The overwhelming majority of employers and landlords use reports
prepared by background check companies.
There are hundreds of background check companies. Most of these companies purchase a list
(usually a giant data file) of all of the court records once or twice a year. Yes, the courts sell this data. The background check companies then compile
the data from every court into a massive database. So instead of having to go to each court in
the country every time some wants to run a background check on a person, which
would be time consuming and incredibly expensive, they simply search the
database that they have compiled.
Why Background
Check Companies Report Expunged & Sealed Criminal Records
This approach makes background checks very affordable and fast. However, it creates a big problem for people
who recently had their record expunged or sealed. Because the courts do not notify the
background check company about expunged or sealed records, the records remain
in a background check company’s database until the background check company
again purchases data from the court. As a result, your expunged or sealed
record may still be reported to employers, landlords anyone else who accesses
their reports.
While federal law[2]
mandates that the background check company let you know when they have provided
adverse information about you to someone so that you can dispute it if it is not
accurate, this so called safeguard substantially defeats the purpose of an
expungement or record sealing. It puts
you in the awkward position of having to explain that you had a criminal record
expunged or sealed. As attorney Mathew
Higbee puts it, “you are left trying to unring the alarm bell, which is
impossible to do.”
Many states have passed laws that have tried to solve this problem
by making the background check companies verify adverse data before they report
to an employer or landlord, but the reality is that most background check
companies do not follow these state laws.
It is cheaper to violate the state laws, which are rarely enforced, than
it is to comply with them. Furthermore,
background check companies have been very successful at challenging the
validity of the state laws.
How To Prevent
Employers from Seeing Expunged & Sealed Criminal Records
While there is no perfect solution to this problem, there are two
very good partial solutions. The first is
offered by the Law Firm of Higbee & Associate (RecordGone.com). They offer a service called Expedited Record
Clearance Update, which will have an expunged or sealed criminal record removed
from more than 600 background check providers in less than 14 days. The price
for this service is $350 for new clients and $199 for their existing clients.
The other alternative is a free service provided by the Foundation
for Continuing Justice (ContinuingJustice.org).
The non-profit law firm will like will have an expunged or sealed criminal
record removed from 500 background check providers in less than 90 days. While this service is slower and affects 100 less background check providers,the service is free.
[1]
Some courts, such as Minnesota, do not have authority to instruct all
government agencies to seal or expunge their records.
[2] Fair Credit Report Act - 15 USC § 1681 et seq
