.
ComplianceYes, in most cases, through a genuinely conditional offer. Here's what makes an offer conditional instead of conditional in name only, and why you still can't fire someone on the spot if the report comes back bad.
ComplianceWhen a candidate disputes something on their background check, the reinvestigation is your provider's legal duty, not yours. Here's what FCRA Section 611 actually requires, how long it typically takes, and why deciding mid-dispute is a risk not worth taking.
ComplianceCalifornia's Fair Chance Act sets a separate rule from the state's 7-year reporting cap: no criminal history questions before a conditional job offer, and no withdrawing that offer without an individualized assessment first. Here's how the timing rule actually works.
ComplianceAdverse action is a two-step notice process, not a one-and-done rejection email. Here's the pre-adverse notice, the waiting period, and the final notice, with a real template for both letters you can use today.
ComplianceThe FCRA requires a specific CFPB-written Summary of Consumer Rights before adverse action, and employers can't substitute their own version. Here's what it is, when it's required, and where to get the current one instead of guessing at old wording.
ComplianceNYC's Fair Chance Act has a strict order: real conditional offer first, background check second, then a specific individualized-assessment and notice process before you can pull the offer over criminal history. Here's that sequence, stage by stage.
ComplianceA copy-and-fill background check policy template covering purpose and scope, who gets checked by role, consent, adverse action, record retention, and who owns it, from someone who ran this process for 30 years.
Choosing a ProviderA first-timer's walkthrough of running a background check the right way: write the policy first, get consent right, pick a provider that acts like a partner, and know exactly what to do if a report comes back with something on it.
ComplianceWhether a role is paid has nothing to do with the FCRA's rules. What matters is whether you use a background check company to screen the person, and that applies to interns and volunteers too.
ComplianceNo, federal law generally bars this, and the rule isn't the FCRA. It's 11 U.S.C. Section 525, a Bankruptcy Code provision most employers have never heard of, and it covers private employers too.
ComplianceA promotion doesn't take an employee out of FCRA's reach. The same disclosure, authorization, and adverse-action rules that cover new hires apply to internal candidates too, including the often-missed rule that the disclosure needs its own standalone form.
ComplianceA credit check needs more than the FCRA disclosure you already send for every other background check. What permissible purpose actually means for a credit pull, and why the paperwork carries a layer standard checks don't.
ComplianceSeven mistakes I saw over and over from first-time employers running background checks, from the disclosure form buried in an application to picking a provider on price alone, and exactly how to fix each one.
ComplianceA background check company's bad data or slow turnaround can still land you, the employer, in an FCRA lawsuit. Here's what actually creates that exposure, and what to verify before you sign with a vendor.
ComplianceFCRA governs how you get and use a background check report. Title VII, enforced by the EEOC, governs whether the decision you made with it was discriminatory. Where employers get one right and blow the other.
ComplianceIn nearly every state, a sealed or expunged record is legally treated as if it never happened. What you can ask, what your background check report should show, and the licensing exceptions that actually matter.