Thursday, September 01, 2005
Pre Employment Screening - FBI Database
There has been a recent proposal for federal legislation which would allow employers to access the FBI database for purposes of background screening. The National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS) commissioned a study to be conducted by Craig N. Winston, professor of criminal justice at Sonoma State University on the effectiveness of such legislation. The study showed that a significant percentage of the information retrieved in relation to background screening was either inaccurate or incomplete. It revealed that the FBI database lacks the proper identifiers to accurately link criminal hits with the subjects of screenings. Overall, there were a large number of missed records and false positives found in the study. Out of 93,274 checks in the state of Florida, database screeners missed 11.7 percent of known criminal records. Out of over 10,000 records pulled, 5.5 percent were identified as positives when no conviction had in fact ever taken place.
The most important discrepancy of FBI database information for background screening is the lack of information which is necessary for determining a subject’s identity. Things such as a date of birth, a social security number, a drivers license number, and physical identifiers are usually missing. Even when a date of birth is confirmed, it is likely for a screener to come across multiple entries for people who possess a similar name and birth date which may or may not be the subject being screened. Without the necessary information aforementioned, it is unsound to draw conclusions for hiring decisions based on FBI database information.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) mandates that employers must use the most up-to-date and accurate information available when conducting background checks for the purpose of making hiring decisions. As such, aggregated databases are not commonly suggested as a sole source of information for conducting background investigations. The FBI database is considered to be a more comprehensive version of an aggregated database because it has a more consistent regional span than traditional aggregated databases. While there are no court cases to date which prohibit the use of FBI database searches as a sole source of background screening information (as the FBI database is not yet available for use by background screeners), the regulations imposed by the FCRA and enforced by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) are ambiguous enough that litigation and fines could be a consequence of relying on such a source. "If employers are granted access to the FBI's data, they can easily be lulled into the false sense of security that they are availing themselves of the most accurate and comprehensive search available,” said Professional Background Screeners co-chairman Jason B. Morris. “As a result, they could be opening themselves to increased risk in the workplace and litigation from wronged job applicants."
The most important discrepancy of FBI database information for background screening is the lack of information which is necessary for determining a subject’s identity. Things such as a date of birth, a social security number, a drivers license number, and physical identifiers are usually missing. Even when a date of birth is confirmed, it is likely for a screener to come across multiple entries for people who possess a similar name and birth date which may or may not be the subject being screened. Without the necessary information aforementioned, it is unsound to draw conclusions for hiring decisions based on FBI database information.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) mandates that employers must use the most up-to-date and accurate information available when conducting background checks for the purpose of making hiring decisions. As such, aggregated databases are not commonly suggested as a sole source of information for conducting background investigations. The FBI database is considered to be a more comprehensive version of an aggregated database because it has a more consistent regional span than traditional aggregated databases. While there are no court cases to date which prohibit the use of FBI database searches as a sole source of background screening information (as the FBI database is not yet available for use by background screeners), the regulations imposed by the FCRA and enforced by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) are ambiguous enough that litigation and fines could be a consequence of relying on such a source. "If employers are granted access to the FBI's data, they can easily be lulled into the false sense of security that they are availing themselves of the most accurate and comprehensive search available,” said Professional Background Screeners co-chairman Jason B. Morris. “As a result, they could be opening themselves to increased risk in the workplace and litigation from wronged job applicants."
