As a small business owner, you wear many hats. You’re the creative inspiration behind the vision of your company. You’re the operations manager that keeps goods and services flowing in and out. You’re an accounts payable clerk who gets the bills paid, the payroll clerk who gets the salaries paid, and the CEO who reviews it all and oversees strategic planning for the future. That’s a lot of responsibility, and the variety and challenge may be why you love what you do.
Human resources is one area where your entrepreneurial “sink or swim” attitude may actually get you into hot water. That said, it’s important to acknowledge that some tasks require specific knowledge of laws and regulations. One HR area that requires special knowledge and attention is background checks.
The Importance of Background Checks
Bringing people into your organization requires adherence to the famous adage, “trust but verify.” Your business can’t afford to risk onboarding people who aren’t prepared to do the job at hand or have activities in their lives that may jeopardize your assets and customers. That’s why small business background checks are absolutely essential.
In misguided efforts to save money, many small business owners attempt to complete pre-employment background checks themselves. After all, what’s so hard about checking someone’s background? Can’t you just do a quick internet search and be done?
The Law Makes it Hard
Yes, you can do an internet search. While that method produces flawed, incomplete, and unreliable results, those aren’t actually the biggest problems with DIY background searches. The law is the most important reason small business owners should not do DIY background screens.
Pre-employment background screens are governed by federal, state, and local laws and regulations that are complex and always changing. Staying compliant with these laws takes experience and dedication. Here are a few examples of common pitfalls just to give you a taste of the complexity involved:
- Fair chance and ban-the-box laws. One recent development in background checks is federal and state fair chance laws. These laws govern the timing of when a background check can be requested and what questions a candidate can be asked about their criminal history in interviews and on job applications. For example, in one some states, employers are not allowed to ask anything about criminal history until after the first interview, while others don’t allow it until after a conditional job offer is extended. In other states, failing to hire someone with a criminal record is illegal unless the activity represents a genuine business necessity. Other laws distinguish between convictions and non-convictions. Needless to say, it’s complicated.
- Marijuana testing. Some states have legalized marijuana use, while some states and the federal government have not. In states where marijuana use is legal, many drug testing laws are changing to reflect this change. For example, in some states, it’s illegal for an employer to screen for marijuana use except in safety-sensitive positions.
- Salary history. In some jurisdictions, asking a candidate to provide a salary history is not legal.
- Social media searches. In broad terms, social media searches are legal, but there’s a big BUT. Employers are not allowed to make hiring decisions that discriminate based on gender, religion, race, sexual orientation, nationality, etc. This makes social media searches a minefield for small business employers; if you see something on a candidate’s social media platforms that causes you to hesitate about hiring them, you’ve got to be very certain it doesn’t violate equal employment opportunity laws. And, once you see something, you can’t unsee it.
Get Help
Hopefully, it’s evident that legal background checks require special expertise. Partner with a professional screening agency for all your small business background check needs to make sure you stay on the right side of the law.