California Background Checks

For California employers, a background check on a prospective employee is more than a simple report; it’s an investment into your business and a way to protect your company, employees, and customers from the negative consequences of hiring an unqualified or untrustworthy individual. A background check allows you to assess the candidate’s qualifications, mitigate risks to your company, and remain in compliance with your industry’s regulations. Simply put, you cannot cut corners on California background checks.

Accurate offers background checks that dive deeper than a simple criminal history. We can verify a candidate’s work experience, education, licenses, and qualifications. We can even verify their driver’s license status and contact their professional references to help you better understand their work ethic and job history.

Restrictions on what can be covered in a background check vary state by state; due to the sensitive nature of these checks, their use is carefully regulated.

California places several restrictions on how employers can use the information surfaced by background checks, particularly as it relates to criminal records and drug use. Violations can expose your company to legal, financial and reputational risk, so you must account for these laws when designing your background check program and stay updated on any city- and state-wide changes.

Under California’s Fair Chance Act, most companies cannot ask a candidate about their criminal history, or conduct a criminal background check on them, before they have extended a conditional offer of employment.

Some key nuances include:

• Arrest Records: Employers are barred from asking about arrests that didn’t lead to any formal charges and a conviction or arrests that led to participation in a pre- or post-trial diversion program. They also cannot inquire about sealed or expunged criminal records. However, you may ask for details regarding any pending trials or arrests for which the candidate is out on bail.
• Conviction Records: Employers can consider most convictions for up to 7 years, but there are some exceptions to this rule. For example, marijuana-related convictions generally cannot be taken into account.
• Credit Data: California prohibits employers from using credit information to make decisions about employment unless the person meets one of the permissible purposes, including, but not limited to, a managerial position, position in the Department of Justice or in which the information contained in the report is required by law to be disclosed.. Aside from these few exceptions, you can’t require applicants to undergo a credit check as a prerequisite for employment.
• Marijuana Drug Testing: With very limited exceptions, California has placed restrictions on the use of marijuana test results detecting non-psychoactive cannabis metabolites for both applicants and employees. This is typical of urine drug testing, however, employers may consider using an oral swab drug test. California has legalize d the recreational use of marijuana, which has impacted an employer’s use of those results.

Employers in California must conduct an individualized assessment and the circumstances surrounding each conviction, such as how much time has passed since it occurred.

And should they choose to revoke their conditional offer based on the results of a background check, there are additional steps in the pre-adverse and adverse action process that must be followed. In addition to state-level requirements, several counties in California also have additional compliance requirements. In all cases, the applicant must be allowed to argue their case and provide evidence of rehabilitation or other information.

At Accurate, we understand that every employer’s needs are different when it comes to California background checks. You may need to design different drug testing and criminal history checks depending on the kind of position you’re hiring for, or you may need to create different notices, criminal history checks, and adverse action notifications based on what city or county you’re hiring in.

That’s why Accurate offers customizable background checks and credential verifications. We work with you to determine what information is most important when making hiring decisions for your business.

Then, we build an in-depth background check process that’s designed to get you that information. From county, state, and federal crime checks to license verification, professional referral checks, and more, Accurate gets you the information you want to hire the employees you need.

Keeping up with California background checks, and the related regulations, isn’t easy. But Accurate can help you stay current and compliant with these laws without sacrificing speed and accuracy. We partner you with a team of compliance experts to provide education and update you on new legislative changes. Contact Accurate today to find the right background screening program for your business.