FCRA or The Fair Credit Reporting Act is basically a federal law that restricts data collection about employees or applicants. Most of the employers take help of a background investigation company to enquire about its employees. Such authentication processes also do involve the criminal record check and professional background checks.

Following FCRA terms, the third party investigating agencies may offer financial and personal background detail about an applicant or an employee, to the employment incharge of a company. However, such information delivery should be strictly meant for employment purpose.

An employer can also seek reports as of above from a private job background check service provider while promoting an employee to a higher rank and extending the contract(according to FCRA).

Moreover, most of the employers are quite aware of the details to be expected through consumer reports provided by a third party background investigation company. However,a very few of they are aware of the restrictions involved with such reports, or the possible data that may not be provided through such reports. What are those? Find out below!

Restricted aspects:

A third party job background check service provider may not provide medical details unless such disclosures are necessary for the employment of that particular position.

It also may not involve arrest detail of the person that has occurred more than seven years prior to the present report preparation date. Well, in those cases where the employee or the candidate is expected to earn more than seventy-five thousand dollars, reports of arrests prior to more than seven years may also be desired. Such reports may also mention about the cases where the candidate was convicted, no matter how old it is.

It is essential for the employers to investigate about an employee who is supposed to be involved with delinquencies or the record of not complying with company regulations. In most cases, the employers conduct such investigations to know about the cases of sexual persecution charges the candidate was charged with. However, it is important for the employers to know that if they conduct a third party service provider regarding sexual harassment investigation, it needs to fit well with the FCRA background check norms. This is essential to ensure by the employer prior they take any kind of action against the employee, based on the report.

It However, FCRA background check norms particularly exclude such investigation from the needs that recruiters offer the employees with a prior notice and get the acknowledgment from the employee in a properly signed way, as far as the investigation and its outcomes don’t have any relation with the employee’s candidature. Moreover, the report should be disclosed only to the employee, according to FCRA.

In fact, if any kind of action is taken against the employee based on such reports regarding sexual harassment history of the employee, he/she must be delivered a synopsis of the detail based on which such actions are taken.