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Florida Employment Screening

Florida Background Checks
Employment Background Checks for Employment Screening
(Using Florida Criminal Records from Florida Background Checks for Employment Screening)

Florida criminal background checks are an essential part of any employment screening solution being employed by Florida businesses and organizations. An employment background check should include a criminal background check. If you are using Florida Background Checks as part of your employment screening practices you must adhere to the rules outlined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Criminal Background Checks when being used for pre-employment or employment screening purposes are considered consumer reports and employers need to get consent from potential candidates before running background checks on them. The rules that employers should follow when performing employment background checks are outlined in detail below.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) consumers (potential employees) are granted the following rights:

  • They must be told if information in their file has been used against them
  • They have a right to know what is in their file
  • They have a right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information
  • They must give their employer/potential employer consent prior to pulling consumer reports on them
  • They may seek damages from violators of the FCRA
  • Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRA’s) must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information
  • CRA’s may not report outdated negative information
  • Identity theft victims and active duty military personnel have additional rights (www.ftc.gov/credit)

Why Florida Background Checks is a great place for Human Resources and Others Seeking Florida Criminal Records to get what they are looking for instantly and affordably.

Also why FloridaBackgroundChecks.com makes a great Employment Screening Partner

  • EFFICIENCY – Florida Background Checks.com frees up HR’s valuable time through our partner sites online background checking system
    • The data entry required to run a criminal search is minimal
    • Most criminal background checks can be performed instantly
  • ORDER HISTORY & ACCOUNT TRANSPARENCY – Access your account anywhere over the Internet. View and/or print pending and previously placed orders, sample forms, employment screening documents and more.
  • FUNCTIONALITY, EXPEDIENCY & CONVENIENCE. Access your account and/or order background checks any time of the day any day of the year.
  • TRANSACTIONAL – Run criminal background checks with other background checks like SSN Verifications all together in the same order.
  • OPTIONS & PREFERENCES– Choose from national background checks, statewide or multi-state background checks, or run a county background check by choosing any of the 3,143 counties in the USA
  • PAYMENT OPTIONS – Choose your form of payment, either Credit Card, PayPal, Google Checkout or Company Check.
  • GREEN – Save a tree and sign up to have invoices emailed to you monthly.
  • PERSONAL STORAGE – Enjoy your own customizable personal storage space and store invoices, previously placed orders, account information and more
  • RESPONSIVENESS – Get quick, timely replies for all your questions and requests from industry specialists and enjoy access to a highly trained customer service team.

We here at Florida Background Checks understand that pre-employment screening and conducting employment background checks is only a small part of your company or organizations functions. Even if this part of your business is handled by a human resource professional or HR department, we understand that employment screening is not their only job responsibility. That is why we have partnered with the finest Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) in the United States in order to provide Florida residents, businesses, organizations and government agencies with the most robust background check system available. This system helps minimize your involvement with this aspect of your business while still giving you the highest quality background checks. Performing background checks prior to hiring is an essential part of any pre-employment screening model. So it is not just about having an employment screening process in place, it is about having an effective and efficient employment screening system in place. One that provides for a more convenient, timely, reliable and cost effective means for getting criminal background checks performed. This back-end platform frees up valuable time because it uses an automated online background checking system that also has the added benefit of helping you remain FCRA compliant.

A criminal background check is a necessary and important component to a sound employment screening system, but today there is another valuable tool available. This new tool is a social security validation & address history trace. When performing a Florida criminal records search, look for the option to add-on an SSN search to your order. This quick search can determine if an SSN (social security number) being used by an applicant is indeed valid, and that your potential hires are in fact who they claim to be. This SSN Search can uncover fraud as well as discover inaccuracies entered on an application form by a job seeker. In addition to Florida criminal records or any other criminal record types it is a good idea to also perform an SSN Search to avoid fraud and make sure you are running the criminal background check on the right person.

Employment Verifications and Education Verifications are also available to monthly billed clients. More detailed information regarding professional verifications or to sign up for an account with the option to perform Employment, Education, or other types of Professional Verifications, please send an email to: bd@FloridaBackgroundChecks.com

Typical Employment Screening Questions with Their Respective Answers:

  1. Question: Do all employers need to have applicants or employees sign a release form before performing a background check? Answer: YES, and must give disclosure (please see the FCRA – Section 1681B).
  2. Question: If an applicant/employee requests to review a copy of his or her background record, does the employer need to show or provide a copy of that record to the applicant? Answer: NO, under federal law you are not required too, unless there is an adverse action. However, state laws and local laws vary; for instance Massachusetts Law gives all employees full access to their files at their place of employment.
  3. Question: If an employer takes adverse action on an applicant or employee because of a background check, does the employer need to give notice stating that a background check has adversely affected them? Answer: YES, employers must notify the applicant if there is an adverse action.
  4. Question: Are employers required to keep criminal background checks on file? Answer: Currently this is up to the judgment of the employer.
  5. Question: Knowing that a county criminal search is the most trusted criminal history check available in the USA today, why do employers run instant state or instant national criminal background checks first and not county checks? Answer: Coverage – Employers want a larger area covered to enhance their chances of finding a record if in fact one exists. Timeliness – A county search could take days to complete and in order to avoid creating a bottleneck in employment processes, the faster searches are preferred.BACKGROUND CHECK INDUSTRY NOTE: The quality of instant criminal background checks has dramatically improved over the years. Statewide & National Instant Criminal Background Checks if accessed by a provider through FloridaBackgroundChecks.com are now very reliable.

Pre-Employment and Promotion related information for Florida businesses and organizations.
When hiring or promoting employees in the state of Florida you are not allowed to make decisions based on certain personal characteristics otherwise known as “protected classes”. These protected classes are Age, Race, Sex, Religion, National Origin and Disability. This means that when conducting interviews, as a Florida Employer you are not allowed to ask questions about any of these characteristics.

Here are some examples of questions that Employers cannot ask job applicants:

  • Are you married? Are you planning to get married?
  • Do you have children? Are you planning to have children?
  • Where were you born?
  • Have you ever been arrested?

An interviewer can, however, ask about a personal characteristic if it could hinder your ability to fulfill the job’s requirements. Some examples might be:

  • Have you ever been convicted of a crime?
    • Of course instead of just asking this question it is best to run a Florida Criminal Background Check
  • Can you prove that you are eligible to work in the US?
    • We suggest using E-Verify provided for free by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
    • E-Verify is free and can be performed online and will tell you if someone can legally work in the United States. To legally work in the United States you need to be either a US Citizen or foreign citizen who has the required authorization necessary to be eligible to work in the United States.
    • The only problem with the E-Verify system is that currently Employers are only allowed to use it on current employees, which means they cannot use it for potential hires or as part of their employment screening process.

In the State of Florida employees are considered “at will” meaning that the employer can terminate them for any legal reason. Contract based employees can only be terminated for reasons outlined in the contract.

It is recommended that every company in the State of Florida have an employee handbook in place before hiring. This handbook should be given to every new employee under the acknowledgement that the employee read the book and agrees to be bound by its policies and procedures. It also makes for a great quick reference guide for employers especially human resources staff and other company managers with employees under them.

Any Florida Employee Handbook should contain at least these elements:

  • The Family Medical Leave Act
  • A statement regarding Florida’s “at-will” employment status
    • Company can terminate any position in the company at-will unless it is deemed illegal
  • An equal employment opportunity statement
  • Clearly stated policy about harassment in the workplace both sexual and other
  • Level of Internet access allowed and proper usage of what is and is not allowed, e-mail rules, and any particular policies or rules regarding voice mail and phone use in general.

A Florida Criminal Background Check should include a Free National Sex Offender Search. This is a critically important component to have in place for any sound employment screening process for obvious reasons and to prevent hiring someone that may have a high propensity to sexual harass others, especially in the work place environment.

As an employer you do not want to be liable for one of your employees committing an act of sexual harassment at your place of business. Sexual harassment includes sexual advances and conduct of the physical or verbal nature that are of sexual content. In Florida sexual harassment in the work place includes direct sexual conduct like sexual advancements or verbal statements, exchanging sexual conduct for job related benefits, or if there is a hostile environment where there is an uncalled for sexual overtone in the work place.

The Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 protects individuals from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, or marital status. The Act also seeks to preserve individual human dignity as well as promote overall equality. Each employer should consult with their private attorney or legal counsel to figure out exactly what kinds of behavior should result in an action on behalf of the company/organization. Then post these unacceptable acts/behaviors in a handbook and/or within visibility of employees. You would want to list the acts/behaviors themselves as well as the repercussions for exhibiting such behavior and/or breach of conduct, especially those of the sexual nature. Clear examples and clear repercussions of sexual harassment in the work place should be made obvious to all employees within the company’s employee handbook and posted within the office environment on clear display. Around the water fountain or coffee room is a good place to display both sexual harassment laws and the company’s policy regarding sexual harassment.

In the State of Florida employers cannot discriminate against a person or terminate them for any of these reasons:
(For employers this means you cannot make a decision about wages, job assignments, promotions or termination based on any of these reasons.)

  • Pregnancy
  • Age
  • Race
  • Sex
  • Religion
  • National Origin
  • Disability

In the State of Florida an employer CANNOT fire an employee if the employee does any of the following:

  • When an employer asks an employee to break a law the employee can refuse to do so without getting fired
  • If an employee files a safety claim or discrimination claim the employer cannot fire them in retaliation for submitting such claims.
  • If an employee takes leave under the Family & Medical Leave Act, an employer cannot fire them because of this.
  • Employers need to follow their own policy and procedures regarding reasons leading to termination
  • If an employment contract exists then termination cannot occur for reasons not specifically stated in the agreement/contract.

Family and Medical Leave

Under federal law, eligible employees are allowed to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid medical leave, with continued medical benefits and restoration of their original position upon return. An employee is eligible under FMLA when they:

  • Have worked for the same employer for the previous 12 months
  • Have worked at least 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months
  • Are employed by a “covered” employer, which is:
    • All federal, state, and local governments and agencies
    • Private employers with 50 or more employees for 20 weeks in the calendar year and engaged in interstate commerce

Employment screening packages are available at reduced pricing for qualified customers. If you are interested in creating an employment screening monthly billed account with discounted pricing please send an email to: bd@FloridaBackgroundChecks.com with your contact details and estimated yearly search volume, and a representative will call you and give you the best available pricing quote.

FloridaBackgroundChecks.com and its parent company cannot and do not offer legal advice to any customers, browsers or users of this site. FloridaBackgroundChecks.com is not a legal firm or licensed to practice law, any information contained on this site should be used as a reference only and should be verified by professional lawyers before making any decisions based on it.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCE LINKS PERTAINING TO FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT SCREENING
LAWS RELATED TO PROMOTING, HIRING, AND FIRING OF EMPLOYEES
SAMPLE FLORIDA EMPLOYEE HANDBOOKS AND OVERALL FLORIDA EMPLOYMENT LAW

Order a Florida Criminal Background Check with a National Sex Offender Search now as part of your Employment Screening.

For more information on Florida Employment Law and Labor Law go to: http://www.megalaw.com/fl/top/fllabor.php

For detailed information regarding criminal history checks and the proper use of state criminal background checks as part of the employment screening process please visit www.InstantCriminalChecks.com

For more information on Pre-Employment Screening and Employment Law in Florida go to: https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/research/florida/employment-law-in-florida.html

To View an online Florida Employment Guide go to the following webpage: https://www.stateofflorida.com/employment.aspx

For Information on Florida Employment Law broken down by area of interest from “What is an employee?” to “Sex Discrimination and Sexual Harassment” go to this webpage: http://www.weblocator.com/attorney/fl/law/empind.html