Pre Employment Screening Services

A: Negligent hiring is defined as an employer's failure to exercise reasonable caution when hiring an employee. Today, courts are increasingly holding employers financially and legally responsible for illegal or violent actions by employees who were not subjected to reasonable pre-employment screening. Basically, the courts are declaring that the employer is legally responsible for what they know and what they should have known about their employees. If an employee causes harm to another employee or customer, and the employer knows or should have known that the individual was a risk, the courts have found the companies liable for thousands or even millions of dollars. Employers in negligent hiring cases lose more than 70% of lawsuits.

A: Employers can protect themselves from negligent hiring liability by thoroughly checking references and verifying all pertinent information about each job applicant before making a job offer. A criminal records search should be conducted for each place of residence a candidate has lived for at least the last seven years. Employers should check a minimum of three business or professional references with whom the applicant has worked on a daily basis within the last seven years. In addition, employers should also confirm all degrees and licenses claimed by the applicant. By taking these simple steps, every employer should be able to clearly demonstrate that reasonable care was used in the hiring process.

A: A thorough, comprehensive background check performed by Info Cubic usually costs less than a new employee's first day of work. This upfront cost is far less than the expense of hiring a bad employee. The U.S. Department of Labor figures the average cost of a bad hire is 30% of the new employee's first year earnings. Companies who do not utilize an effective employment screening program to help make informed hiring decisions are more likely to hire "bad" employees, which can ultimately cost the company thousands of dollars.

A: 67% of criminals released from prison in 1994 were re-arrested for at least one serious crime within the next three years (Bureau of Justice Statistics)

The National Crime Victimization Survey, released by the U.S. Department of Justice in December of 2001, analyzed workplace violence from 1993 to 1999. On average, 1.7 million violent incidents per year were committed against employees at work.

Nearly 60% of sex offenders are under conditional supervision (probation or parole) in the United States (Bureau of Justice Statistics).

30% of business failures are due to poor hiring practices (Department of Commerce).

According to a recent study, 67% of job applications and resumes in the U.S. contain misrepresentations (American Psychological Association).

The average organization loses more than $9 per day, per employee, and 6% of its annual revenue to fraud and abuse (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners).

On-the-job violence costs employers $36 billion each year (Workplace Violence Research Institute).

The average award in a workplace violence lawsuit exceeds $1 million per case. (Workplace Violence Research Institute).

Drug users cost 300% more than non-drug users in medical costs and benefits (Crain's Cleveland Business).

According to a national survey, American retail employees stole $10.4 billion in a one-year period (University of Florida).

70% of illegal drug users have full-time jobs (New York Times).

38-58% of on-the-job injuries can be attributed to alcohol and/or drug abuse (Business Insurance ).

A: Generally speaking, no. There are a select few searches where we require a signed release form in order to complete your request. However, in accordance with the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) you must have your applicant's express written permission to access any of their background check information when making a hiring decision. You must keep this signed release form on file for at least three years if you do not hire the individual. If you do hire the individual, you should keep their signed release form in their personnel file for as long as they remain employed with your organization. From time to time, we may request copies of the documents for audit purposes.

A: Once we receive your signed Client Service Agreement, we will activate your account within three business hours. Info Cubic reserves the right to deny your account application.

A: Both of these searches involve criminal records containing similar misdemeanor and felony conviction information. While both products generally yield the same case information on a subject, your chances of finding criminal record information will be greater if you follow these simple guidelines:

1) If you are relatively certain your subject was tried for a criminal offense in a particular county, choose that jurisdiction for a criminal records search. This is where the actual court records are filed and are hand-checked by our qualified court records researchers.

2) If you are relatively confident your subject was tried for a criminal offense in a particular state, but are unsure of the precise county, or if the subject has moved within the state several times, try a statewide criminal search. This has a much wider geographical focus and will cover every county courthouse in the state. A statewide criminal search is more cost-effective than ordering several county criminal searches.

3) If you are fairly certain that your subject was convicted of a violation quite recently, then you should order a county criminal search. The biggest difference between statewide and county criminal records has to do with how quickly criminal records are made available. When a person is convicted of a criminal offense, the trial takes place at the county level. When a person has been convicted, this court record information is generally filed and made available at the county courthouse shortly thereafter. However, the county courthouse may not report this criminal record information to the statewide criminal repository for several days or weeks. Each state has different requirements regarding how quickly counties need to report court record information.

Please note: Not all states require their county courts to report to their statewide criminal repository. Therefore, statewide criminal record information may not be available in states such as Alaska, California, Delaware, Nevada, New York, South Dakota and West Virginia.

A: You should search in the county where the crime was committed, not the county where they may be incarcerated. The county where the crime was committed will handle the criminal case and will therefore have the criminal record information. If you are unsure of which county the crime took place, a statewide criminal search may be a good option.

A: If a person was arrested and then released without being convicted, this information will not be reflected in our reports. Depending on the county courthouse, arrest records may occasionally be returned if the case is still ongoing or awaiting trial. Since a person is innocent until proven guilty, arrest records should never be used to make a hiring decision. Only criminal convictions should be used in making decisions.

A: We do offer instant criminal database searches. However, our county and state criminal record searches are all conducted directly at the courthouse. By hand-searching records directly at the courthouse, our experienced researchers ensure we are providing the most accurate and up-to-date information possible.