A criminal background check only needs minutes to ruin a life. That's how long it takes for prospective employers, in some instances, to get a background check report on a job candidate. But mistakes that incorrectly identify an applicant as a thief or sex offender happen more often than many expect. The effect can be emotionally and financially devastating, and HR managers make it worse by often dropping their job candidate before a correction is issued.
The demand for background checks by employers has increased since 9/11, according to the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and industry estimates say the vast majority of employers use them in hiring. Two of the largest background check firms went public this year. But the background check data many HR providers rely on can be flawed, and the errors can damage lives and hopes.
Some of the errors detailed in lawsuits against background check firms are inexplicable and show a lack of basic attention to detail. Common mistakes include mismatched names and addresses. One background check lawsuit alleged that the first name of Ashley was misidentified as Alysha. In another case, two people with the same first and last name were mixed up despite their distinct middle names: Magdalena and Elena. In another lawsuit, an applicant with a middle name of Scot (one T) was confused with someone whose middle name was Scott (two T's). A background check firm told one job applicant that his Social Security number was in the...
By Dean Aubrey Caratiquet As part of an intensified campaign against the spread of falsehoods that continue to undermine the integrity of the government and pose a threat to national security, PCO...