AI Week 11 Criminal DB 153 - Essay Example

Running Head: Application of Criminal Background Checks when Hiring. Department The in this article tackles an issue that is increasingly becoming controversial in the United States; whether past criminal record should be used to turn down a job applicant. Employers are required to be very fair in their decisions when it comes to hiring and observe all the legal expectations diligently. They have to balance between their business requirements, applicants’ suitability and at the same time meet legal requirements such as giving equal opportunities and being fair to all applicants.

One important aspect of recruitment is to ensure candidates hired can complete the tasks expected of them and as such a lot of background information should be sought. It is therefore important to address the issue of whether criminal background should be applied in a blanket manner to influence hiring decisions. According to the every person should be given a second chance at proving their suitability to perform. Employers are faced with the ethical dilemma of balancing the safety of their businesses with fairness and in certain instances declining someone’s application for job could result into legal sues.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the year 2012 released guidelines that prohibit adoption of blanket policies in disqualifying job applicants based on their past criminal records. a past a criminal record doesn’t mean one is incapacitated and EEOC holds that blanket policies treating blacks and Latinos having criminal pasts differently from whites is discriminative and hence illegal. Regardless of whether employers equally apply a law, it is illegal for as longs it harms certain protected groups more than others.

This does not prohibit employers from conducting criminal background checks but requires them to prove that their policies are able to link certain criminal offences and their danger with those risks inherent to particular job positions. In conclusion therefore criminal background checks if not carefully conducted can be discriminative and as such employers are to strive and meet the legal EEOC’S guidelines. Ones criminal past should be checked in terms of nature and gravity, the time that has gone by since one was convicted or completed their sentence and type of job one is applying for.

employers should try not apply blanket policies by initiating the criminal backgrounds checks at least at interview level, ensure their policies are in line with necessities of the business, ensure fairness and constantly train the HR teams to apply the best practices of hiring and also appreciate patterns in recruitment likely to adversely impact on certain groups. References.1. Rita Seidner. (2014). The Dilemma of Criminal Background Screening: Deciding if and when to Check a Job Seeker’s Criminal History is a Complicated Ethical Issue and, Increasingly a Legal One.

SHRM Magazine; Vol. 59(6). Available at http://www.shrm.org/publications/hrmagazine/editorialcontent/2014/0614/pages/0 614-criminal-background-screens.aspx#sthash.CvHMUUtt.dpuf