Online Records Could Sway Background Checks
Potential employees subject to background checks should be aware that much of a person’s information can be found amongst online public records.
With the heightening importance of keeping government transparent, many government agencies and courts have begun posting records online. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, some jurisdictions post information to their own Web sites, while others sell public files to commercial data compilers and information brokers, who in turn make the information available for a fee.
Some documents containing personal information that are available online may include: property tax assessor files, motor vehicle records and professional and business licenses. Registered voter files are sometimes available, but are restricted in some states. Court files also may be available, including: case indexes, tax liens and judgments, bankruptcy files, criminal arrest and conviction records and warrants and civil court recordings.
Many of these records can contain information that would otherwise not be public. For example, court records often contain social security numbers and financial account numbers, family law files contain information about children and allegations and insurance cases may contain medical information. In the majority of cases, the person involved is required to give this information to the government agency or court.
The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse suggests loopholes in the Fair Credit Reporting Act should be closed to help account for the use of improper information in background checks, including online public records. The FCRA dictates how a background check is conducted and what information can be included in a report.
“At present, the federal law only pertains to employers who hire third party investigators to conduct background checks,” the site notes. “It does not apply if the employer conducts the background check itself. An increasing number of employers are doing their own investigations due to the availability of low-cost information broker data bases on the web. The law must be broadened to encompass employers who conduct their own searches.”
The FCRA states that if a background check leads to an adverse hiring decision, the person involved must be given a copy of the report.
“An employer might claim to have decided to not hire an individual because of a superior job pool, not because of negative information found in the background check,” the site adds. “In such cases, the applicant does not need to be given a copy of the report and may never know that erroneous information, for example, may have been the real cause of the rejection. Employees and job applicants must be given the opportunity to obtain copies of their background checks in all instances, not just those where adverse decisions have been made. Of course, there must be an exception for investigations conducted when there is suspicion of criminal wrongdoing.”