About Employment Background Screening

Employment background screening is the process of investigating the backgrounds of potential or current employees. Employment background screening is commonly used to verify education, credentials, and work history, to uncover possible criminal records, employer sanctions, and worker’s compensation claims, to assess credit history, and to test for illicit drug use.

Proforma is a Consumer Reporting Agency

All employment background reports are considered consumer reports and are typically provided by a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA). Proforma is a CRA specializing in employment background screening. As a CRA we are bound by ethical and procedural guidelines that enhance consumer privacy and ensure employers receive the most accurate information possible.

The Role of Background Screening

Background screening reports provide information about an individual’s credit characteristics, character, general reputation, and mode of living. When used properly, this information can help employers make better hiring decisions and ultimately build a safer and more productive workforce. As such, employers use employment background screening when assessing a potential applicant or when evaluating current employees for promotions, reassignments, and retention, among other reasons.

The range of available employment background screening services is far-reaching, yet must be performed with care to ensure the legal collection, interpretation, and use of the resulting information.

FCRA and Background Screening – Understand your responsibilities.

Employment background screening is regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which is designed to protect the privacy of consumer information and to guarantee that the information supplied by consumer reporting agencies is as accurate as possible.

In 1997, amendments to the FCRA significantly increased employer responsibilities when it comes to the use of consumer reporting information for employment background screening purposes. The amendments place responsibility on the employer to:

1. Notify individuals that consumer reports may be used for employment purposes and obtain the individual’s agreement to such use.
2. Notify individuals promptly if information in a consumer report may result in a negative hiring decision.
3. Notify individuals promptly if information does result in a negative hiring decision.

A background report is covered by FCRA when prepared by a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA), which is a business that gathers and delivers such reports to other businesses. Many employers choose to outsource their employment background screening programs to professional background screening companies, which are qualified CRAs.

Due to the complexity of the compliance environment surrounding background screening, the knowledge needed to obtain accurate and useful data, and the cost of managing a comprehensive background screening internally, it makes good sense for employers to outsource their program to a CRA. As a Consumer Reporting Agency, Proforma Screening Solutions is guided by principles that enable us to provide accurate and compliant background reports to employers.

Learn more about background screening by downloading our free guide, “Background Screening at a Glance.”

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