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Warning: How Far Back Do Background Checks Go?

Posted by Mike Mccarty on Sun, Jun 12, 2011 @ 08:28 PM
  
  
  
  

how far back do background checks goHow many of you assume that when you order background checks that your screening partner provides a search as far back as they possibly can?   I am guessing many of you.

It would never cross our mind to ask how far back do background checks go.  Common sense says forever.

However, common sense does not rule the background screening industry and your searches are probably limited to 7 years.  Yep, you screen a 43 year old applicant and the background screening firm will check back 7 years or to when he was 36.  Do you care what he did from 18-35?

If you don’t, you should.   A criminologist will confirm that most crimes are committed by offenders aged 18-40, so in our example we have excluded more than 18 years of prime crime committing years. 

Seem crazy?  Well, I agree.  I have never understood the background screening industry’s adoption of such a limited search.  The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act does not limit reporting of convictions to 7 years.  It does restrict the reporting of non-convictions unless the salary exceeds $75K.

And yes, there are a handful of states that have restrictions on how far back a criminal conviction record can be reported if it is for employment purposes.  However, most of the states remove the limitation if the salary of the position exceeds $20K- $25K per year. 

The reality is most states do not have any restrictions on reporting criminal convictions and there are not restrictions for reporting crimes committed by volunteers.

So do you want to limit your searches to 7 years and expose your organization to the risk of hiring a violent offender?  Of course you don’t.  The truth is you have probably never been told your background screening reports have been limited to 7 years.

So how far back do background checks go at Safe Hiring Solutions?  The simple answer is as far as we can go.    Man, does that sound like an answer from an attorney!

The depth of the search is impacted by two things:

  1. How far back the court records go; and/or
  2. How far back a state allows reporting of criminal convictions for employment purposes.

We do not charge additional fees to search back as far as the court records go, which in some states can be more than 25 years.  The safety and security of your organization should not be limited to 7 years.

If you are looking for a screening partner that does background checks correctly then contact us today for a FREE evaluation and proposal.

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Comments

If a persons criminal record is older than 10 years, do you honestly think there is a greater chance for that person to commit another crime now or someone who has never committed a crime to commit a first? I am willing to bet that is statistically unlikely for either. If you hire a 41 year old ex-felon and a 20 year old who has no criminal record, according this site, the 20 year old has a 100% higher of a chance to commit a crime than the 40 year old. So what's the need to go back that far?
Posted @ Friday, February 03, 2012 2:38 PM by Nunya Concern
thank god California only goes back 7 yrs regardless of pay....I had a drug felony from 97 and it no longer comes up.
Posted @ Saturday, March 31, 2012 10:11 PM by ripsaa
Nunya, you are correct. Numerous studies have proven that a convicted felon who has not committed another crime within 5 years is LESS likely to commit a crime than a person without a criminal record. Companies don't care about this though. They only care about getting sued. Juries have proven that they view a convicted criminal as a second-class citizen and they will award an employee large sums of money out of an employer's pocket for the crime of another employee. The current system is wrong and encourages recidivism. There is a huge industry around background checks and they have powerful lobbyists.
Posted @ Monday, April 02, 2012 2:10 PM by aaron
My mother committed suicide when I was 22 and I spent the next 15 years afterward drunk, high on coke and meth, and in and out of county jails and state prison. After almost dying when I rolled my truck down a hill, I finally decided enough was enough and I started re-inventing myself. 
 
Now, I'm married (to one of my mother's former students ironically enough), we have an 8 month old beatiful baby boy, I've been sober for 3 years, I just graduated with a BS in Audio Production, and I can NOT get a job anywhere.  
 
The legal system says we're innocent until proven guilty and that's not ever the truth. They tell us to change and become productive members of society while society tells us that we're not worth the risk and want us to just go away.  
 
The system is broken. Badly. And until the system is fixed and works the way it should, the number of years back a background check goes doesn't mean anything whatsoever. Society is less forgiving than the courts are and THAT is why the prisons and jails are overflowing with criminals AND a staggering amount of people that are actually innocent of ever committing a single crime in their entire lives.  
 
Background checks do nothing more than encourage and promote society's prejudice and fear. And they keep those of us who have taken the time, and put forth the years of effort to be better than we were in the past, from ever reaching our full potential and reaping the deserved rewards of all our hard work and dedication to ourselves, our families, and . . . society.
Posted @ Friday, June 01, 2012 4:00 PM by Todd
This is one of the major factors that limit my ability to get work. My fault - and I don't argue it. If I was an employer, I wouldn't take the chance of being sued, etc. either. Even accidents can happen. If the employee is an ex-felon it doesn't matter if it's an accident or not. Your customers will use that against your company. Not so much if the employee doesn't have a past. 
 
I have a criminal past myself, from 37 years ago. It still limits my ability to get a job. Of course I always answer yes to the question - because I want to be truthful. I have been told to answer no because it was 37 years ago (state of California has a 7 year law, but I can't. Just don't feel right when I know the truth. But then again, I'm tired of not getting work because of it. Most hiring managers will not even look further at an applicant once they see that.
Posted @ Monday, June 18, 2012 8:10 PM by Sid
I am a 28 year old white female living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I was convicted of 3 non violent misdemeanors, two of which were in the same case and those two I was found guilty by a jury trial based on circumstancial evidence, which was only the testimony of my ex boyfriend who I was living with which is how I got arrested in the first place. I did a little jail time and it's been over a year since I've been done with it all, but I STILL cannot find a job! There are extenuating circumstances for each person and I believe that after a person has paid his/her "debt to society", whether it was in the form of jail time, a fine, community service, that once that "debt" is paid, the "offender" should no longer by marked with the scarlet letter of a criminal record, UNLESS of course the crime was a felony or a VIOLENT misdemeanor, such as sex offenses, child/elder crimes, etc. I have already been offered one job but the offer was cancelled due to the company not accepting my background, which did not relate to the job as a Customer Service rep at a phone company AT ALL!
Posted @ Wednesday, June 20, 2012 11:21 AM by Sarah
WOW Mike, you are truly an idiot. The fact of the matter is that there are statutes of limitations on just how far back an employer can go on criminal background(not necessarily all states). An example of this is in California which is 11 years. There has also been legislation limiting, and in some cases, completely doing away with credit checks on potential employees. 
 
As to your statement about all those years of criminal activity being missed, really, are you that ignorant? The fact is that many, many criminal backgrounds can be issues as simple as driving on a suspended license or many other misdemeanor convictions that have nothing to do with the job. According to your statement that should determine the actions throughout the rest of my life my life. That is just stupid. Who of us hasn’t made some kind of mistake throughout our lives? To believe that something that I did thirty years ago has anything to do with today is just absurd. 
 
You sound like a salesman trying to sell a background check service to me. 
 
Posted @ Tuesday, September 11, 2012 1:54 PM by Mike
All I can say is... if someone commits a crime, doing no harm to others ( use of drugs, possession... being "set up" to sell to a narc) then it should be expunged upon fulfillment of that crime's punishment. PERIOD. I have paid and paid a price over and over again, not being able to get a decent job because of how Florida is... BIASED. PREJUDICED. I am white, I am single, I am well spoken and have worked very hard.., but for 'wayward' employers, that robbed their own companies, that were outwardly rude, crude, obnixious, no breaks, worked you like a dog, like a slave... and you had tot take it because you knew you would not get another job elsewhere. My convictions were back in 97-98... and here we are, 2013. Rick Scott and other Republicans have ruined the chances for people like me in this state, my only state I know of to live, I can not move, this is my home... and I can only hope some day we all unite and change the laws. Ten years should be plenty. Twelve even... and Fourteen plus, should more then enough to consider me as an employee for a job that pays more then ten bucks an hour. PERIOD.
Posted @ Friday, January 18, 2013 9:41 PM by FLoridaIsAssBackwards
Two times in my life I've been arrested. Both times, by a racist comment who smiled and made a racist comment. 
 
Then wrote whatever they wanted on the police report. 
 
THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING I CAN DO TO CHANGE THE POLICE REPORT TO THE FACTS, OR GET IT EXPUNGED. 
 
And even though it happened 10 years ago some employers bring it up and it's forcing me to work for 40 grand a year, instead of 80 grand a year. 
 
ALL BECAUSE SOME RACIST COP, ASKED ME IF I HAD BEEN DRINKING. AND I SAID YES. 
 
THEN HE MADE A RACIST COMMENT, AND WHEN WE WALKED IN THE WHAT SEEMED TO BE A RODEO CONVENTION OF A POLICE DISTRICT, HE GOES "LOOK WHAT I GOT ME!" 
 
ANd hoots and hollars, and yea we got us a muzzie comments. 
 
AND AGAIN, NO COURT OR EMPLOYER CARES ABOUT ANY OF THAT. IT SHOWS UP, AND THEY WONT' HIRE ME. 
 
WHAT A SAD SAD SAD COUNTRY WE LIVE IN.
Posted @ Wednesday, February 06, 2013 10:55 AM by chris
Fuck you
Posted @ Thursday, February 07, 2013 6:02 PM by sue mcurass
the worst part is when you really hit it off with the manager, you are more than qualified to perform the job above expected measures and then the background check comes back and then you become ineligible, forthcoming and honest the manager knows about your past and willing to look past it and give you a chance and then DENIED! If you cant make a decent wage you cant survive like a "productive member of society" prison and the bullshit legal system is a corrupted sick beast. once your in your pretty much destined to struggle or to steal
Posted @ Saturday, March 23, 2013 3:21 PM by mike
i went to prison for illegal possession of firearm..did only 8 months...in state prison, since i went to stat prison i can not espunge my record...america is allowed to have gun if u have your papers, just because i didnt register my gun i am now a ex convict..and lost my job with dish newtork.after working for them for 4 years and having thier trust in all them years..but a fellow employee of mines did that same work..he also had a background way more outragous then mines..attempted murder with assualt weapon..his crimes goes way back farther then ten years ago..yet he passed the background check and can keep his job! what a fuck up society we live in.. 
Posted @ Monday, April 15, 2013 8:38 PM by van
I am a convicted felon non violent the stupid decision I made 14 years ago is still hindering me for employment. I did my time, paid my restitution, got saved, put 4 children through school 3 of which are in college, I went back to school twice and graduated both times, and am helping to raise my granddaughter. I have gotten married and have been an upstanding citizen for the past 14 years. This is the only offense on my record and I cannot get a job right now. I am so tired of walking around with this scarlett letter on my back because of a dumb decision I made 14 years ago. The media and businesses like this one put so much fear in society. We are not all hoodlums destined for a life of crime, I am a good person who did a bad thing and learned my lesson. Why won't society forgive me. I am not violent, love children, help the elderly, volunteer my time to at risk youth but still cannot get a decent job.
Posted @ Tuesday, May 14, 2013 8:17 AM by Karen
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