为什么在 COVID-19 期间进行背景调查需要这么长时间？大流行预防措施正在影响法院、机动车辆部门、药物筛选实验室、学校和其他背景调查信息来源，导致许多地方出现延误。
获取有关 COVID-19 背景检查延迟的常见问题的答案，并了解如何针对当今的挑战调整您的筛查流程。
COVID-19 大流行正在改变我们进行就业背景调查的方式。世界各地的就地庇护令让人们呆在家里，影响了您的招聘、面试和背景调查流程，以及许多其他“正常”招聘活动。在雇用候选人之前，您不再能够与他们面对面会面，这凸显了完成背景调查的重要性。同时，广泛的关闭可能会限制我们获取必要信息的能力，例如法庭文件和教育记录。
尽管许多公司减少了招聘或实施了招聘冻结，但仍有一些组织照常招聘——在某些行业，许多公司甚至还在增加招聘。让人们重返工作岗位至关重要，GoodHire 希望让客户放心，我们已全面投入运营，随时准备帮助您满足您的筛查需求，无论他们在此期间可能遇到什么问题。得益于我们的专有平台、托管数据和对数字记录的即时访问，我们目前正在美国近 90% 的司法管辖区进行背景调查。
我们了解你们中的许多人对您的就业筛选计划有疑问和疑虑。在这里，我们汇总了常见问题，以解决您的疑虑并帮助您调整背景筛查计划以应对当今的挑战。
有关法庭和药物实验室关闭的最新信息，请访问帮助中心的 GoodHire 的 COVID-19 更新页面。
强制关闭如何影响就业背景调查？
全球就地避难令影响了大多数组织和许多通常要求人们离开家的流程，因此影响了一些背景调查流程并造成延误。
目前，38% 的县因关闭而受到某种程度的影响，15% 的县完全关闭，无法访问记录。
县刑事检查：许多县数据库已数字化，因此周转时间不受影响；但是，一些县法院需要人工交互才能访问记录。这意味着我们仍然可以通过电话、邮件、传真或其他在线资源访问其中许多法院的数据，但存在一些延迟。一些法院已完全关闭，在重新开放之前无法进入。您可以参考我们的帮助中心了解当前国内法院的延误和关闭情况。
机动车记录 (MVR) 检查：除宾夕法尼亚州外，MVR 检查目前没有出现延误。宾夕法尼亚州交通部无限期关闭。MVR 订单需要通过他们的电子系统，这需要 PennDOT 访问代码。请访问我们的帮助中心了解详细说明。
药物筛查：大多数药物筛查实验室仍然开放，尽管由于社会疏远问题或当地法律，有些实验室已经关闭。如果该角色被认为是非必要职位，则就地庇护令可能会阻止候选人进入实验室。您可以参考我们的帮助中心了解当前临时关闭的药物实验室，或使用 GoodHire 应用程序中的药物实验室关闭小部件。
更新：一些实验室可能要求考生在进入时通过非接触式额头温度检查，并且必须佩戴口罩或面罩，例如头巾、围巾或手工口罩。体温高于 100.3 或未戴口罩的考生可能会因不符合这些新要求而被拒之门外。请与您的所有候选人分享此信息，并查看我们的帮助中心了解更多信息。教育和就业验证：大多数教育验证没有延迟；但是，如果一个机构关闭并且不属于国家学生信息交换所数据库的一部分，则可能会延迟或无法完成检查。对于就业验证，许多检查可以在线或通过数字来源完成；但是，一些公司已关闭，尚未将资源转移给在家工作的员工，这可能会导致延误。
国际检查： COVID-19 现已在 100 多个国家/地区得到确认。您可以参考我们的帮助中心，了解延迟国际检查的国家/地区列表。
如果由于法院关闭而无法完成筛查，我该怎么办？
我们看到雇主转向的一种选择是临时招聘。也就是说，即使背景调查尚未完成处理，现在也要招聘。这可能不适用于所有雇主和行业，尤其是那些有特定法规或合同要求规定必须如何进行背景调查的雇主和行业。（与往常一样，请务必咨询您的法律顾问。）
如果您正在招聘受监管的职位，您可以就特殊情况的任何例外情况向您的监管机构寻求指导。例如，联邦汽车运输安全管理局 (FMSCA) 发布了一项临时豁免，允许执照在 2020 年 3 月 1 日或之后到期的 CDL 司机继续驾驶商用车辆。此豁免可能不适用于所有情况，因此请务必与您的法律顾问一起审查以确保它适用于您。
如果您与您的客户群有合同要求，需要在员工开始工作之前进行筛选，您需要与您的法律顾问审查您的合同。考虑到前所未有的情况，确定您的筛选要求是否有任何灵活性。
如果您不在受监管的行业，并且您没有需要筛选的合同义务，您可能在招聘实践中拥有更大的灵活性，并且您可以临时雇用。
您还可以决定将某些检查优先于其他检查。例如，一些雇主可能会选择在此期间放弃就业或教育验证。
如果出现延迟，我是否需要再次通过第三方处理背景调查请求，还是该请求会一直保留到法院重新开庭？
可以完成检查之前，背景检查请求将一直保留。
第三方的平台包括内置警报，当结果准备好时会自动通知您。我们已经看到一些法院已经重新开放。
临时聘用的风险是什么？
如果您决定临时雇用，这可能会给您的人力资源团队带来挑战。作为最佳实践，您应该在就业筛选政策中概述您的临时招聘政策和筛选实践的其他变化，以确保所有员工的待遇一致。特别是，您需要制定计划，以处理在员工已经开始工作后在背景调查中发现刑事定罪的案件。
请记住，如《公平信用报告法》（FCRA）所述，联邦不利行动程序仍然适用。在采取最终不利行动之前（或更长，取决于您的司法管辖区），必须向员工发送不利行动前通知，等待期为五个工作日。这意味着，如果您决定根据背景调查的结果解雇员工，您需要在发送初始不利行动前通知后等待五个工作日才能真正解雇员工。这可能会变得很尴尬，因此制定计划很重要。
在我们已经做出招聘决定后，当法院重新开庭并返回结果时会发生什么？
如果您已经决定不雇用，则无需对延迟结果采取任何行动，因为您已经遵循了 FCRA 概述的不利行动流程。
如果您已经雇用，但根据背景调查结果决定解雇员工，您需要启动不利行动流程。您是否允许员工在等待期间继续工作是您、您的人力资源领导和您的法律顾问的问题。轻装上阵。任何对员工产生不利影响的雇佣条件变化——例如休无薪假——本身可能被视为不利行为，这可能被解释为违反了五个工作日的等待期。
如果您在雇用他们后发现他们有犯罪记录，您也可以决定继续雇用他们。只需确保这与您的筛选政策一致，以便在大流行之前和现在都平等对待所有候选人和员工。如果该罪行在大流行之前被取消资格，您将需要与您的法律顾问讨论让该人继续受雇的选择。如果您没有对在大流行期间雇用的具有相同或类似罪行的员工采取同样的措施，那么您可能很难为您取消大流行之前雇用的候选人资格的决定辩护。
我是否需要为候选人和员工提供不同的不利行动前和不利行动信？
这取决于您的不利行动通知的语言。不利行动信可能会提及撤回工作邀请，而不是终止已经开始工作的员工。您应该查看您的不利行动信函，以确保语言足够笼统以涵盖这两种情况，或者为员工创建单独的信函，以反映终止而不是撤销要约。
我必须更新我的就业筛选政策吗？
如果您的背景筛选流程因业务面临的新挑战和变化而发生变化，那么现在是更新您的就业筛选政策的最佳时机。您的政策应概述您在整个组织中的筛查实践，并应适用于所有员工。但是，背景调查包的具体性质可能会根据您正在招聘的角色的性质和与该角色相关的责任级别而有所不同。
就业筛选政策应规定：
将进行哪些就业背景调查
重新筛选员工的频率
如何根据特定角色的职责考虑和评估特定罪行
是否在所有司法管辖区进行个性化评估（即使法律没有要求）
您是否允许临时聘用，以及您将如何对待背景调查结果显示有犯罪记录的临时聘用员工
如果您需要更改筛查方式，请务必更新您的筛查政策。无论在何种情况下，最佳做法都是定期审查您的就业筛选政策，并与您的法律顾问一起审查。
我需要更新或更改我们的录取通知书吗？
您可能希望更新您的录取通知书，以反映您的筛查实践因大流行而发生的任何变化。例如，如果您决定临时雇用，您需要确保您的录取通知书清楚地表明，即使背景调查被延迟或即使员工已经在完成处理之前已经开始工作。
我应该启动自我披露程序以了解候选人的犯罪历史吗？
如果无法在合理的时间范围内获取法庭数据，需要快速招聘的雇主可能会转向此选项。请谨慎使用，因为这种方法有其自身的风险。
如果您决定要求候选人自我披露犯罪记录，最好只有在获得有条件的工作邀请后才这样做。这对于避免违反任何可能禁止在此之前对犯罪历史进行调查的禁令或公平机会雇佣法非常重要。在某些司法管辖区，雇主不得询问具体的低级犯罪或发生在 7 年以上的罪行。
如果您决定采用这种方法，请咨询您的法律顾问。您需要确保自己合规，特别是如果您的候选人居住或工作的司法管辖区有禁止入内或其他州或地方筛选法。
药物筛选实验室安全吗？他们是否也在测试 COVID-19？
人们不想去进行 COVID-19 测试的实验室是可以理解的。但是，我们已经与我们的药物筛选实验室合作伙伴确认，COVID-19 收集正在医院和特殊收集点进行，而不是在任何 Quest 或 LabCorp 患者服务中心。此外，目前没有在任何 Quest 或 LabCorp 职业工作场所测试实验室进行 COVID-19 测试。
除了在药物筛选实验室提交样本之外，还有其他方法吗？
是的。如果您的工作场所仍然开放，可以将即时唾液套件发送到您的工作场所。只需在现场收集标本，然后将它们送到实验室。有关详细信息，请联系我们的支持团队。
休假的员工需要重新筛选吗？
休假本质上是无薪休假的另一个词，因此休假的员工不会被您的公司解雇。一般来说，在大多数情况下，无论有薪还是无薪，雇主都不会重新筛选休假回来的员工。但是，筛查实践可能会根据您自己的筛查政策和您的监管或合同义务而有所不同。如果您决定在休假的员工重返工作岗位后对其进行重新筛选，请务必遵守 FCRA 的披露和授权要求，就像对任何申请人或员工背景调查一样。
编者按：本文于4月30日更新，有以下问答。
我们正在重新雇用裁员后的员工。我们需要重做整个背景调查过程吗？
这是一项商业决策，可能取决于您的行业和您正在填补的职位，并且可能会考虑自裁员以来已经过去了多长时间等因素。以前运行的某些搜索，例如教育和就业验证、专业执照验证或参考资料不需要重新运行第二次，因为这些信息不会随着时间的推移而改变。但是，如果贵公司的政策是对新员工进行就业前背景调查，那么最好对所有新员工实施这些检查，无论他们以前是否受雇于贵公司。
我们向候选人提出了要约，背景调查已于 1 月完成。现在，由于 COVID-19，我们冻结了招聘。背景和药物筛选对（最佳实践）有益多长时间？
虽然背景调查结果不会“过期”，但结果可能不再准确，例如，如果该人在被筛选和开始成为员工之间犯了罪。最佳做法是在贵公司的就业筛选政策中包含一定天数，如果候选人在该时间范围内没有加入公司，您将重新筛选候选人（30-90 天是最佳做法）。
我可以要求我的员工在重返工作岗位之前接受 COVID-19 筛查吗？这是歧视还是违法？
4 月 23 日，EEOC 更新了其 COVID-19 指南，明确要求进行必要的测试，因为它符合业务需要并直接影响工作场所的安全。虽然雇主为 COVID-19“重返工作岗位”测试付费是最佳做法，但截至 2020 年 4 月 30 日，没有明确禁止将这笔费用转嫁给员工或候选人。但是，EEOC 指南并未否定州一级现行的就业法。因此，检查您所在州的法律以确定您是否能够合法地将 COVID-19 检测费用转嫁给您的申请人或雇员至关重要，因为有些州禁止雇主将药物筛查或背景调查的费用转嫁给雇员或候选人。
对于总部位于加利福尼亚的雇主而言，值得注意的是，任何医疗信息的收集，包括 COVID-19 测试的结果，都会触发 CCPA 关于通知和数据保留的义务。请咨询您的法律顾问以获取有关数据收集、医疗档案维护以及通知将接受测试的员工和候选人的更多信息。
将雇员安置在雇主工作场所的临时人员配备机构或承包商是否可以在得知雇员患有 COVID-19 时通知雇主？
EEOC 表示这是可以接受的，因为雇主可能需要确定该员工是否与工作场所的任何人有过接触
如果对候选人进行了检查，他们被录用，然后他们通知我们他们感染了 COVID-19，会发生什么？
根据CDC 指南，当申请人出现症状或 COVID-19 检测呈阳性时，雇主可以推迟开始日期或撤回工作机会。
最后的想法：背景调查比以往任何时候都更重要
虽然一小部分背景调查可能会遇到延误，但没有理由放弃这一过程。事实上，随着我们适应远程操作，背景调查比以往任何时候都更加重要。我们可能没有机会亲自会见候选人和新员工，而背景调查是彻底审查新团队成员的一种手段。这对于在法律上或合同上有义务进行背景调查的雇主，或者对于那些希望降低疏忽招聘索赔风险的雇主来说尤其重要。
Get answers to frequently asked questions about COVID-19 background check delays and learn how to adjust your screening process for today’s challenges.
The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the way we approach employment background checks. Shelter-in-place orders across the world are keeping people at home, impacting your recruiting, interview, and background check processes, among many other “normal” hiring activities. You’re no longer able to meet candidates face-to-face before hiring them, underscoring the importance of completing background checks. At the same time, widespread closures may limit our ability to access necessary information like court documents and education records.
While many companies have reduced hiring or implemented a hiring freeze, there are organizations hiring as usual — and in some industries, many are even ramping up. Getting people back to work is critical, and GoodHire wants to reassure customers that we’re fully operational and ready to help you with your screening needs, whatever they may be during this time. We are currently fulfilling background screenings in nearly 90% of U.S. jurisdictions, thanks to our proprietary platform, hosted data, and instant access to digital records.
We understand that many of you have questions and concerns about your employment screening program. Here, we’ve compiled frequently asked questions to address your concerns and help you adapt your background screening program to meet today’s challenges.
For the most up-to-date information on court and drug lab closures, please visit GoodHire’s COVID-19 Updates page in the Help Center.
How are mandated closures impacting employment background checks?
Global shelter-in-place orders have impacted most organizations and many processes that typically require people to leave the house, and therefore are impacting some background check processes and causing delays.
At this time, 38% of all counties are impacted in some way due to closures, and 15% of counties are completely closed whereby records cannot be accessed.
County criminal checks: Many county databases are digitized and so turnaround times are not affected; however, a number of county courts require a human interaction in order to access the records. This means we can still get access to the data for many of those courts through phone, mail, fax, or other online sources, but there are some delays. Some courts are fully closed and there is no way to get access until they reopen. You may reference our Help Center for current domestic court delays and closures.
Motor vehicle record (MVR) checks: With the exception of Pennsylvania, MVR checks are not experiencing delays at this time. Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation is closed indefinitely. MVR orders need to go through their electronic system, which requires a PennDOT access code. Please visit our Help Center for detailed instructions.
Drug screening: Most drug screening labs are still open, although some are closed due to social distancing concerns or local laws. Shelter-in-place orders may preclude candidates from going into a lab if the role is considered a nonessential position. You may reference our Help Center for current temporary drug lab closures, or use the drug lab closings widget in the GoodHire app.
Update: Some labs may require candidates, upon entry, to pass a non-contact forehead temperature check and must wear a mask or face covering such as a bandana, scarf, or handmade mask. Candidates with a temperature greater than 100.3 or without a mask may be turned away for not meeting these new requirements. Please share this with all of your candidates, and check our Help Center for additional information.Education and employment verifications: Most education verifications are not experiencing delays; however, if an institution is closed and not part of the National Student Clearinghouse database, there may be a delay or inability to complete the check. For employment verifications, many checks can be completed online or through a digital source; however, some companies are closed and have not yet shifted resources to work-at-home employees, which may cause delays.
International checks: COVID-19 has now been confirmed in over 100 countries. You may reference our Help Center for a list of countries with delayed international checks.
What do I do if a screening cannot be completed due to a court closure?
One option we’ve seen employers turn to is provisional hiring. That is, hiring now even though the background check hasn’t finished processing yet. This may not be possible for all employers and industries, particularly those with specific regulatory or contractual requirements that dictate how background checks must be conducted. (As always, be sure to check with your legal counsel.)
If you’re hiring for a regulated position, you can seek guidance from your regulatory agency regarding any exceptions for the extraordinary circumstances. For example, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA) issued a temporary waiver that permits CDL drivers whose licenses expire on or after March 1, 2020, to continue to drive commercial vehicles. This waiver may not apply in all instances, so it’s important to review this with your legal counsel to ensure it applies to you.
If you have contractual requirements with your customer base that require screening before an employee can begin to work, you’ll need to review your contracts with your legal counsel. Determine if you have any flexibility with your screening requirements given the highly unprecedented circumstances.
If you’re not in a regulated industry and you don’t have contractual obligations requiring screening, you may have more flexibility in your hiring practices and you may be able to hire provisionally.
You may also decide to prioritize certain checks over others. For example, some employers may choose to forgo employment or education verifications during this time.
If there’s a delay, do I need to process the background check request with GoodHire again or will the request hold until the court reopens?
The background check request will hold until GoodHire can complete the check. GoodHire’s platform includes built-in alerts that will automatically notify you when results are ready. We are seeing some courts reopening already.
What are the risks of provisional hiring?
If you decide to hire provisionally, this may present challenges for your HR team. As a best practice, you should outline your provisional hiring policy and other changes to your screening practices in your employment screening policy to ensure consistent treatment of all employees. In particular, you need to have a plan for how you will handle cases where criminal convictions are revealed in a background check after the employee has already started working.
Keep in mind, the federal adverse action process still applies, as outlined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). A pre-adverse action notice must be sent to the employee with a five business day waiting period before final adverse action can be taken (or longer, depending on your jurisdiction). This means that if you decide to terminate an employee based on the results of the background check, you’ll need to wait five business days after sending the initial pre-adverse action notice before actually terminating the employee. This could get awkward, so it’s important to have a plan.
What happens when courts reopen and results come back after we’ve already made hiring decisions?
If you’ve already decided not to hire, you won’t need to take any action on the delayed results because you would have already followed the adverse action process as outlined by the FCRA.
If you’ve already hired, but decide to terminate an employee based on the background check results, you’ll need to initiate the adverse action process. Whether you allow the employee to continue to work during the waiting period is a question for you, your HR leadership, and your legal counsel. Tread lightly. Any change in employment conditions that adversely affects the employee — such as being put on unpaid leave — may be considered to be an adverse action in itself, which could be interpreted as a violation of the five business day waiting period.
You may also decide to continue to employ the individual if you find they have a criminal history after you’ve hired them. Just make sure this is consistent with your screening policy so all candidates and employees are treated equally — both before the pandemic and now. If the offense would have been disqualifying prior to the pandemic, you’ll want to discuss the choice to keep the individual employed with your legal counsel. It could be difficult to defend your decision to disqualify a candidate hired prior to the pandemic if you didn’t do the same for an employee hired during the pandemic with the same or similar offense.
Do I need different pre-adverse action and adverse action letters for candidates and employees?
This depends on the language of your adverse action notices. Adverse action letters may reference withdrawing an offer of employment rather than terminating an employee who has already started working. You should review your adverse action letters to be sure that the language is general enough to encompass both cases, or create a separate letter for employees that reflects termination rather than rescinding an offer.
Do I have to update my employment screening policy?
If your background screening process is changing in light of new challenges and changes facing your business, now is the perfect time to update your employment screening policy. Your policy should outline your screening practices across your organization, and should apply to all employees. However, the specific nature of the background check packages may be differentiated based on the nature of the roles you’re hiring for and the responsibility level associated with the role.
An employment screening policy should lay out:
Which employment background checks will be conducted
How frequently employees will be re-screened
How particular offenses will be considered and evaluated in light of the responsibilities of a particular role
Whether individualized assessments are conducted across all jurisdictions (even when not required by law)
Whether you allow provisional hiring, and how you will treat provisionally-hired employees whose background check results show criminal history
If you need to change the way you screen, be sure to update your screening policy. Regardless of the circumstances, it’s a best practice to conduct regular reviews of your employment screening policy, and review it with your legal counsel.
Do I need to update or change our offer letter?
You may wish to update your offer letter to reflect any changes in your screening practices due to the pandemic. For example, if you decide to hire provisionally, you’ll want to make sure that your offer letter clearly states that the offer is still contingent on the results of the background check, even if the background check is delayed or even if the employee has already started to work before it is finished processing.
Should I initiate a self-disclosure process to learn about a candidate’s criminal history?
Employers who need to hire quickly may turn to this option when it’s not feasible to get court data within a reasonable timeframe. Use caution, as this approach comes with its own risks.
If you decide to ask candidates to self-disclose criminal history, it’s a best practice to do so only after a conditional offer of employment has been made. This is important to avoid violating any ban-the-box or fair chance hiring laws that may prohibit an inquiry into criminal history before this time. In certain jurisdictions, employers may not inquire about specific low-level crimes or offenses that occurred more than seven years ago.
Consult with your legal counsel if you decide to take this approach. You will want to ensure you’re compliant, particularly if your candidate lives or works in a jurisdiction with ban-the-box or other state or local screening laws.
Are drug screening labs safe? Are they also testing for COVID-19?
It’s understandable that people don’t want to go to a lab where COVID-19 tests are being conducted. However, we’ve confirmed with our drug screening lab partners that COVID-19 collections are being done at hospitals and special collection sites, not at any Quest or LabCorp Patient Service Center. Further, COVID-19 testing is not currently being done at any Quest or LabCorp Occupational Workplace Testing Lab.
Are there alternatives to submitting a specimen at a drug screening lab?
Yes. If your workplace is still open, there are instant saliva kits available that can be sent to your workplace. Simply collect the specimens onsite, and send them to the labs. Contact our support team for details.
Do furloughed employees need to be rescreened?
Furlough is essentially another word for unpaid leave, and therefore furloughed employees are not terminated from employment with your company. Generally speaking, it’s not typical for employers to rescreen employees coming back from leave in most circumstances, whether paid or unpaid. However, screening practices may vary based on your own screening policy and your regulatory or contractual obligations. If you decide to rescreen furloughed employees after they return to work, make sure to follow FCRA disclosure and authorization requirements as you would with any applicant or employee background check.
Editor’s note: This article was updated on April 30th with the following questions and answers.
We are rehiring employees post layoff. Do we need to redo the entire background check process?
This is a business decision and may depend on your industry and the positions you’re filling, and factors such as how much time has passed since the layoff occurred may be taken into consideration. Some searches previously run, such as education and employment verifications, professional license verifications, or references would not need to be re-run a second time, as that information is not subject to change over time. However, if it is your company’s policy to conduct pre-employment background checks on new hires, then it is a good idea to implement these checks on all new hires, regardless of whether they were previously employed by your company.
We made an offer to a candidate and the background check was completed in January. Now, due to COVID-19, we have a hiring freeze. How long is a background and drug screening good for (best practices)?
While background check results do not “expire”, it is possible for the results to no longer be accurate, for example, if the person committed an offense between the time they were screened and when they start as an employee. It is a best practice to include in your company’s employment screening policy a set number of days that you will re-screen a candidate if he or she is not onboarded with the company during that time frame (between 30-90 days is a best practice).
Can I require my employees to be screened for COVID-19 prior to returning to work? Is that discriminatory or illegal?
On April 23, the EEOC updated its COVID-19 guidance clarifying that required testing is permissible because it is consistent with business necessity and directly impacts workplace safety. While it is a best practice for employers to pay for COVID-19 “return to work” testing, there is no clear prohibition in place as of April 30, 2020, against passing this cost to employees or candidates. However, EEOC guidance does not negate current employment laws in place at the state level. Therefore, it’s critical to check your state laws to determine if you are legally able to pass the cost of COVID-19 testing on to your applicants or employees, as some states prohibit employers from passing the costs of a drug screen or background check to an employee or candidate.
Worth noting for California-based employers is that any collection of medical information, including results of COVID-19 tests, triggers CCPA obligations around notice and data retention. Please consult your counsel for more information about data collection, medical file maintenance, and notice to employees and candidates that will be tested.
May a temporary staffing agency or a contractor that places an employee in an employer’s workplace notify the employer if it learns the employee has COVID-19?
The EEOC has stated this is acceptable because the employer may need to determine if this employee had contact with anyone in the workplace
What happens if a check completes on a candidate, and they are hired, and then they inform us they have COVID-19?
According to CDC guidance, employers may either delay the start date or withdraw a job offer when an applicant displays symptoms or tests positive for COVID-19.
5 Ways to Speed Up the Background Check Process with GoodHire
When you need to hire quickly, GoodHire customers can take advantage of our automated capabilities to save time. These include:
Applicant Tracking System (ATS) integrations: There’s no need to waste time switching between your different HR tech platforms. Initiate background checks from within your ATS to streamline your process and save time.
Digital consent: You can’t begin the background check until you have the candidate’s consent, but you may not be able to get it in person. A digital, mobile-optimized consent form helps you quickly get your candidate’s information and consent to kick off the background check process.
Adjudication and filtering rules: Expedite the review of background check results with custom filtering and adjudication rules, which allow you to decide which records matter most to your business (and which don’t). Automated adjudication in particular helps larger employers hire quickly because it automates much of the background check review process.
Built-in adverse action workflow: Adverse action guidelines can vary by jurisdiction, and require a waiting period of at least five business days before pre-adverse action and adverse action notices can be sent. Keep your process moving with built-in compliance that takes local laws into account, and automatic notifications when adverse action steps can be taken legally.
Automated status notifications: Delays can happen, and you and your candidates want to be kept up-to-date on the status of your background checks. Automated status notifications for employers and candidates ensure everyone can see the current status, without you needing to log in and manually check updates.
Final Thoughts: Background Checks Are More Important Than Ever
While a small percentage of background checks may experience delays, it’s no cause to abandon the process. In fact, background checks are more important than ever as we adapt to remote operations. We may not have the opportunity to meet candidates and new employees in person, and background checks are a means to thoroughly vet new team members. This is particularly important for employers that are legally or contractually obligated to conduct background checks, or for those who wish to mitigate the risk of negligent hiring claims.
You can continue to safely and effectively screen all job candidates and employees, even when working remotely during these challenging times. GoodHire is here to support your hiring and screening efforts, and to provide reliable, accurate background checks. Let us know how we can help — please reach out to our Customer Support team with any questions, or contact your Customer Success representative.
