When a company hires employees, in some cases it may be necessary to fact find additional information on a candidate to make an informed decision. Outside of using the interview some agencies will initiate a background investigation. In some cases this has proven beneficial in uncovering any false information given by the applicant concerning his/her education, work experience, morals, and other important qualifying factors. Background investigations aid the interview so that it’s not the only deciding factor and helps to isolate the most suitable candidate or the job.
There are several variations to the background check. One is the reference check. Reference checks are becoming more difficult because of potential legal liability to the former employer, but this is easily over come. Reference checks with the most current employer help to confirm accomplishments, misrepresentation, and inflation of information or in some cases understatements. In some areas of employment it is important to conduct a criminal investigation. It is important for employers to know whether the potential employees have a history of crime and whether this history can affect his or her ability to perform in the given position. Consider the nature of the work in relation to the nature of the conviction. For example if you wish to hire a drive you would carefully scrutinize an applicant with a history of traffic violations. If you were hiring a bank teller you would be leery of an applicant with recent embezzlement convictions. These offenses are job-related. However, if the situation was reversed and the applicant with the traffic violations applied for the teller position and vice verse it would not be as serious a matter. However it is also important to understand you cannot automatically assume that an applicant who has a police record is not capable of doing the job. Individuals should be given a fair opportunity to prove their merit even though they may have a police record. An “arrest” is not relevant; a “conviction” may or may not be relevant to the particular job in question. It is important when reviewing the background to look for repeat offenses and trends. It is also best to give the benefit of the doubt and differentiate between arrest and conviction.
Making a careful evaluation of the frequency and severity of the violations could aid in understanding an individuals character. Many of us break the law in ways we don’t think about such as speeding, jaywalking, littering,etc. Some violations are more serious than other and some may be job related while others aren’t. Minor, non-job-related offense shouldn’t whole heartedly influence hiring decisions. Age and time between offenses should also be considered. If some one was young when they first committed an offense and later recommits with several years of a break in between, this may indicate a self improvement effort on their part. Generally, offenses over 5 years old, without repetition, have no bearing. Through background checks the employer gets a better idea of supplied information from the applicant. Failure to conduct background investigations may lead to the hiring of a less than qualified individual. Along with increasing the chances of employing an individual who will not be successful in carrying out the agencies mission. Without the check agencies also lye vulnerable to legal liabilities under various laws. One such law is negligent hiring. Negligent hiring is a tort crime under the negligent employment statute (Frazier, 2007). Negligent hiring laws state that an employer can be held liable for crimes committed by their employees if they were aware of could easily have found the information about the employee tendency to commit a crime. Physical violence, sexual offense and murder are examples of some of the crimes that employers can be held accountable for. ( Frazier, 2007) This crime is based on the concept that the employer has a duty to ensure that other employees and stakeholders within the organization are safe. Thus, the security measure implied would be a through background check. To qualify under the negligent hiring laws there must be proof that the employer knew or could have know about the employee tendency to commit the crime (Fraizer, 2007). Background investigations could also lead to discriminatory lawsuits. There are measures in place to avoid the unlawful disqualification of applicants based on certain parts of their history. For example, bankruptcies are a matter of public record and may appear on individual credit report. The Federal Bankruptcy Act prohibits employers from discriminating against applicants because they have filed for bankruptcy. ( )

Throughout the country a major battle is shaping up between the need for security and the rights of privacy for our citizens, the latter of which traditionally has been highly valued by all. While we all value our privacy, with such events in the world as terrorist attacks, or individuals going “postal” there is an increasingly growing concern that employers do everything possible to keep inappropriate people out of the workplace. It is highly agreed upon that background checks of job applicants are not only acceptable but essential.
HR professionals should be continuously involved in determining, monitoring, and taking a proactive role in the specific security need of their agency.