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Background Screening Industry News.

 

Background Screening Industry News

 
     

Tenant Screening

Background Screening Industry News - SuperUser Account
Feb 24 2025
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Why is Tenant Screening less important than Employee Screening?

If you’re a landlord or Property Management Company, you certainly wouldn’t agree with the premise of that question. You are probably thinking (maybe from experience) that a bad tenant can cause just as much havoc as a bad employee. Maybe more!

If your goal is to rent or lease to the best prospects, then you need to trust and clearly understand the information reported to you by your provider. That reporting should stand up to any inquiry or scrutiny that can lead to litigation, and give you peace of mind knowing that you had made a truly informed decision within the guidelines of the law.

The Risks of Instant Automated Online Background Checks

Many landlords use instant fully automated online background check services for what initially may seem very convenient. However, these automated systems often pull information from unverified databases, potentially leading to incomplete or outdated information, false positives due to similar names, missing crucial context about past incidents, including expunged records, and other FCRA compliance failures. These shortcomings can expose landlords to legal liability and discrimination claims. And the cherry on the cake is…who on earth do you call for help or clarification when you need it RIGHT NOW? I mean, have you ever tried calling an automated service like that? If you have, then your frustration level is more than justified!

Understanding FCRA Compliance

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) provides the legal framework for tenant screening and consumer reports. This federal law ensures accuracy, fairness, and privacy of consumer information while protecting applicants from discrimination. FCRA-compliant background check companies must follow strict guidelines about data collection, verification, and dispute resolution.

The Critical Role of FCRA-Compliant Background Checks in Tenant Screening

If choosing the right tenant is one of the most important decisions you'll make for your property investment, then why not work with a strategic partner who guarantees the accuracy, clarity, current and compliant information, so you don’t even have to think about it? How’s that for convenience? Working with a full-service, FCRA-compliant background screening company with live support staff offers crucial advantages that protect both landlords and prospective tenants.

Benefits of Working with a Full-Service and Compliant Background Check Company

These companies should be able to ensure that the information in each report will be verified as:
• Accurate
• Clear
• Current
• Compliant

The perfect scenario - Experts you can count on

Imagine a trained Quality Assurance staff who confirms information against primary sources, ensuring accuracy and proper context. They can distinguish between similar names, confirm current status of cases, and identify expunged records that shouldn't be reported. In other words, you will receive the information you can use to make an informed decision with confidence. As a bonus, if there are any questions or concerns about a report, you can pick up the phone and get instant help from someone who can articulate in perfect English.

Ensuring Your Protection

A qualified Compliant Background Screening company will help ensure proper due diligence reporting by staying current with federal, state, and local laws governing tenant screening, and understanding what information can legally be considered and how it must be reported. This expertise helps protect landlords from compliance violations and litigation.

Dispute Resolution Support

When applicants question report findings, the FCRA has established procedures that professional screening companies take to investigate and resolve disputes. Their staff can explain findings, verify information, and make corrections if needed.

Live Support When You Need It

Full-service background check companies should provide trained staff to answer questions about report interpretation, compliance requirements, screening criteria, dispute resolution, legal updates, and best practices. This human support is invaluable when dealing with complex situations that automated systems aren't equipped to handle.

Making the Right Choice

When selecting a background screening company, prioritize these features:
• FCRA certification and compliance
• Accreditation by industry organizations
• Comprehensive data sources
• Trained support staff
• Clear dispute resolution procedures
• Strong privacy and security measures
• Experience in tenant screening
• Instant “Live” support

Conclusion

Using an FCRA-compliant background screening company with professional staff support helps protect your property investment. While automated instant background checks may seem attractive, they can't match the accuracy, compliance, and support of a full-service screening partner. In the complex world of tenant screening, having trained professionals to guide you through the process isn't just helpful - it's essential for protecting your investment and staying compliant with the law.

"Where are we, and where do we go from here"?

Background Screening Industry News - SuperUser Account
Jan 24 2025
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DDS-Employee Screening Services specializes in protecting businesses throughout the U.S. with respect to their pre- and post- employment due diligence practices. Because of that, we track the U.S. Business economy trends and outlook to determine where the industry growth sectors will be and where our expertise will be needed most.

If we dedicated this issue to business sectors, you would see a very similar steady downward trend in almost every major sector (led by manufacturing) between January 2021 and December 2024. Instead, we’ve chosen to show the economic effect and trends on the average American Consumer and how it affected the retail market for that period.

The manipulated positive economic numbers that were spread through the media between January 2021 until December 2024 sounded good, but the average American knew the reality of how bad inflation and economic uncertainty became and still is, considering forced lifestyle changes. The Covid lockdowns, looting, mandates, and out-of-control inflation caused an economic death blow to the U.S. Consumer.

Most Consumer retail spending is based on disposable income, and the decrease in buying power of disposable income was obvious as retail revenue decreased, and from that, more retail employee layoffs and ultimately store closures throughout the United States, as the examples below show.

In an article by Greenberg & Glusker entitled Nothing More, Nothing Less:

Background Screening Industry News - DDS
May 17 2019
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Ninth Circuit Limits the Acceptable Format of and Language in Background Check Disclosure Forms Given to Job Applicants, they explain…

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) prohibits employers from obtaining consumer reports (which may include credit reports, criminal and civil court records and judgments) on job applicants without appropriate disclosures. California has similar disclosure requirements pursuant to the Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (“ICRAA”). Liability for violations of the FCRA and the ICRAA can be substantial.

Disclosure forms are often simplified to combine the disclosure requirements of both the FCRA and the ICRAA into a single disclosure consent form. However, in the recent case of Gilberg v. California Check Cashing Stores, LLC, 913 F.3d 1169 (9th Cir. 2019), the Ninth Circuit has effectively ended this practice. Instead, employers must now provide two separate forms – one for the FCRA disclosure and one for the ICRAA disclosure.

In Gilberg, the plaintiff was hired after a criminal background report was obtained, but shortly thereafter voluntarily terminated her employment. She had signed a pre-employment consumer report disclosure and authorization form in connection with her job application which consolidated the dissemination of required federal and state disclosures. She subsequently filed a class action suit against her former employer, alleging that the disclosure form violated fundamental FCRA and ICRAA requirements. The Ninth Circuit agreed, reasoning that the employer’s disclosure form was not clear because, among other things, it combined federal and various state disclosure requirements. (The court also found that the form contained typographical errors).

As a result of the Ninth Circuit’s decision, employers must now use separate federal and state disclosure forms, and each disclosure must include only the required statutory language, in clear and simple form, without any additional, extraneous references or information.

Guidance for Employers Post-Gilberg
In light of the Gilberg decision, DDS also recommends that our clients carefully review all background check disclosure and consent forms, to ensure that they are compliant with the Gilberg decision. Separate forms must be utilized for state and federal disclosure notices, and they should include only statutorily required disclosure language. Federal disclosure forms should not reference state disclosure requirements, and vice versa. Neither form should include any extraneous information, and all disclosure documents should be carefully reviewed for any typographical or grammatical errors. Finally, the language of any disclosure document should contain a legible font and simple and clear language, such that a reasonable person could understand its meaning.

DDS encourages our clients to contact us If there are any further questions concerning the Gilberg ruling, please feel free to contact us at (800) 647-7999.

Summary Of The Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals Decision On The Fcra 7 Year Reporting Rule

Background Screening Industry News - DDS
May 17 2019
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As an advocate and strategic partner for our clients, DDS does everything possible to fight for your rights to obtain relevant information in the pursuit of making an informed hiring decision and other employment choices. Although we have our own thoughts about the scope of information you should be able to receive, review and make determinations on, our goal is to protect you by ensuring that you only receive compliant information on each report.  

The following is the latest decision coming out of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals concerning the timeframe of Criminal Record reporting. There was more than one issue decided on, but DDS already observes what those decisions represent.

We won’t bore you with all the legal details of this latest decision, but instead will give you a short summary that we will follow, and in turn, the change of information that we will make available to you.

The decision holding that under the Fair Credit Reporting Act's rule prohibiting consumer reporting agencies (DDS) from reporting any "record of arrest" older than seven years, the measuring period for a criminal charge runs from the “date of entry” (arrest or file date) rather than the “date of disposition”.