The screening program toolkit

1. Purpose and scope

This policy governs how [Company] obtains and uses background information about applicants, employees and contingent workers. It applies to every hiring manager, every recruiter and every third party who screens on our behalf, in every location where we hire.

It is written to satisfy the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the state and local law that applies to each position. Where a location imposes a requirement this policy does not describe, the location requirement governs and this policy is amended rather than waived.

2. Roles and responsibilities

3. Positions screened, and at what point

The background check is ordered only after a conditional offer has been made and accepted, unless a location requires a later point. The criminal history question does not appear on the application form.

4. Disclosure and authorization

• The applicant receives a standalone disclosure in a document that contains nothing else. No liability release, no application language, no state-law notice that is not a disclosure.
• The disclosure is clear and conspicuous, and a copy of it is given to the applicant to keep.
• The authorization is a separate signature, on the same page if we choose, but distinguishable from the disclosure.
• The applicant may request a copy of any report we obtain, and we provide it without charge.
• Documents are delivered in the language the applicant reads, where required by location.

5. Ordering and provider management

• Checks are ordered only through the approved provider, so that every report arrives with its sources and verification dates attached.
• Every order carries the certification the provider requires under the statute, signed by an authorized representative.
• Provider accuracy, dispute handling and turnaround are reviewed at the cadence in section 11, and the review is recorded.
• A report missing a source or a verification date is returned rather than adjudicated.

6. Review and adjudication

Reports are reviewed against the adjudication matrix, which triages records into clearly relevant, clearly irrelevant, and requiring individual assessment. A record that coincides with a matrix exclusion is not thereby a decision: the matrix narrows what needs reasoning, it does not replace it.

Where the record is relevant to the duties of the position, the reviewer completes the individualized assessment worksheet. The assessment is written before the decision is communicated, in every case, whether or not the location requires it in writing.

7. Notice sequence before a decision becomes final

1. The applicant receives a pre-adverse action notice, a copy of the report, and a written description of their rights.
2. The position stays open. The applicant is given the longer of our standard wait or any wait the applicable location requires, counted from receipt.
3. Where the applicable location requires a fair chance notice and a written assessment, those go with the same communication, and the applicant is told what the assessment concluded and what they may respond to.
4. If the applicant disputes the accuracy of the report, the count restarts when we send the corrected information, and the applicant is given the additional time the location allows.
5. If the applicant provides information about the circumstances, the reviewer records what it was and what difference it made before deciding.

8. The final notice

If we decide against the applicant, we send a final notice that names the screening provider, gives its address and telephone number, states that the provider did not make the decision and cannot explain it, and states the applicant's right to dispute and to a free copy of the report.

9. Retention and destruction

Records are retained and destroyed according to the retention schedule, which is published alongside this policy. Records subject to a legal hold are excluded from destruction until the hold is lifted in writing.

10. Accuracy and disputes

• An applicant may dispute the accuracy or completeness of any information in a report, directly with the provider.
• Where a dispute is received by us rather than the provider, it is forwarded within one business day and the applicant is told it has been forwarded.
• No decision is made final while a dispute is open, except where the location permits it and the grounds are recorded.

11. Program review

12. Version control

Owner

[Role, not name, so the policy survives turnover]

Approved by

[Name and role]

Effective date

[Date]

Last reviewed

[Date]

Next review due

[Date, and this date is what makes section 11 real]

How to use this matrix

The matrix answers one question: does this record need an individualized assessment before we can decide? It does not answer whether the applicant gets the job.

Step 1: what the record actually is

Take the category from the verified record, not from the applicant's description and not from a summary in the report. An arrest with no conviction is not a conviction, and a deferred adjudication that was successfully completed is not a conviction in most jurisdictions. Where the disposition is unclear, the record goes to assessment rather than to a band.

Step 2: role sensitivity

Step 3: time elapsed

Time is measured from the later of the date of the offense and the date the sentence was completed, including any period of supervision. A record within a supervision period is not complete, and the completion date is not yet known.

Step 4: the matrix

Each cell states the default treatment. Where a cell says assess, the reviewer completes the worksheet and the outcome is genuinely open. Where a cell says exclude, the record is not relied on, and the reason is recorded.

Step 5: escalation

• Any record involving a pending charge for a violent offense goes to the program owner before a decision is communicated.
• Any record where the applicant has supplied information that changes the factual basis goes back to the reviewer with the applicant's material attached.
• Any record where the reviewer cannot state the role nexus in one sentence goes to assessment rather than to exclusion.
• Any decision to depart from the matrix is recorded with the reason, and departures are reviewed quarterly.

What this matrix does not do

• It does not set a waiting period. The notice sequence and its timing are in the policy and in the applicable location law.
• It does not authorize reliance on a record the location bars us from considering.
• It does not authorize reliance on an arrest standing alone, in any band, anywhere.
• It does not decide anything. Every cell that says assess is a question, and the worksheet is where it gets answered.

When this is required

Complete this worksheet whenever a criminal record is going to be considered in a decision, in every location. Several jurisdictions require it in writing. We complete it everywhere, both because the federal exposure exists everywhere and because a program that only reasons in the places that compel it produces two standards and one of them is indefensible.

Section 1: the record

Applicant

 

Requisition or position

 

Record relied on

Offense, court, case number, date

Disposition

Conviction, pending, non-conviction, unknown

Date of offense

 

Date sentence completed

Including supervision. If not complete, say so.

Source and date verified

From the report. A record without this does not proceed.

Summary of the conduct

What the applicant was convicted of, in plain terms. Not the statutory citation alone.

Section 2: the position

Duties that bear on this record

Name them. If none can be named, the assessment ends here.

Sensitivity level

From the adjudication matrix

Supervision and access

Unsupervised contact, funds, data, driving, none

Role nexus

One sentence, connecting the conduct to those duties

Section 3: the factors

Complete each row with the actual answer. A row left at yes or no without a sentence is not an assessment.

Section 4: what the applicant provided

Record what the applicant said, in their terms, including anything they provided after the notice. This section is why the sequence has a waiting period in it, and a blank here is a question a claimant will ask.

Information provided

Summarize it. Attach it.

Accuracy dispute raised

Yes or no, and the outcome

Rehabilitation or context

Employment since, education, treatment, references, restitution

What difference it made

Answer this. If it made none, say so and say why.

Section 5: the reasoning

State the conclusion and the reasons for it in sentences a reader who was not involved can follow. Address the factors above, address what the applicant provided, and reach a decision that could have gone the other way. A reviewer who cannot write this paragraph has not made an individualized assessment, and the honest response is to send the file to someone who can.

[Reasoning]

Section 6: decision and sign-off

Decision

Proceed, proceed with conditions, or withdraw the offer

Conditions, if any

E.g. a re-check at 12 months, a restriction on duties

Reviewer

Name and role

Date

 

Second reviewer, where required

Name, role and date

Date notice sequence began

 

What drives these periods

Four things, and the longest one wins in each row.

• The FCRA limitation period. A claim may be brought up to two years after discovery and no more than five years after the violation, which is the outer bound on records that would defend a notice sequence.
• The EEOC recordkeeping rule. Employment records, including records about a personnel action, are kept for one year from the date of the record or the action, whichever is later, and for the life of any charge that is filed.
• Federal contractor obligations, where they apply. Employment records for contractors are generally kept for two years.
• State limitation periods and state recordkeeping rules, which can be longer than any of the above and which are checked per state rather than assumed.

The schedule

Where the schedule and a state rule disagree

Where a state requires a longer period, the state period governs and the row above is extended for that state. Where a state requires a shorter period for a category of record, we do not shorten below the federal period unless counsel has confirmed the state rule displaces it, because a state rule that requires destruction cannot be read as a license to destroy a record the applicant may still need.

Legal hold

• A hold applies to everything in the applicant's file and to the assessment, and it survives any period in this schedule.
• Holds are lifted in writing by the person who set them, and the lift is recorded against the file.
• Destruction that runs on a schedule while a hold is unknown is the failure this section exists to prevent, which is why the program owner confirms holds before each destruction run.

Destruction

• Paper records are shredded, cross-cut, and the destruction is certified by the vendor.
• Electronic records are deleted from live systems and from backups on the backup rotation, and the deletion is logged with the date, the record type and the authority for the action.
• Records held by a screening provider are covered by the contract, which must require destruction on the same schedule and must say what the provider does at the end of the term.
• No consumer report information is disposed of in a way that leaves it readable, which is the requirement the Disposal Rule imposes.

Document inventory

The following records exist for a single hire. This list is the checklist for a destruction run and for a response to a claim, and the two uses are the reason it is exhaustive rather than convenient.

1. The job requisition and the conditional offer
2. The signed disclosure and authorization
3. The provider certification signed by us
4. The consumer report as received, with sources and verification dates
5. Proof of delivery of the pre-adverse packet
6. The fair chance notice and written assessment, where required
7. Any dispute correspondence from the applicant
8. The corrected report, where a dispute produced one
9. The completed individualized assessment worksheet
10. Proof of delivery of the final notice
11. The decision record on the requisition

How to use these

These are skeletons, not final text. Each one lists the elements that must be present for the notice to do its job. Change the wording freely. Do not remove an element, and do not merge two notices into one unless both sets of elements survive the merge, which is the only condition on which a combined notice is safe.

Notice 1: pre-adverse action notice

Sent before a decision becomes final, when a report may lead to an adverse decision. Accompany it with the report and the Summary of Consumer Rights.

[Date]. Dear [Applicant name]. We are considering taking adverse action on your application for [position] based in whole or in part on information in a consumer report we obtained about you. A copy of that report is enclosed, together with a written summary of your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The report was furnished by [provider name], [address], [telephone]. Before we make a final decision, you have the right to review the report and to dispute with the provider the accuracy or completeness of anything in it. If you believe any information is inaccurate, you may contact the provider directly using the contact details above. [Where a location requires it: Our written assessment of the information is enclosed. You may respond to it, and you may provide any information you would like us to consider, including information about the circumstances, by [date]. The position will remain open until that date.] You may also contact [us] at [contact] with any questions.

• Required: a copy of the report
• Required: the Summary of Consumer Rights
• Required: the provider's name, address and telephone number
• Required: the applicant's right to dispute
• Required where a location says so: the written assessment and a response deadline

Notice 2: adverse action notice

Sent after the final decision, and after the waiting period has run. This is a separate notice from Notice 1 and is owed whether or not the applicant responded.

[Date]. Dear [Applicant name]. After consideration, we have decided not to [proceed with your application / continue your employment] for [position]. This decision was based in whole or in part on information contained in a consumer report furnished by [provider name], [address], [telephone number]. The provider did not make this decision and cannot give you the reasons for it. You have the right to obtain a free copy of the report from the provider within sixty days, and the right to dispute with the provider the accuracy or completeness of any information in it. [Where the decision was not based on a report, say so and give the actual reason, since a notice that names a report that was not the basis is a false statement.] You may contact [us] at [contact] with any questions.

• Required: the provider's name, address and telephone number
• Required: a statement that the provider did not make the decision
• Required: the right to a free copy of the report within sixty days
• Required: the right to dispute with the provider
• Required: where no report was the basis, that fact stated plainly rather than left out

Notice 3: fair chance rider

Attached to Notice 1 where a state or local law requires an individualized assessment and a response window. It is a rider on the pre-adverse notice, not a substitute for it and not a substitute for Notice 2.

We have carried out an individualized assessment of the information in your background check against the duties of [position]. The information relied on is [offense, court, date, disposition]. Our assessment considered the nature and gravity of the offense, the time that has passed since it and since the completion of any sentence, and the duties of the position, which are [summary of duties]. Our assessment concluded [conclusion]. You may respond to this assessment. You may provide information about the circumstances, about rehabilitation, about employment or education since, or about anything else you would like us to consider, and we will consider it before making a final decision. You have until [date, which is the longer of our standard period and any period the applicable location requires, counted from the date you receive this notice] to respond. The position will remain open until that date. If you dispute the accuracy of the information, tell us or the provider, and the period will be extended by [additional period]. If you would like help understanding this notice, contact [contact].

• Required: the specific record relied on
• Required: the duties it was assessed against
• Required: the conclusion, stated rather than implied
• Required: the response deadline, counted from receipt
• Required: a statement that the position stays open
• Required where the location says so: the extension if accuracy is disputed

Notice 4: disclosure and authorization

Not a letter. A standalone document, signed before any check is ordered. The single most litigated document in this area, and almost every loss is a matter of what else was on the page.

• The disclosure contains nothing except the disclosure. No liability release, no waiver, no at-will language, no state notices, no application terms.
• It states that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes, in clear and conspicuous terms.
• It appears as its own document, not as a paragraph inside an application or a handbook acknowledgement.
• The authorization is a separate signature. On the same page is acceptable where it is clearly distinct; inside the disclosure paragraph is not.
• A copy of the disclosure is given to the applicant to keep, and this is recorded.
• Where a state requires its own notice or its own form, it goes in a separate document alongside, not inside the disclosure.

Notice 5: dispute acknowledgement

Sent when a dispute reaches us rather than the provider, or when an applicant responds to a notice with an accuracy challenge.

[Date]. Dear [Applicant name]. We received your message about the accuracy of information in your background check on [date]. We have forwarded it to [provider name] for investigation. The provider will contact you directly. No final decision will be made about your application while the dispute is open. [Where the location requires it: the period for your response has been extended to [date], and the position will remain open until then.] If you do not hear from the provider within [period], contact us at [contact].

• Required: confirmation that the dispute was received and forwarded
• Required: the statement that no final decision will be made while it is open, where that is true
• Required: the extension of the response period, where the location provides for one