Research and other sites

Links to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to find out more about the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

• The FCRA "homepage" for the Federal Trade Commission. 
• The FCRA is summarized in the special report prepared by Employment Screening Resources (ESR) on, "Complying with the   FCRA in Four Easy Steps."
• Information on the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction (FACT) Act of 2003>>>

The FTC has prepared publications concerning the FCRA:

• NEW:  The Federal Trade Commissions issues final rules on new version of rights and notices under the FCRA effective January 31, 2005 (Federal Register Nov. 30, 2004) >>>
• The official publication that all Pre-employment agencies should provide to employers is the "Notice to Users of Consumer Reports Obligations of Users under the FCRA." (Version mandated for use beginning January 31, 2005--requires Adobe)
• Another critical document is the FTC prepared document, "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act."  This is the summary that must be provided to a consumer any time an adverse notice action is taken. (Version mandated for use beginning January 31, 2005--requires Adobe)
• One page version of "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act." (For use after Jan. 31, 2005) (Note-not for use for applicants due to potential issues of readability but prepared as a quick reference only-all ESR Reports have a very easy to read version attached to each report in the appropriate type) 
• In addition, the FTC has prepare a brief summary of the provisions of the FCRA that apply to employers called "Using Consumer Reports: What Employers Need to Know."
• Effective June 1, 2005, new disposal rules for consumer information.  See>>>

Other helpful links for finding out more about the FCRA are:

• NEW! Text of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), reformatted by ESR from the online PDF version provided by the FTC, in an online version that can be used to facilitate research and to perform searches.  The Table of Contents is also linked for more efficient use.  See>>>
• Text of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) incorporating the 2003 FACT Act Amendments>>>
• Text of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) before the FACT Act Amendments  Generally, sections 604, 606 and 615 are of the most immediate concern to employers.  The FCRA was amended on November 27, 1998.  The principle change dealt with eliminating the seven-year limitation on criminal records. However, as discussed in the ESR special report on criminal records, there is no clear national rule because states may choose to have more restrictive laws.  (California for example, adopted a seven-year rule in 2002 with only a limited exceptions.) 
• The Index to the FTC Staff Opinion letters page.  This is where researchers can find the published opinions by the FTC staff interpreting the FCRA.  According to the Federal Trade Commission staff, letters will no longer be answered.  However, the FTC has indicated that it will prepare commentaries on the FCRA.

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Other Employment Links

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Website

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Titles I and V

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967

The Civil Rights Act of 1991

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Legal Employment Questions:  Copy of the California Pre-Employment Guidelines Published by the California Department of Fair Housing and Employment. 

All employers know that there are certain areas that cannot be covered in a job interview. This summary tells employers what they can and cannot ask in job interviews. It is generally helpful to employers in all the fifty states.

A. Introduction and Application for Employment

B. Summary of Legal and Illegal Questions

An excellent site on legal vs. non-legal questions and the entire area of discrimination in employment is:  http://www.discriminationattorney.com/. Although it is based in California, it gives an excellent summary of federal law as well.  

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Employment Materials

NEW!!  See the Interview Generator-A new tool by ESR that allows employers to generate structured interviews forms using a list of genre is interview questions or custom questions. 

NEW: Why applications are Key--Column in the Sunday San Francisco Examiner/Chronicle by Lester S. Rosen, President of Employment Screening Resources. 

See also, Sample Application form (Word Format) (NOTE: Under the FCRA additional forms are needed to perform a pre-employment screening.  Contact your ESR customer service representative for the consent and disclosure forms that are required. Also, your ESR customer service representative can supply a special report on the language that should be in an application form concerning criminal history, called Criminal Records, Employment and Employment Applications.)

See also articles on employment applications in the Articles section>>>

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Interesting Links to Other Sites Offering Related Human Resources Services or Information.

           See the list of HR Resources assembled by Employment Screening Resources

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Links or e-mail addresses to Recommended Professional Services

Richard Schmidt, is a licensed private investigator and a retired police captain with thirty years of investigative experience.  He also holds a Masters degree in pubic Administration from Golden Gate University, and works extensively with police departments all over the United States.  (rschmidt@aol.com)

e-VentExe--A premier business-to-business service that assists organizations in maximizing their human assets.  Serving the Greater Sacramento, CA. area, this firm offers Executive Search services and leading assessment tools.   See www.e-ventexe.com 

The Personnel Perspective--Headquartered in Sonoma County, California,  The Personnel Perspective consultants are available for on-site or o- call project work in human resources, organizational development, training and recruiting.    See: http://www.personnelperspective.com 

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Interesting books and resources on pre-employment screening and hiring

Safe Hiring Video by Kantola Productions featuring ESR>>>

ESR is pleased to recommend , "45 Effective Ways for Hiring Smart!: How to Predict Winners and Loser in the Incredibly Expensive People-Reading Game." The author is psychiatrist Pierre Mornell, an outstanding book on smart hiring. 

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Helpful Research Links

These are excellent sites for performing business research over the Internet.   They are:

1. People Search   (Data by InfoUSA)

2. Business Search   (Data by InfoUSA)

3. Yellow Page Search    (Data by InfoUSA)

4. www.freeedgar.com An easy way to search through company filings with the SEC.

5.  www.10kwizard.com Another site to research public companies by reviewing SEC filings.

6.  www.qucis.queensu.ca/FAQs/college-email/college.html  Site with links to universities all over the world

7.  www.refdesk.com and www.refdesk.com/instant.html   An outstanding collection of references sites on the web for do it yourself due diligence research

8.  www.nedsite.nl/search/people.htm All-in-one search site links to hundreds of databases

9.  www.teldir.com  For finding people outside the US, with links for web sites to over 150 countries

10.  www.franchisesolutions.com/links.cfm for an excellent listing of resources to to evaluate, start, or manage a small business.

11.  Over 1,700 links to Public Records, sponsored by BRB Publications>>>

12.  Zip Code look-up by City, State-US Post Office>>>

13.  Internet Research tools summarized>>>

14.  Summary of additional research tools>>>

15.  Search systems--summary of public records sites>>>

16  Journalist toolkit>>>

17.  North American Industry Classification System code (NAICS) >>>

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Credit Reports and Social Security Numbers: 

NEW:  Article on  "Credit Reports and Job Hunting," published on-line at www.MedCAREERS.com. Article by ESR for both employers and job applicants on the role of credit reports and employment.

The Federal Trade Commission has resources that will help consumers and job applicants deal with their own credit reports.  These are excellent resources for job applicants that would like information about improving their reports.  For a general list of articles, see www.ftc.gov/bcp/menu-credit.htm.  For an excellent article on credit repair published by the Federal Trade Commission, including how to avoid scams see  www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/bbcr.htm

It is an excellent idea to obtain and review your own credit report to make certain that  everything is accurate and up to date. The advantages of viewing your own credit report is that you can see which companies are looking at your credit information, identify and dispute any inaccuracies, track any late payments or adverse information, and tell if someone is using your identity or setting up unauthorized accounts or making unauthorized purchases.

The best practice is to obtain a merged or combined report from all three major agencies.  Although the three major credit bureaus offer the ability to obtain a copy of your own report either by mail, phone or through the Internet, it is usually easier  to purchase one combined report from a reputable commercial agency.   Trans Union, one of the three major credit bureaus, offers two services.  They offer a 3-in-1 credit report so a consumer can view their credit from all three bureaus in a merged report. They offer a credit monitoring service that gives periodic updates.  This is probably the most effective tool a consumer has against identify theft.    See link:

TrueCredit Service

A consumer can contact the three major agencies in the following way (phone numbers may change, but current information is available on their web sites. 

1.  Trans Union (www.transunion.com)--call 800-888-4213.
2.  Equifax (www.equifax.com/consumers/consumers.html)--888-532-0179.
3.  Experian (www.experian.com/customer/index/html)-800-972-0322 (Has a helpful discussion of consumer credit issues).  

The social security trace is an address information location index that is used exclusively to identify previous names and addresses that are associated with a social security number (SSN) in various databases.  The information is gathered by private organizations and comes from multiple sources. Therefore it is not possible to determine exactly which database provided the information.  The search is only utilized to assist in determining jurisdictions to search for records or to suggest additional research.

On occasion, there are no names or addresses associated with a SSN.  This can occur when a person has never applied for credit, so there is no history in the credit bureau files or the SSN does not belong to the applicant.  

In addition, there may be occasions where there are names or addresses incorrectly associated with a SSN.  This can occur for a variety of reasons. For example if a data entry clerk for a credit card company accidentally switched two numbers in a social security number while entering a change of address form, the credit bureau records may link the wrong name and addresses to a social security number.   Because of the possibility of human error, a Social Security Trace is used as a helpful tool in a background report, but is not considered an “official report.” If an applicant is concerned about any such discrepancy, they can contact all three major credit bureaus to review their own files using the methods above.

Finally, employers have the ability to call the Social Security administration (SSA) directly to verify an employee's social security number.  An employer may call 800-772-1213 and must provide an Employer Identification Number (EIN). A background screening firm is not able to call on an employer's behalf.  For more information, see: http://www.ssa.gov/employer/ssnv.htm

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Helpful Legal Links

The following links are of assistance in researching laws in the fifty states and federal law:

a. Findlaw--www.findlaw.com/11stategov/index.html   

b. An index to the criminal  law for each state:  http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/state_statutes2.html#criminal_code

c. California statutes can be found at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html.  

d. The California Penal Code can be found at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=pen&codebody=&hits=20

e. Motor Vehicle Records:  Every state has resources to understand and interpret code sections on a motor vehicle reports.  For California, see a list of common violations compiled by the state DMV:  http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dl/vioptct.htm : 

f. Employment Law Information Network--Reference for employment lawyers and human resource professionals, covering topics from age discrimination to wrongful termination.  Includes news, articles, forms, policies, and an employment lawyer directory.

g. Listing of State Administrative Codes (Legal regulations that affect employers are often found in administrative codes.  For example, a number of states have their pre-employment inquiry rules contained in state administrative codes.)  See resources provided by the Florida State University College of Law>>>

h  .HR Esquire--Where Human Resources and employment law intersect.  Excellent legal resources for HR professionals and employers. 

i. Legal resources for each state--Rominger Legal:

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Resources concerning Identity theft/fraud

Sources of information:  http://www.dmv.ca.gov/consumer/fraud.htm

See article in San Francisco Chronicle on what to do if you are the victim of identity   theft.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/02/11/BU183774.DTL

Employers can help prevent identify theft in the workplace--From the February 2000 Issue of HR News—HR’s leading Newspaper published by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), containing information and quotes  from Les Rosen, president of ESR
(entire article to be posted  shortly)

The best defense against suspected identify fraud is to obtain and review your credit report on a regular basis.  The reports from all three bureaus should be reviewed.  There are commercial services that offer a merged report with all three bureaus, as well as a service that monitors a consumer's credit on an ongoing basis.  Here is a link to Trans Union, one of the three major credit bureaus, that offers this service:

TrueCredit Service