Employment Background Check

Part 1

If you leave your job under less than desirable circumstances, can your ex-employer disclose  it during employment background checks?

In some U.S. states, most of what rightfully belongs in your personnel file is not confidential. Additionally, you might have signed a release form when you hired on, authorizing your employer to give out employment-related information about you, without consequence. Even if you didn't sign such a form, it might be in a policy manual and you likely agreed in some way, shape or form to abide by company policies. (Some states consider policy manuals as binding, implied contracts.) Similarly, your prospective employers might require you to sign releases authorizing them to collect information about you during background checks. As if all that isn't enough to put you on edge, states are starting to pass laws that allow employers to speak candidly during employment background checks, with immunity from defamation lawsuits. For example, many states protect employers when they speak the truth about job performance and reason for termination.

Still, you might be able to relax. It's not so much what employers can say, as it is what they're willing to risk saying. In many states, the laws related to employment background checks allow you to sue, if your ex-employer intentionally states false or misleading information that prevents you from landing a job. But employers are still hesitant to even state the truth, because former employees might try to sue anyway. It's a burden of proof thing and it costs employers to go to or stay out of court. Even if employers are in the clear, they risk worker-bee juries siding with the "little people" against the "big, bad, corporate giants."

You've got other things on your side, too. Not every employer has legal eagles on staff, who can correctly interpret the laws. So, they shy away from the complexities or are just plain naive about what they can legally say. There are plenty of nightmarish lawsuit myths and rumors floating around, too. As a result, all but the bravest employers play it safe and try to avoid background-check legalities in the first place.

If your ex-employer plays it safe, they will give out only scant information, such as your name, rank and serial number. The typical equivalents for employment background checks are listed below.

• Dates or confirmation of employment
• Job titles held
• Final salary, but some employers won't give that out unless you authorize it in writing
• Other "safe" facts, such as company-sponsored training classes you attended

Part 2

What else should I consider about employment background checks?

Employers face yet another lawsuit dilemma, that might make them more willing to spill the beans about you. Laws in some states permit employers to sue other employers, if during employment background checks they omit or lie about serious employee acts, especially if the employees again commit the same or similar acts. Employers might also get sued for "negligent hiring" if they don't screen employees through background checks, and someone suffers injury because of it. Two rather serious examples are convicted child molesters working with children and substance abusers working in the transportation industry.

So far, this article has focused on employment background checks only at the company HR level. Painfully-honest or spiteful former coworkers, supervisors and managers are another matter. Some HR departments try to further limit their risk, by issuing guidelines that instruct employees in the do's and don'ts of employee background checks. The "do's" are typically along the lines of name, rank and serial number, as mentioned earlier. The "don'ts" might instruct employees to reveal nothing and let the HR department handle background checks. Unfortunately, not every company is diligent about limiting background checks at the employee level. Worse, not every employee reads, remembers or adheres to the guidelines anyway. Regardless, HR might allow employees to speak candidly with company-authorized employment agencies and background investigators.

Professional investigators who conduct employment background checks know that employers might be fearful of lawsuits, so they cleverly phrase questions to reveal volumes while limiting risk. For example, instead of asking, "Why did this person leave your company?" they might ask, "Would you hire this person back?" A vague, evasive or simple "No" answer doesn't reveal much in the way of potentially defamatory information, but investigative minds know how to read between the lines.