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Background Check and Elimination Criteria
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Background Check and Elimination Criteria
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Please help - How much of a nexus is required between the background application process and elimination criteria for a position and the duties of the position?
I know that if a conviction is relat
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Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Background Check and Elimination Criteria
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Background Check and Elimination Criteria
posted at 6/9/2009 8:34 AM EDT
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Posts: 3
First: 6/9/2009 Last: 7/8/2009 |
Please help - How much of a nexus is required between the background application process and elimination criteria for a position and the duties of the position?
I know that if a conviction is related to the job (healthcare provider, school worker, law enforcement agent), the employer can screen out the applicant. What if it's a secretarial/admin position within one of those fields? Specifically, an Admin position in the Police Dept that requires someone to maintain confidentiality and exercise good judgment because they have access to very sensitive documents. |
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Background Check and Elimination Criteria
posted at 6/9/2009 10:07 AM EDT
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Posts: 3870
First: 2/12/2002 Last: 11/2/2009 |
Most organizations I've worked with in the private sector do not differentiate between positions for background checks. It's typical that one standard is adopted for all; many simply do not hire if the applicant has a felony conviction. All will not hire if there's a felony conviction and the applicant does not disclose that fact.
I would imagine that you would have a higher standard within a police department. At least, I'd hope so. Regardless, I suspect that you would be safe applying the same objective standard for past criminal histories to the admin position as you would for a police officer. |
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Background Check and Elimination Criteria
posted at 6/9/2009 11:59 AM EDT
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Posts: 3
First: 6/9/2009 Last: 7/8/2009 |
Thats what I thought. But were a public government entity with union employees so HR is looking for a more solid link between the conviction/arrest record and the position. Ive checked EEOC and state law, there seems to be no clear set of exclusionary criteria. I hoping theres some sort of criteria on balancing the sensitive position versus public security/protection. So in the same example, admin role in the police department w/o public contact, what would an employer look to next to exercise the proper hiring discretion? |
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Background Check and Elimination Criteria
posted at 6/9/2009 1:00 PM EDT
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Posts: 3870
First: 2/12/2002 Last: 11/2/2009 |
Not sure if your question of what to look at next involves some refinement of background checks or something else other than the checks.
EEOC is rather vague, but any practice which would tend to exclude protected classes more than non-protected classes would certainly be illegal. It's generally accepted that minorities are arrested at a higher rate than non-minorities; hence a criteria of eliminating applicants on the basis of arrest records would be illegal. Again, I'd think any felony conviction would be an automatic non-starter for the candidate. Beyond that, my personal favorite is driving record. Someone with multiple DUI's/DWI's has got a problem that I don't want to deal with. Someone with multiple red light/stop sign/speeding violations has potential problems following rules or with authority. You might also want to consider tenure in previous positions. Someone averaging 2 jobs a year for the past 3+ years might have work/workplace issues. |
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Background Check and Elimination Criteria
posted at 6/10/2009 2:57 AM EDT
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Posts: 410
First: 1/26/2006 Last: 11/15/2010 |
Hi:
Actually the EEOC is not vague on this issue as indicated in its relevant policy statement. Therein it states that: The Commission continues to hold that, where there is evidence of adverse impact, an absolute bar to employment based on the mere fact that an individual has a conviction record is unlawful under Title VII. Hence, blanket policies within jobs and across jobs (e.g., no felony convictions) without a showing of job relatedness are unlawful. As an aside, a practice that tends to exclude certain subgroups at a greater rate than other subgroups (e.g., conviction records) is not illegal per se--such a practice is illegal only if it is not job related. Also, in terms of race, there are no "non-protected classes." Finally, I would recommend against the use of driving records for non-driving jobs. If such records were shown to exhibit disparate impact, it would be a stretch documenting job relatedness for a non-driving job. I trust this information is helpful. Dave Arnold, Ph.D., J.D. |
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Background Check and Elimination Criteria
posted at 7/1/2009 5:40 AM EDT
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Posts: 2
First: 6/26/2009 Last: 7/1/2009 |
Hi!!
many company conduct Background check for verifying applicant information before they hire,they secure that all of they employee must have cleaned record and no criminal record, -Anna willet- |
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