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Q: How much does a typical background check cost? A: A thorough, comprehensive background check performed by Priority Research usually costs less than a new employee's first day of work. This upfront cost is far less than the cost of hiring a bad employee. The U.S. Department of Labor figures that the average cost of a bad hire is 30 percent of the new employee's first year earnings. Companies who do not utilize an effective employment-screening program to help make informed hiring decisions are more likely to hire "bad" employees, which can ultimately cost the company thousands of dollars. Q: Do I need to fax you the release my applicant signed? A: Generally speaking no. There are a select few searches where we require a signed release form in order to complete your request. However, in accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act you must have your applicant's express written permission to access any of their background check information when making a hiring decision. You must keep this signed release form on file for at least 3 years if you do not hire the individual. If you do hire the individual, you should keep their signed release form in their personnel file for as long as they remain employed with your organization. From time to time, we may request copies of the documents for audit purposes. Q: How do I decide whether to run a county or statewide criminal search? A: Both of these searches involve criminal records containing similar misdemeanor and felony conviction information. While both products generally yield the same case information on a subject, your chances of finding criminal record information will be greater if you follow these simple guidelines: If you are relatively certain your subject was tried for a criminal offense in a particular county, choose that county for a criminal records search. This is where the actual court records are filed and are hand-checked by our qualified court records researcher. If you are relatively confident your subject was tried for a criminal offense in a particular state, but are unsure of in which county, or if the subject has moved around the state several times, try a statewide criminal search. This search has a much wider geographical focus and will cover every county courthouse in the state. A statewide criminal search is more cost-effective than ordering several county criminal searches. If you are fairly certain that your subject was convicted of a violation quite recently, then you should order a county criminal search. The biggest difference between statewide and county criminal records has to do with how quickly criminal records are made available. When a person is convicted of a criminal offense the trial takes place at the county level. When a person has been convicted, this court record information is generally filed and made available at the county courthouse shortly after the conviction. However, the county courthouse may not report this criminal record information to the statewide criminal repository for several days or weeks. Each state has different requirements regarding how quickly counties need to report court record information. Please note: not all states require their county courts to report to their statewide criminal repository. Therefore, statewide criminal record information may not be available. Q: Does your criminal records search include misdemeanors and felonies? A: All criminal record searches will go back at least 7 years. Priority Research will provide criminal record information going as far back as the courthouse allows. Each courthouse varies how long they maintain criminal records on file. The Federal FCRA guidelines allow you to make hiring decisions on criminal conviction information going beyond 7 years. However, State FCRA laws in CA, KS, MD, MA, MT, NH, NM, and NV restrict employers to only using the last 7 years of criminal record information for making hiring decisions. Q: Is Priority Research FCRA-compliant? A: Yes. Priority Research is fully FCRA-compliant. As a consumer-reporting agency, Priority Research abides by all Federal and State regulations set forth by the FCRA. In addition, Priority Research's FCRA experts will help to ensure that your organization always remains fully FCRA-compliant. We provide all necessary forms to keep your company fully compliant with the FCRA. Furthermore, whenever there are any changes to the FCRA, Priority Research keeps our clients abreast of these changes via web announcements. This way our clients can screen their employees with the utmost confidence. |
