Hrmd 630

Running Head: The Role and Value of Credit and Criminal Background Checks

The Role and Value of Credit and Criminal Background Checks

Jenne Jackson

University of Maryland University College

Professor John Mcenery

HRMD 630

14 February 2010

Background Checks

Why do employers want to check your background? It could be for several reasons. The job may require a security clearance or it may be a position that you are working with children, elderly, or disabled; and your background plays a very important role in how you will perform these duties. The employer may want to make sure you are telling the truth. It's estimated that 42.7% of resumes can contain false or tweaked information, so, employers want to insure that what they are getting in an employee is what they were promised (Heneman, 2009).

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) sets the standards for screening for employment. The FCRA defines a background check as a consumer report. Before an employer can get a consumer report for employment purposes, they must notify the candidate in writing and get your written authorization. If the employer is conducting a simply inquiry instead of running an actual report, they must ask for the applicants consent (Allen, 2010). This gives the applicant the option of withdrawing their application if there is information they would rather not see disclosed to the employer.

Credit Check

Generally, a potential employer is permitted to conduct an employment credit check to make a hiring decision about an applicant. Once hired, an employer is also generally permitted to conduct an employment credit check to make other decisions about an employee, such as those regarding promotion, reassignment and retention. An employer is permitted to do so, primarily because there is no Federal discrimination law that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of a bad credit report (Connereley, Arvey, & Bernardy, 2001). Even though there is no Federal...