Many camps have been challenged by the time, effort, and frustration of doing criminal background checks of employees who will be supervising children. The public seems to expect this step, the ACA standards require it for those with direct supervision or access to children, and many youth organizations and schools serving children require it.

There are commercial services that will complete this function for you for a fee. One such service lists fees as follows:

• Driver’s license record $16

• Educational verification $18

• Employment verification $24

• Felony and Misdemeanor checks at a county level (one county) $15

• Sexual Offender records (state and county) $15

These fees represent searches on a single name (not including an additional maiden name) in a single jurisdiction. They represent sample fees from one company. Fees will vary and services will vary. Some services will check state records, others will check federal records.

All record searches done by commercial companies are subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

Fair Credit Reporting Act

The Federal Trade Commission has stated that you must comply with the FCRA requirements when you hire a commercial company to provide background checks, even if those checks do not include a credit history.

The FCRA was passed in 1970 in response to concerns about the accuracy of information maintained in various data banks. It was amended in 1996 and those amendments took effect in 1997.

The law governs many kinds of information, including any information about an individual’s credit, character, reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living if the information is collected for the purpose of determining a person’s eligibility for credit or employment. Companies providing background screening information are subject to the requirements.

If using commercial companies, there are steps you must follow with applicants.

Steps to Follow

1. Inform the Applicant
   Prior to ordering background reports, you must tell the applicant you are ordering the reports and obtain permission to do so. This disclosure and signature request must be clear and conspicuous. The consent must be a separate release when you are using a commercial firm. It cannot be combined with other releases or statement to the applicant.

You may wish to obtain this as part of your application, or at a time when you are doing initial screening. When using a third-party commercial firm, you must also provide a Disclosure of an Investigative Report. This must be clear and conspicuous and on a separate piece of paper. It is also advisable to give the applicant a copy of A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This outlines their rights. The FCRA requires that any time an applicant receives information pertaining to a report about himself, it must be accompanied by a copy of this information.

2. Order Background Reports
   The FCRA imposes severe penalties for obtaining reports without having a permissible purpose under the law. You should establish strict policies in your organization for who may obtain such reports and the purposes for which those reports will be used. You may wish to have your employee sign a statement indicating their understanding of the law in this regard.
    

3. When negative information is received . . .
   If the reports you receive contain information that causes you NOT to hire an individual, the FCRA requires you to mail a copy of the report to the applicant together with another copy of the Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Include a letter explaining that the report contains information which, if accurate, may cause you not to extend an offer of employment. Give the applicant at least five days in which to notify you if the information in the report is not correct.
    

4. Notifying the Applicant of a Non-Hire Decision
   If you decide not to hire the applicant based in whole or in part on any information you received from the background report, you must notify the applicant of this decision. The law refers to a denial of the employment as an "adverse action." This adverse action notice can be given orally, in writing or by electronic means. It must include:

   1. Notification that you will not be offering employment due to information contained in the report.

   2. The name, address, and phone number of the consumer reporting agency that provided the report.

   3. A statement that the consumer reporting agency did not make this decision and thus cannot tell the applicant the reason for the decision.

   4. A notice that the applicant has the right to obtain another free copy of the report within sixty days.

   5. A notice that the applicant has the right to dispute the accuracy or completeness of the report with the reporting agency.

   6. A copy of A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

   There is no requirement in the law as to how soon after you make the decision you must notify the applicant. This notification can be part of your normal rejection process.

   These reporting requirements to the applicant allow the applicant to correct information that may be incorrect in the file. There is no requirement that the employer must reverse the employment decision if the report information is incorrect.

Summary

When using a commercial service:

• You must notify the employee of your intent to check background (such as criminal background).

• You must obtain permission to do so.

• You must notify them if information in the report will likely cause you to take an adverse action on their application and give them at least five days to respond.

• You must provide them with a copy of the report and the name of the organization that obtained the report.

• You must notify them of their rights at each step.

It is because of these strict requirements that some have determined to do checking on their own. However, the difficulty of doing those checks in multiple municipalities and jurisdictions is what drives others to use commercial services to obtain the information.

Choose the means that is best for you, but do so being aware of the requirements.

Originally published in the 1999 Fall issue of The CampLine.