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I hope you all are doing well. The federal emergency extension for the UI benefits not being passed as been a huge headache for me, as I can imagine it affected many, many other people as well.
After a long exhaustive search that included many close calls, where in atleast 4-5 different occasions I was one of final 2 or 3 candidates, I am happy to say I received a full-time job offer. It was getting to the point where I was getting so discouraged because I felt I was SO CLOSE so many times. In the end, it all worked out and I hope everyone out who is still struggling there will not lose hope.
I'm curious if anyone is knowledgeable on this subject, is there anybody here who has worked in the HR capacity at Fortune 500 companies, or even the background check industry???
I wanted to ask a few questions about background checks if anybody here can help. There will be a background check conducted by an independent firm that provides this service to my new employer.
1) Dept of Labor. I have been on unemployment. Does the Department of Labor disclose information whether a person was receiving UI benefits in certain time frame? I don't know what the Dept of Labor policy is. The reason being, I had told the firm I voluntarily left my old job for personal reasons. It wouldn't make sense to them if I voluntarily left and still received UI benefits.
Can background check find out about your unemployment benefits statuses?
2) Reason for separation. What information is disclosed to the background check screeners? Can my previous employer disclose the reason for separation (voluntary/involuntary)? Or do they usually not get to detailed about that? I heard that in an effort to avoid any potential lawsuits, HR departments of most large corporations tend to only disclose the job title, and dates of employment.
I know a round-about way they may ask this question is, if they ask the former employer if the employee is "eligible for rehire".
3) Salary. Can the background check screeners find out my previous salary from the previous employer without my voluntary submission of W2s and tax returns? Is salary even disclosed by previous employers and is this information attainable?
I never lie about my salary. The truth is, they never asked, and money was never discussed. The first time money was discussed was at the offer stage. They gave me an offer they felt comfortable with, that wasn't based on a percentage increase of my previous salary.
Their offer was higher than my last salary by a good amount. Actually the new salary is more on par with market rate for my experience and position, I was severely underpaid at my last position. So I'm wondering if this type of information is available to background check
Should I contact my former employer, and tell them they will be contacted for my employment reference check?
And also tell them I received and signed the job offer letter; indicating this is the final step in the process... Would they be more reluctant to say anything that'll directly prevent me from employment?
1) Dept of Labor. Can background check find out about your unemployment benefits statuses?
2) Reason for separation. What information is disclosed to the background check screeners?
I know a round-about way they may ask this question is, if they ask the former employer if the employee is "eligible for rehire".
3) Salary. Can the background check screeners find out my previous salary from the previous employer without my voluntary submission of W2s and tax returns?
Disclaimer: I'm no longer doing background screening! This was one of my weekend jobs several years ago.
We checked:
1. National criminal database
2. State criminal database
3. Sent an inquiry to the county sheriff
4. Credit reports (for those who were going to handle cash - not everyone)
5. Verified that the candidate worked for a certain company from X to X dates [when asked by the company - some companies had an HR person who contacted past companies and checked references]
We *did not ask* whether they would rehire the candidate, only checked that the candidate worked there during the dates given. My supervisor said anything else was illegal and if they did volunteer anything we were to keep that information to ourselves.
No - nothing with Dept. of Labor, and it's my understanding that they wouldn't be able to disclose that information to your new employer.
No - nothing about separation. Again, companies can be sued if they say more than X was employed here from 00/00/0000 - 00/00/0000, so most are really careful.
No - salaries will not be disclosed. See above.
I don't think things have changed, other than background screeners may now have additional criminal databases to check.
OP - I think you'll be fine! Find something else to fret over. (:
1. National criminal database
2. State criminal database
3. Sent an inquiry to the county sheriff
4. Credit reports (for those who were going to handle cash - not everyone)
5. Verified that the candidate worked for a certain company from X to X dates [when asked by the company - some companies had an HR person who contacted past companies and checked references]
I was recently hired by a large company that ran a background check on me. I was also fingerprinted. I think the above is all that they checked. I know they had trouble verifying the dates with one of my employers because the company went out of business and I sent them W2s for that employer; I didn't care that they saw my salary because it was 5 years ago. I probably could have blacked out the salary info though, if I had wanted to.
Most simple BIs only look into credit, criminal history and verification of employment. A former employer may say anything they want as long as it is truthful, to include salary information, discipline history, reason for termination (if terminated), attendance, etc., etc. The actual legalities of what a former employer may disclose have been discussed many times on this forum, frequently in response to the usual false cry of "that's illegal" when in all probability it is not. Some states may offer limited protection, so check with your Dept. of Labor. Sorry, this is pet peeve of mine that really annoys me. That said, there is not a legal requirement for a former employer to disclose anything at all, and it is not uncommon for a number of employers to simply confirm dates of employment, which is compliance with a company policy--not compliance with a law.
I had a HireRight background check done recently by my new employer and I asked for the report. They could get ALL my bi-weekly paystubs including hours worked and exact salary amounts for my last job. Also the reason for separation was on the report. I found that my old company (employed through Trinet) was sharing all our info with a service called theworknumber.com TALX. It seem shat there is NO privacy at all.
HireRight also called my old employer.
It depends on the position level also. My friend a recent grad never had his employment history verified. Only his criminal and credit check. I guess the fact that he only had an internship or two didn't warrant the extra money for employment verification.
In some industries, the position level doesn't matter. When my younger son applied for his first full time job coming out of college, he listed on his resume and all the forms he had to fill out the jobs he had while he was in college. Then suddenly he got a call from a place he worked while he was in high school, telling him they just got a call from the company he applied to asking about his work history.
Depending on the type of work being done, they sometimes dig rather deep.
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