Everyone applying for a job or a sensitive position will have to undergo criminal background checks. These are actions and researches done in order to compile the records of the applicant--from criminal to financial records. The conduct of these background checks, the compiling of results and the release of reports will be regulated and defined by the criminal background check laws and related institutions.
Facts
Criminal background checks refer to the series of actions and researches of looking up and compiling the criminal records, the commercial records and the financial records of one person. These checks are often done by an employer before hiring a person. Background checks are usually done on applicants that are applying for a position of trust in any institution and organization. Examples of jobs and posts that may require applicants to undergo criminal background checks include jobs in schools, hospitals, financial institutions, airports, the federal government and law enforcement.
Significance
Background checks are often made through a government agency or these checks can be performed by private institutions. And the results of these background checks will include past employment verification, the credit score of the person and a check on the person's criminal history. There are a number of laws that cover the criminal background checks, and there are a number of laws that regulate these checks for use legally or when used for dissemination and public consumption.
Regulating Laws
One important law that regulates that criminal background checks in the United States is the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This one covers and regulates the right use of consumer reports. Consumer reports are defined as the information collected and reported by the third party agencies and private companies. The Fair Credit Reporting Act covers the adverse decisions, the notifications to the applicant and the destruction and the safekeeping of these records. This is an American federal law and used by third party criminal background check companies along with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act or the FDCPA.
These two important laws form the base of the rights of the consumers in the United States. This was first passed in 1970 and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission as the governing and implementing government agency. At the core of the criminal background check procedure is the information provider. This is defined by the FCRA as the institution that give the information to the consumer reporting agencies.
Information Providers
There are certain institutions that provide background information. The major institutions that provide background information include the creditors, the auto finance companies and the mortgage banking institutions. Other institutions that provide information include the collection agencies, the state or the municipal courts and past and present employers and bonders.
Guidelines
The reporting of information by these information providers can only be done under certain guidelines. The information provider should only furnish the complete and the most accurate information to these credit reporting agencies. It is the duty of the information providers to investigate any disputed information and these personalities need to correct an error if any and also explain why the credit report submitted is correct within 90 days of receipt of notice of dispute. And it is also the job of the information providers will have inform the consumers about any negative information which will be placed in the credit report of the person within 30 days. There are two notices that need to be sent to the person who is subjected to criminal background checks. The first one is the notice given before the negative information is reported and the notice given after the information/reports has been reported.
