Guides on choosing, evaluating, and working with background screening providers, from the All Screeners team.
Tagged “criminal-background-check” · Clear filter
The checks that make sense for an office hire aren't the checks that make sense for a driver, a nurse, or someone who'll have access to your company bank account. Here's how to match the screening to the actual risk of the job instead of running the same expensive package on everyone.
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.
Industry VerticalDispensary and cultivation hires usually go through two separate background checks, a state cannabis licensing check and a normal employment check, and they're not the same process. Here's how the two layers fit together and why you need to confirm the current rules with your own state.
Report TypesMaintenance staff and leasing agents get keys to people's homes. That's a different risk than a typical office hire, and it changes what you should actually be checking for.
ComplianceA background check policy written to the federal floor breaks state law in California, Illinois, Colorado, and New York City. Written to the strictest state, it needlessly restricts you everywhere else. Here's the two-layer structure that actually holds up: one federal-compliant baseline, plus state-specific overlays you review on a schedule.
ComplianceScreen too little for a foreseeably risky role and you're exposed to a negligent hiring claim. Screen too aggressively, or the wrong way, and you're exposed to an FCRA or EEOC claim instead. The fix isn't more screening or less, it's tying the screening you do to the actual job.
PricingUnder $20 usually buys an SSN trace and a national database search, not a real background check. Here's what that actually covers, what it misses, and why the gap can cost you more than the $20 you saved.
ComplianceWorking with kids, older adults, or adults with disabilities usually means more than a standard background check. Most states layer on their own fingerprint-based screening rule, and it applies to volunteers just as often as paid staff.
Choosing a ProviderSeven real reasons a background check gets stuck, from a backed-up courthouse to a former employer who never calls back. No made-up averages, just what's actually happening and what you can do about it.
ComplianceMassachusetts doesn't run background checks through county courts. Criminal history goes through CORI, a state-run system with its own access rules, a written-policy trigger at 5 checks a year, and its own ban-the-box layer on top.
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.
ComplianceHawaii required employers to wait until after a conditional job offer to ask about criminal history starting back in 1998, years ahead of most states. Its lookback rule also treats felonies and misdemeanors differently, though the exact cutoff years are worth confirming before you build a policy on them.
Report TypesA national database search finishes in minutes. A county court search doesn't, and the courthouse is usually why, not your vendor. Here's what actually controls how long a criminal check takes.
Report TypesA background check is a snapshot at hire. It says nothing about what happens after. Here's which roles actually need ongoing monitoring, and which ones don't.
ComplianceA standard background check usually isn't enough for a school. Most states require a separate fingerprint-based check run through a state agency, and it often covers coaches and volunteers too, not just teachers on payroll.
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.
Report TypesA sex offender registry check searches one narrow database: people currently required to register. It's not a substitute for a real criminal background check, and treating it like one is a common, costly mistake.
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.
Report TypesIdentity verification confirms a candidate is who they say they are, before any other check runs. Skip it or rush it, and every other report on file could be checking the wrong person.
ComplianceA written "no felons" policy is riskier than one bad individual decision, because a blanket rule can't do what the law actually requires: check if the conviction relates to the job. Here's why disparate impact hits a written policy harder.
ComplianceYes, the same FCRA rules apply to a teen hire as any other candidate. But there's usually a lot less to find: juvenile records are sealed in most states, and most 16 and 17-year-olds don't have an adult criminal record yet. Here's what to actually expect.
ComplianceOnly a handful of things on a background check report are real deal-breakers: identity fraud, a conviction that's both severe and directly job-related, and an active disqualifying license. Everything else, an old minor conviction, an explained gap, a common-name mix-up, a thin employment check, deserves a second look before you say no.
ComplianceYes, but not with a blanket "no felons" policy. The EEOC expects an individualized look at the offense, how long ago it happened, and whether it actually relates to the job.
ComplianceCalifornia caps most background check reporting at 7 years, and that cap doesn't bend for salary. Here's the actual rule, where the $75,000 exception claim comes from, and why it doesn't apply to a California hire.
ComplianceFederal law caps most background check history at seven years, but that cap disappears for jobs paying $75,000 or more, and criminal convictions were never covered by it at all. Here is the exact federal rule, with the parts most sites get wrong.
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.
ComplianceColorado and California both cap background check reporting at seven years, with no salary exception on the law that actually governs the report. Where the widely repeated '$75,000 exception' claims actually come from, and why they don't apply to a criminal history check.
ComplianceClean Slate laws seal certain records automatically once a state's conditions are met, but the data your background check vendor pulls from doesn't always catch up. Here's why sealed records still surface, and what that means for your liability.
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.
ComplianceBan-the-box and fair chance laws control when you can ask about criminal history, and the rules change by state and sometimes by city. Here is the general pattern, plus a starting reference table you should confirm with a lawyer before you rely on it.
Report TypesMost companies only need three or four check types, not the whole menu. A fast reference for matching checks to the actual role.
ComplianceArrests aren't convictions, and the EEOC treats them differently. What you can legally ask, what a background check report can show, and where the two rules diverge.
Report TypesA plain-language breakdown of the most common background check report types employers use, and what each one actually checks.