A background check is structured to confirm the professional history an applicant presents, meaning the answer to whether it can reveal past employers is yes. Employment verification is a standard component of most professional background screening packages. The primary objective is to authenticate the work history provided on a resume or job application, ensuring the candidate’s stated qualifications align with their actual career path.
The Process of Employment Verification
A prospective employer typically delegates the task of employment verification to a specialized third-party firm, known as a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA). These agencies act as an intermediary, collecting and compiling the necessary data to create an official background report.
The CRA uses two primary methods to conduct this verification. The first involves manually contacting the Human Resources or payroll department of the former employer directly. This process can be slow, especially with large organizations, as it relies on the availability of a specific personnel responder.
The second, more automated method involves querying large commercial databases of employment records, such as The Work Number. This database receives employment and income data directly from millions of employers and can provide instant verification of a candidate’s work history. Accessing these centralized repositories requires the CRA to undergo a credentialing process to ensure they have a permissible purpose for obtaining the information.
Specific Employment Data Points Revealed
Employment verification focuses on confirming factual, objective details about a candidate’s tenure at a previous company. The most consistently confirmed data points include the former employer’s name and location, which addresses any discrepancies in the company names listed on an application.
The check also confirms the precise dates of employment, encompassing both the start and end dates of the position. This verifies the length of a candidate’s tenure and helps identify any significant, unexplained gaps in the work history presented on the resume. In addition to the dates, the specific job titles held by the applicant are confirmed against the former employer’s official records.
In some instances, the former employer or database may also disclose whether the candidate is eligible for rehire. This is generally a factual data point based on the company’s internal policy, indicating if the separation was voluntary and amicable.
Information That Is Typically Not Disclosed
Many former employers strictly limit the information they release, primarily to mitigate the risk of legal action, such as a defamation lawsuit. Consequently, several types of information are typically withheld from a verification request.
Information concerning a candidate’s salary history is frequently not disclosed, particularly in jurisdictions with pay equity laws that restrict such inquiries. Furthermore, a former employer will generally not share subjective information like detailed performance reviews or internal disciplinary actions. These records are often considered proprietary or too susceptible to misinterpretation.
The specific reason for a candidate’s separation, whether voluntary or involuntary, is also often not shared. Unless a termination was for a serious, verifiable legal or safety violation, most companies will only confirm the former employee’s job title and dates of service.
Candidate Consent and Legal Requirements
The law mandates that a job applicant must play an active, consenting role in the background check process, especially when a third-party CRA is involved. Before any screening can be initiated, the prospective employer must provide a clear, written disclosure that a background check will be conducted. The applicant must then sign a separate document granting explicit authorization for the check to proceed.
This requirement is governed by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The FCRA regulates how consumer reporting agencies collect and use personal data for employment purposes, ensuring transparency and accuracy in the reporting of information used to make hiring decisions.
Addressing Discrepancies in Your Employment History
If a background check report contains an inaccuracy regarding your employment history, you have a formal right to dispute the information under the FCRA. The first step involves the prospective employer providing you with a copy of the report and a summary of your rights if they intend to take an adverse action, such as withdrawing a job offer, based on the findings. This is known as a pre-adverse action notice.
You must then contact the Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) that generated the report to formally dispute the inaccurate data. This dispute should be submitted in writing and include supporting documentation that proves the correct employment details. The CRA is legally obligated to conduct a reasonable reinvestigation of the disputed item, typically within a 30-day timeframe, to either confirm or correct the record.
While the CRA investigates, it is advisable to proactively contact the former employer’s Human Resources department or payroll service. Clarifying your records directly with the source company can help expedite the correction process and ensure their records are updated for future inquiries.