Background Checks

Many private employers have turned to background checks as a pre-employment screening tool, to locate and exclude applicants and existing employees with lengthy or even violent criminal records. While background checks can be a helpful resource in protecting the workplace, they also can create liability when not conducted in compliance with the complex web of federal, state, and local laws. In the past few years, plaintiffs’ lawyers have taken advantage of the morass of federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requirements and the ever-increasing, in many cases distinctly different state and local background check laws, to file class action lawsuits alleging technical legal violations, resulting in multi-million dollar damages or settlements. Couple these litigation risks with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) guidance on employers’ use of criminal background checks and race discrimination charges based on criminal records, and employers can find themselves in a legal quagmire.

Be proactive with OD Comply: Background Checks—our flat-fee, subscription-based service—to maintain compliance in the ever-changing world of background check laws and regulations. Background Checks educates employers on the costly legal subtleties associated with conducting background checks and, unlike other services, provides ongoing, automatically-updated forms/screens, letters, and various other documents to keep subscribers in compliance with federal, state, and major local requirements. During the 12-month subscription period, subscribers will receive legal updates and prompt notifications when the federal government, a state government, or a major locality inevitably enacts or changes a background check law impacting private employers, including forms/screens, letters, and documents.

For questions or other details about the Background Checks subscription or about background checks in general, please use the links at the top of this page or visit our Background Check Practice Group page.