You need to be able to trust any person in your organization who works or volunteers with children, the elderly, other vulnerable people, money or transportation. While interviews, applications and references are important indicators of whether that person can, indeed, be trusted, you can’t forget background checks.
All of the above employees or volunteers should have criminal background checks not only when they first come on board, but also every year thereafter. You never know when someone will be involved in a criminal case or other risky behavior.
Why are background checks so important? There are many reasons why your organization would want to run background checks on employees and volunteers, including:
Types of background checks
There are several different kinds of background checks available. Depending on the type of job your volunteer or employee will be doing, you may want to run just a few or all of them. Types include:
The following are a few commonly asked questions about background checks:
Do you need a person’s permission to perform a background check? Yes, you should always obtain signed authorization for a check in accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
How do we access criminal records? Is there a central location? No. There are thousands of state and federal courthouses in the United States, and each of these courthouses maintains its own database of criminal records.
Short of calling the courthouses one by one, how can we do a quick check? The best way is to hire an outside company to perform your background check. Church Mutual offers customers the opportunity for discounted background checks through its relationship with Trusted Employees.