How Automated Background Checks Can Put Your Company at Risk

Background Screening | February 20, 2020

From the outside, automated criminal background checks may seem like a convenient way to screen applicants for jobs, housing, and other things. They may look like they eliminate discrimination and are more accurate than other methods as well.

However, it’s just the opposite.

Automated criminal background checks can not only be unfair and hurt applicants applying for various positions, but they can put your business at risk as well.

*Note: We’re not bashing technology, we use computer databases and streamlining processes in our criminal background checks here at PlusOne. However, automatic checks are not the end all be all of employer and contractor hiring. Any organization shouldn’t just run them and think that it is a sufficient process.

Here’s how automated criminal background checks can put your company at risk.

Accuracy

Let’s just start with what may seem like the least probable issue with automated background checks, accuracy. These criminal background checks only look for a particular factor that the screener pre-selects. For example, if you want alerts on a drug offense, you will be alerted if a drug offense is detected by the check.

However, you don’t get any sort of understanding with this type of report; you’re operating on a pass/fail system. Automatic background checks are not capable of handling the nuances and complexities of criminal records.

You don’t see the above problems play out when you have real live people interfacing with the screenings.

Bias

This goes hand in hand with accuracy, although again, it may seem counter-intuitive.

When you’re running an automated background check, you’re setting parameters and getting alerts based on whether those markers are triggered or not.

If you are looking to disqualify or marginalize a specific group of people, what better way then to set up specific parameters that you know will exclude a particular portion of the population?

Often, if you are looking to reach a particular conclusion, all someone would have to do is set parameters that coincide with their desire. Then use the cover of plausible deniability because a computer did it.

Removal of the Human Element

Since automated background checks are done electronically, and without a live person reviewing each case, you may miss out on great candidates.

No one is perfect; people make mistakes.

Sometimes a legal issue may not be relevant or even accurate as reported to the application that the individual is applying for. Without a human element, you’ll miss this.

A human connection is so critical in these matters. For example, Businesswire.com sites that the global background check services market is poised to experience spend growth of more than USD 800 million between 2018-2023. They also stated that these tests would be outsourced to be conducted by experts.

Aside from possibly missing out on the right candidate, here’s a real-life nightmare scenario.

Two Minnesota women are part of a lawsuit against the ride-sharing company Lyft. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim the ride-share giant doesn’t do enough to ensure the safety of female passengers.

The full story can be read here, but mostly, the two women accuse the company of hiring drivers without conducting adequate background checks after they had been sexually assaulted.

The story doesn’t specifically mention automated background checks. Still, we do know that both Uber and Lyft use the automatic background check startup, Checkr.

The point is that as a company, you must use every asset available to vet people and leave no stone unturned when it comes to compliance and verification.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

We mentioned how a lackadaisical background check could lead to people being hurt and land your company in hot water. Here is another danger, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

From the EEOC’s website, “The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. It is also illegal to discriminate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit”.

Essentially an EEOC is the last thing that your business wants or needs. We’ve touched on how an automated criminal background check can lead to discriminatory practices, whether by accident or not. Below are examples of how it has played out.

Dollar General

From Seyfarth.com:

On November 18, 2019, the EEOC announced in a press release that a Dollar General settled a race discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC, which challenged the employer’s use of criminal history for employment purposes. Specifically, the EEOC had alleged that the employer’s use of criminal history resulted in a disparate impact against minority workers. This primarily affected African Americans who had been excluded from jobs at higher rates than non-minority applicants.

Dollar General had to pay $6 million to be distributed to aggrieved individuals.

But that’s not all.

If they elect to continue considering criminal history pre-employment, they must hire a criminologist to develop a new criminal background check based on certain factors.

Some of these include:

(a) the time since the conviction;

(b) the number of offenses;

(c) the nature and gravity of the offense(s); and

(d) the risk of recidivism.

Once the consultant provides a recommendation, the employer is not allowed to use any other pre-employment criminal background check. Until the criminologist offers a recommendation, the employer must continue to conduct individualized assessments.

Preventing another “Dollar General”

In an interview for Employeebenefitadvisor.com, Joseph Mulherin, partner at McDermott, Will & Emery, a Chicago-based labor law firm, had this to say about the Dollar General case:

“Any time the EEOC issues this type of announcement, it’s a good reminder for employers to review whether their criminal background check policies and procedures would automatically disqualify candidates based on specific previous convictions.”

In other words, be very careful with your screening processes, don’t just leave things up to automation!

Optical Character Recognition

Optical character recognition is something to be wary of. Shady companies may use this as a way of advertising fast returns in their screening processes, don’t buy it.

Optical Character Recognition was intended to read black text on white backgrounds as an aid for streamlining data entry by converting typed or handwritten text into an electronic form.

However, this faces challenges when it comes to background screenings.

This is because identification documents such as driver’s licenses and social security cards often display different colors and holographic stamps. All of which interferes with the ability of the technology to read the text accurately.

Additionally, this type of technology doesn’t distinguish between different ID types; it merely reads data. Finally, ID’s that may be blurred or smudged or photographs of documents that aren’t correctly aligned will be very difficult to read.

If you ever see this concerning a background check, avoid it.

This is a great way to end up with a low-quality background screening that comes with all sorts of potential legal problems. PlusOne Solutions does not use this technology for background screenings.

How PlusOne Solutions Protects You

You’ve seen how some compliance and screening companies conduct their checks and what they can lead to for an organization.

Now here’s how we at PlusOne do it.

PlusOne scours criminal record systems for illegal activity, additional names, previous locations, and the histories of everything in between. We follow these leads to pull information from both national and local databases.

We perform criminal checks, motor vehicle reports, drug testing, and can even handle badging and credentialing when the time comes.

While computers perform all of these functions, we also have a highly specialized team that verifies the information.

Our team follows up, works directly with you and your prospective employee or another individual to ensure the veracity of the data.

The PlusOne Appeal Process

An organization is only as good as its people; it could be said that your two fates (your organization and your staff) are unavoidably intertwined. We offer an appeals process for our criminal background screenings.

It helps the applicant and gives them a chance to explain something or provide more information regarding a particular issue that may keep them from being employed. But it also helps you because when it comes to hiring, you want to make the right choices.

How it works

Applicants may request a reinvestigation by calling us or completing the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) Dispute Form

*Note: Canada – Challenging Accuracy. Please note, the identification provided must match the address information we have on file. Applicants must provide any additional information required to help us understand the nature of the dispute and guide our reinvestigation.

We will contact the applicant to confirm when we receive the letter; all parties are aware we are actively working on a request.

How to Submit an Appeal

An appeal occurs when the information in an individual’s consumer report is accurate and complete, but their eligibility is adversely impacted. They may wish to submit additional information for consideration before a final decision is made. To file an appeal, an applicant must:

1) Contact PlusOne at appeal email

2) Provide any documentation to demonstrate why they are well suited for the position, despite the reported information. This may include:

– Facts or circumstances surrounding the offense/conduct

– Age at the time of conviction

– Evidence that they have performed the same type of work, post-conviction, with the same or a different employer with no known incidents of criminal conduct

– Length and consistency of employment before and after the offense/conduct

– Employment or character references

– Rehabilitation efforts, education/training examples

Once we receive an appeal, we will review the additional details and keep the applicant posted throughout the process and will inform them if the appeal has been accepted or denied.

If the appeal is denied but an individual wishes further consideration, they may appeal directly to the client. We will provide all relevant information to the client and support this process.

*Note:  The appeal process is a function that we at PlusOne may assume for our clients, and we act only as their administrative agent. We do not make any eligibility decisions. The ultimate decision on an applicant’s report is always the clients, not us. We are always looking out to do what is right for people and our clients; this is just one such example.

Contractor Background Checks

Are the rules and processes any different for conducting screenings? The answer is no. A contractor background check is just that, a background check for the employment of a contractor as a third party employee for an organization.

The same rules & processes apply, and you can expect to see the same level of professionalism and excellence from our team at PlusOne Solutions.

For more information regarding contractor background checks, check out our blog here.

Background Checks You Can Trust

When it comes to conducting traditional and criminal background checks, you should always use a trusted source of verification like PlusOne Solutions.

Low-quality background checks may not be as encompassing as they could be, which could lead to you getting burned, or worse, in a lawsuit. Cheap and automatic background checks are often low quality and not even done correctly!

We are certified by the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA). The PBSA offers an accreditation program for Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs) located in the United States. This certification is widely recognized as the industry seal of approval. It brings national recognition to an employment background screening-affiliated organizations for their commitment to achieving excellence through high professional standards with accountability that results in continued institutional improvement.

To learn more about our services and gain a better understanding of important background screening issues, you can check out our blog here.

You can click here to start screening now. Or contact us here to schedule a consultation with one of our team members to begin working toward handling all of your background screening goals today!