Background checks in the workplace are no longer exclusive to potential new hires. According to Bloomberg, the screening industry has seen recent explosive growth in background checks for existing workers.
In light of the ongoing #MeToo movement which spread virally last year demonstrating the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace employers have become more cautious than ever.
Uber, one of the larger companies who has recently gone public with their plans to periodically screen existing drivers, succumbed to the pressure of rolling background checks after coming under fire from local governments after several accounts of sexual misconduct had been reported, as well as for the fatal shooting incident of Uber Eats customer, Ryan Thornton. Â While the exact number of other companies who have adopted the practice of continuous background checks are unknown, more and more have begun to follow suit.
While periodic background screenings may offer a sense of extra security and overall relief to human resource managers, Jonathan Segal, managing principal at the Duane Morris Institute, the education unit of the employment group that provides training to company human resources executives and in-house counsel, feels that the practice of rolling background screenings are a catch-22, telling Bloomberg:
There are legal risks in doing background checks, but there also can be negligent-hire risks in not doing them. So what most employers do is they look at a balance, and they need to figure out where the balance is. Theoretically you could be checking every employee every week, and still miss something.
