This isn't really a diary, but a request for information, experiences, etc.
I'm currently being hired back to an organization I've worked with for 20 years. There's a bunch of new and different hiring requirements nowadays. One is the background check. The organization performing the background check on me is called HireRight. I'm getting really hinky feelings about them. Their information (that they should have received from my employer) seems to contain incorrect details.
I spoke with one woman who had information about my employment that was incorrect. I spoke to another woman who had several details about my education incorrect (and they were correct on the resume I submitted) so she told me I was responsible for making sure she received verification of the correct information.
I told her she had so much information incorrect I was not comfortable continuing the discussion. She was upset because I refused to provide proof my information was correct, and that I wasn't continuing the interview. She gave me a case number. I pressed her on her name (obviously false), a telephone number and extension, the address of the company (she gave me an impossible address but I followed up on the internet and she gave me a portion of HireRight's California address). She told me she was calling from Manilla in the Phillipines. I could hear a child calling for her in the background.
I did some research on the internet into HireRight and three months ago they were fined $2.6 million for violations to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the second highest fine in history by the FTC.
I also went to several "complaint" websites and read horror stories about others' experiences with them. They included false reporting about criminal histories, requiring the person they are performing the background check on to provide W2's, 1099's, transcripts -- not just permission to check these items, but the person applying for the job has to run around town getting these items and fax them within 48 hours, and also find current contact information for people they worked for 10 and 20 years ago. (I have no clue where some of my previous supervisors may be!)
One woman was angry that her husband lost a job he had been offered because HireRight reported he was in jail, when he was "sitting on the couch next to her." Another story was about a young man with a wife and a baby and he lost the perfect job (he had been given a job offer that was recinded) because HireRight took too long.
Before everyone closed down for the holiday today I spoke with the person I'm dealing with. She told me I absolutely needed to get a good report from HireRight but reassured me that it could probably be worked out. She called her HR contact, but I didn't receive a call back from the worman in HR, so I probably won't until Monday. Now this may work out just fine, but I like to have my ducks in a row, so:
- Can a company performing a background check require you to provide W2s and/or 1099s? I thought that was strictly for the IRS?
- Is it standard operating proceedure for a company performing a background check to require the person being checked to do the work? Provide college transcripts? Contact old employers and ask them to call the company performing the checks?
- Are there any legal protections that can be invoked without getting a labor law attorney involved?
- Anyone else out there have any experiences with these guys?
Thanks
11:36 AST - I should have included the links below. Sorry, I'm trying to bake Thanksgiving pies at the same time.
Employment Background Screening Company to Pay $2.6 Million Penalty for Multiple Violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act
FTC Charges HireRight Solutions Incorrectly Listed Criminal Convictions on Reports of Some Consumers
http://ftc.gov/...
HireRight to pay $2.6 million; FTC says firm failed to verify background checks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Reviews of HireRight
http://www.trustlink.org/...
http://www.indeed.com/...
http://www.indeed.com/...
http://www.complaintsboard.com/...
http://www.complaintsboard.com/...
http://background-check-websites.no1reviews.com/...