When company decides to hire new employees, it is necessary to do a pre-employment screening background check during the application procedure. An employer is responsible for conducting due diligence to check background on possible employees in order to avoid negligent hiring law suits. Employment screening background check can range from educational background or previous employment history. However, companies should not forget criminal records verification. Criminal past of applicants can tell you if this candidate can be a possible danger to your company and your other employees. Surprising cases can happen as a result of insufficient employment screening background check.

For example, your company receives application from, say, Jeff. He expects to work in the call center in which night shifts are sometimes required. Currently, the majority of your employees who work in the call center are female. When interviewing Jeff, he appears to be a nice person. Interviewers think he is bright and reliable. All of his references he provided say all great things about him. Moreover, your company is under pressure to hire someone as soon as possible, therefore you intentionally leave out the pre-employment screening background check just because your impression tells you to hire him. Jeff agrees to take the job.

After Jeff starts working, you also start to hear something from his female colleague who also works in the call center. She does not feel comfortable working with him because Jeff has made inappropriate advances to her in the coffee room in their working time. Your boss questions you if you have done pre-employment screening background check, and what the results are. You promise your boss to conduct the check. As a result, everybody is surprised that Jeff has multiple offensive charges.

Now the question is whether this female colleague of Jeff should sue your company from not doing due diligence as other employees can be protected from a potential threat. Should you have done a pre-employment screening background check on Jeff, especially his criminal record, you would have found that he has a history of assaulting women and could not be a good candidate to work in the call center at night. Future behavior can be predicted by past conduct as shown by many studies. Establishing a system of pre-employment screening background check is very important, more than ever a criminal record.