When your criminal past isn't yours

IWannaKnow

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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ap-impact-criminal-past-isnt-182335059.html
AP IMPACT: When your criminal past isn't yours

AP IMPACT: 'I'm being punished for living right': Background check system is haunted by errors
By Jordan Robertson, AP Technology Writer
AP – Tue, Dec 20, 2011 1:24 PM EST

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A clerical error landed Kathleen Casey on the streets.

Out of work two years, her unemployment benefits exhausted, in danger of losing her apartment, Casey applied for a job in the pharmacy of a Boston drugstore.

There was one technicality: The company that ran the background check, First Advantage, had the wrong woman. The rap sheet belonged to Kathleen A. Casey, who lived in another town nearby and was 18 years younger.

Very scary. Many, many employers now run background checks....
 
From your link above:

A recent class-action settlement with one major database company, HireRight Solutions Inc., provides a glimpse at the magnitude of the problems.

The settlement, which received tentative approval from a federal judge in Virginia last month, requires HireRight to pay $28.4 million to settle allegations that it didn't properly notify people about background checks and didn't properly respond to complaints about inaccurate files. After covering attorney fees of up to $9.4 million, the fund will be dispersed among nearly 700,000 people for alleged violations that occurred from 2004 to 2010. Individual payments will range from $15 to $20,000.

In an effort to prevent bad information from being spread, some courts are trying to block the computer programs that background check companies deploy to scrape data off court websites. The programs not only can misrepresent the official court record but can also hog network resources, bringing websites to a halt.


I think all the courts should block these computer programs and the potential employers should have to look up each person's record individually to be certain they are getting accurate data. This situation is making the unemployed suffer needlessly.
 
I'm not against employers using background checks on prospective employees. But I do think that if they use them they should be required to give the prospective employee a copy of the results. That way if there are any errors the employee has a chance to correct them.
 
they could eliminate possible problems by requiring that applicants submit their own background checks

I've had to do it - it used to cost $25 here through the police
 

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