许多雇主都在努力确定他们是否真的需要制定关于就业背景调查的正式政策。
现实情况是，大多数雇主，无论规模或行业如何，都应该制定某种政策。
这是因为，无论您是哪种类型的雇主，都应该合法、一致地进行背景调查——而背景调查政策在帮助确保这种情况发生方面大有帮助。
合法、一致的背景调查是背景审查政策最重要的目标。
保持一致的方法至关重要，这种方法既能有效地审查，又能公平地对待所有相关候选人。
因为一项政策围绕背景审查的多个方面设定了标准——组织中的每个人都理解和遵循的标准——它的形式有助于达到最重要的一致性水平。
在没有书面政策的情况下，很容易在不经意间出现不一致，这不仅不公平，而且在法律上也是不明智的。
那么，在制定和实施背景审查政策时，您需要回答哪些问题？
谁会被筛选？对所有潜在的新员工进行背景调查是明智的，从清洁人员到 C 级官员。但您可能还需要考虑是否有理由对现有员工进行定期检查——有些组织在法律允许的情况下定期对员工进行检查。
您将使用哪些类型的支票？您可能希望进行背景调查的各个方面，例如犯罪记录、驾驶记录以及教育和就业证明。您选择这些领域中的哪一个可能取决于诸如您的组织的需求、您所在的行业、任何相关的法律或法规以及与相关工作的相关性（例如，驾驶信息对您来说可能并不重要）等标准如果您的组织中没有人在为公司旅行时操作公司车辆或驾驶租赁汽车）。
这些检查将如何根据工作角色而变化？虽然一致性绝对是目标，但不一定要对组织中的每个人进行相同类型的检查。不同的工作角色——以及它们相关的职责——可能值得采用不同的背景调查元素组合。可能建议（并且法律允许）检查有财务责任的人的信用记录，例如会计经理，而对于像接待员这样没有财务责任的人来说可能没有必要（并且可能在法律上是不允许的）访问您的财务系统。
您何时会要求提供与背景调查相关的信息？当您询问是否以及何时询问犯罪历史信息时，这可能尤其重要。延迟提供此信息的请求可以让您了解候选人的优点并在公平的竞争环境中对其进行评估，然后再暴露在潜在的危险信号中，从而将他们从候选人库中排除，并可能被视为潜在的歧视性。它还可以帮助您遵守雇主在初次工作申请中不允许询问犯罪历史的州和市（通常称为“禁止框”立法）。
哪些标准可能会取消候选人的资格？在您做出决定时，需要考虑的一些事项包括犯罪的性质和严重程度、工作的性质以及自犯罪行为或刑期结束以来已有多长时间。这就是书面政策非常重要的地方，因为它允许您根据类似的测试或一组标准单独评估每个候选人。
您需要考虑哪些相关法律法规？联邦、州和行业特定的法律法规可能与您的背景筛查计划有关。这就是为什么建议您在起草背景调查政策时与您的法律顾问合作。
事实上，您可能应该在制定有关背景调查的政策的一开始就聘请您的法律顾问。
他们的建议和指导对于帮助您制定反映组织需求、目标和责任的政策至关重要。
employment background checks.
The reality is that most employers, regardless of size or industry, should likely have some sort of policy in place.
That’s because, no matter what type of employer you are, background checks should be conducted lawfully, and consistently – and background screening policies go a long way in helping ensure that this happens.
Lawful, consistent background checks are the most important goals of a background screening policy.
It’s vital to have a consistent approach, one that will be both effective at vetting and fair to all candidates involved.
Because a policy sets standards around multiple aspects of background screening – standards that everyone in your organization understands and follows — its formality works to attain that all-important level of consistency.
In the absence of a written policy, it would be easy to inadvertently be inconsistent, which is not only unfair, but could also be legally unwise.
So what are some questions you’ll want to answer as you create and implement a background screening policy?
Who will be screened? It’s wise to perform a background check on all potential new employees, from janitorial staff to C-suite officers. But you may also want to consider if there is a reason for you to perform recurring checks on existing employees – some organizations do this for employees on a certain periodic basis as legally permissible.
What types of checks will you use? There is a wide spectrum of individual elements of a background check that you may want conducted, such as criminal histories, driving records, and educational and employment verification’s. Which of these areas you choose may depend on such criteria as the needs of your organization, the industry you’re in, any relevant laws or regulations, and relevancy to the job in question (for example, driving information might not be important to you if no one in your organization operates company vehicles or drives rental cars when traveling for the company).
How will these checks vary based on job role? While consistency is definitely the goal, it’s not necessarily true that you will want to run the same type of check on everyone in your organization. Different job roles – and their associated responsibilities – likely merit a different combination of background check elements. It may be advisable (and legally permissible) to check the credit history of someone who would have financial responsibilities, like an accounting manager, while it may not be necessary (and may be legally impermissible) for someone like a receptionist who doesn’t have access to your financial systems.
When will you request information pertinent to the background check? This may be especially important when it comes to if and when you inquire about criminal history information. Delaying the request of this information allows you to get to know the candidate’s pluses and evaluate them on a level playing field before you’re exposed to a potential red flag that eliminates them from the candidate pool and could be seen as potentially discriminatory. It also helps you comply in the states and municipalities where it employers are not permitted to ask about criminal histories on the initial job application (commonly known as “ban the box” legislation).
What criteria might disqualify a candidate? As you make the determination, a few things to consider include the nature and gravity of the offense, the nature of the job, and how long it has been since the crime was committed or the sentence was completed. Here’s where a written policy is really important, because it allows you to individually assess each candidate against a similar test or set of criteria.
What are the relevant laws and regulations you need to consider? There are federal, state, and industry-specific laws and regulations that may pertain to your background screening program. That’s why it’s advisable to work with your legal counsel as you navigate drafting your background check policy.
In fact, you should probably engage your legal counsel at the very onset of developing a policy around background checks.
Their advice and guidance will be critical in helping you create a policy that reflects the needs, goals, and responsibilities of your organization.
