6. E-Verify and other government background check requirements

2010 Trends in Screening–Trend Seven:  E-Verify and other regime background check requirements will grow

The regime’s efforts to demand employers to verify eligibly for employment gathered additional steam when the rules for the use of E-verify for federal contractors irrevocably went into effect in 2009 after a number of fake starts. The E-verify system utilizes databases administered by the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration to verify a person’s eligibly for work in the United States. Private employers can still utilize the Form I-9 without using the federal E-verify program.  Yet it seems certain that with the ongoing discussions about the legal right to work in the U.S, it will only become a extra vital topic in the future. Individual states as well are involved in requiring employers to utilize the E-verify system.  Employment Screening Resources (ESR), is an authorized agent for E-Verify. 

In addition, there continues to be efforts at various levels of regime to demand fingerprinting – particularly after an event hits the headlines where someone did something and a background check was not done.  Of course, fingerprinting is far from 100 percent accurate and it raises discrimination issues as well in view of the fact that the FBI records are unfiltered and may well contain data that cannot be used for employment purposes.   

As noted in trend number one:  Of course, it is fascinating to note that nearly every time a legislator stuff because there is too much screening, there is regularly a call by some other voted official for even extra screening after it is revealed that some crime or offenses occurred where an inappropriate applicant was hired without a sufficient background check.  A listing of proposed legislation related to screening shows that legislators are both calling for increased privacy and protections for consumers at the same time they are introducing bills to increase background check requirements.

(Employment Screening Resources (ESR), a leading national online employment screening background firm, is releasing the  ESR “Third Annual Top Ten Trends in the Pre-Employment Background Screening Industry” for 2010.   This is the SEVENTH of the ten trends ESR will be tracking in 2010.