But a growing number of federal, state, and local laws have complicated the types of background checks employers can perform and how companies can utilize the information that checks provide. Federal laws, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which prohibits discrimination), to name only a few, all come into play when an employer conducts background checks, and recent interpretation of these laws have made background checks more complicated.
In response, fewer employers conducted credit and criminal background checks for job candidates in 2012 than in 2010, according to surveys by the Society for Human Resource Management. “Human resources professionals are looking more closely at the job-relatedness of these practices,” said Mark Schmit, the organization’s vice president of research, in a statement. “As a result, fewer employers are using background checks, and checks are often done for specific jobs or to comply with the law.”