Criminal Records Checks: Good for Employers and Potential Employees

As an employer, you've undoubtedly experienced your share of bad employees: folks who come in late all the time, always come up with excuses about why a task wasn't completed on time or are rude to customers or to colleagues.

You've might have also hired employees who ended up defrauding you, stealing from you or harming your employees or even customers.

You can help prevent hiring employees with a criminal bent by conducting a criminal history check on any potential new hires.

In fact, it's a smart idea to conduct a criminal history on applicants because if it turns out the person has drug abuse, sexual harassment or another criminal marks on his or her record, the employer could be liable for damages should the employee be accused or be found guilty of a similar crime while under the company's employ. Criminal, inappropriate or indecent acts performed by the employee could give your other employees the right to sue you because the employee's criminal history was relatively easy to discover.

Meanwhile, it's also a great idea for individuals to conduct a criminal history check on themselves, in case false or misleading information is found on that check. If you have wonderful references and the skills for the jobs for which you're applying, but it appears you often are being turned down for the position just as the reference checking process has begun, you might want to conduct a criminal history check on yourself. In some cases, charges could be turning up on your records that cause employers to turn you away.

If you do find mistakes on your criminal history report, you can write a letter to your state police with proof that there's been a mistake (especially if these mistakes show that you have been convicted of a crime). You also may want to contact an attorney for help.

Criminal history checks are valuable for employers and potential employees. Employers can screen out potentially criminal employers and job seekers can work to clear up any false information on the report that may be preventing them from getting a job.