Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why should our company use APSCREEN?
A: APSCREEN is the oldest, continuously operated Factual Employment Screening firm in the USA. Since 1980, APSCREEN has provided consultation, education and employment screening to thousands of large, medium and small firms. Our Founder, Thomas Lawson has been referred to as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the topic of Factual Employment Screening, and is presently the Country’s most recognized expert witness on matters of Improper Employment Screening and Fair Credit Reporting Act compliance.
Q: How do you conduct your Criminal research?
A: APSCREEN searches all applicable court levels in the jurisdictions located through the intensive multi step identification process ensuring a complete report of a subject’s conviction history. Our reports also include a national search of felonies and misdemeanors, a national sex offender search as well as a Global Homeland Security search.
Q: How does APSCREEN know where to look for criminal convictions?
A: APSCREEN conducts an extensive, multi-step Positive Candidate Identification®process in order to fully and thoroughly identify the candidate’s name, prior address history, aliases, and so on. This ID process is conducted in conjunction with proprietary forms provided to our clients who initiate the ID process either by Paper or our QuickApp® paperless candidate on=boarding system. APSCREEN’s process is to try to assist the client in eliminating candidacy during the application process in order to provide the employer with a retaliation-proof method of screening out undesirable candidates because of the omission of material information pertaining to their identity. Once Identity is verified, enhanced and validated (where applicable) our proprietary blend of criminal research processes commences and in conjunction with the jurisdiction-hunting properties of the ID process, preliminary criminal history vetting process begins through any and all applicable aggressively-vetted proprietary repositories, non-recourse Court web-search platforms and hand searches of identified residential and employment jurisdictions, where applicable and possible. Ours is simply THE MOST thorough criminal research process imaginable.
Q: Is APSCREEN compliant with all applicable Local, State and Federal Privacy and Consumer Reporting Statutes?
A: APSCREEN is not only compliant with the FACTA, FCRA, CCRRA and G-L-B, but has extensive published works on the topic. Our Founder, Thomas Lawson regularly speaks, writes and gives expert witness testimony on the topic.
APSCREEN not only provides its clients with compliant, state-of-the-art paper and electronic forms designed to screen out non-forthcoming prospective employees, but is well known in the Consumer Reporting Industry as being on the cutting edge of forward compliance. We sought written consent in 1980 when the FCRA has no such rules and in 1995 we saw the need to send a copy of the report to Consumers at the same time the report was sent to the client, so they could see almost in real-time what was being said about them and so they could respond to any inaccuracies. On December 4, 2000, our idea was proven right and the FCRA was modified to include “Pre-Adverse Notice” which we invented. Later the FTC latched on to our idea of the Screener sending the Pre-Adverse Notice to ensure timeliness versus their initial reaction which was that the employer should send it which was a bad strategy. APSCREEN was the first to offer Pre-Adverse Notice compliance long before anyone else.
Q: Where does APSCREEN get all its information?
A: As a member of many national and worldwide professional research and investigative organizations, APSCREEN is readily accountable, and is known to conduct thorough research not only by its clients, but also by its sources, located at every Court in the land. As a Founding member of the Public Record Provider Network, Founding Member if NAPBS/PBSA and long standing members of the National Public Record Research Association, we are in the Courts, daily searching records. We also research criminal records for other firms who don’t want to, or don’t have the resources to search them themselves. For us, research is easy. For those who have never set foot in a Court Clerk’s office? Not so much!
APSCREEN, as a Three-Bureau Certified Consumer Reporting Agency, has direct relationships with all 50 states Motor Vehicle Departments, and all three major credit bureaus, as well as over 900 other repository-based providers for identity reports, and other information types such as UCC searches, litigation histories, etc.
Q: What is “Ban the Box” and does it pertain to me?
A: “Ban the Box’ is an initiative that provides applicants a fair chance at employment by removing the conviction history question from job applications and delaying background checks until later in the hiring process. This movement seeks to advance employment opportunities for ex-offenders by eliminating all inquiries into the criminal history of applicants on initial job applications.
Q: Is APSCREEN able to interface with my HRIS/ATS system?
A: APSCREEN interfaces with over 200 HRIS and/or ATS systems, including Taleo, Yardi, and iCIMS. Our reporting system can be accessed 24/7 for ordering and file review and all reports are fully archived for the FCRA Section 618 statutory period.
Q: Can I run a credit check on my applicants?
A: After an initial “site-visit” required by the credit bureaus, a credit report may be run on an applicant with a permissible purpose.
Q: Does APSCREEN conduct reference checks as well as employment and education background verifications?
A: APSCREEN maintains a full referencing and verification department and can accommodate all of your needs where available, worldwide.
Q: Has APSCREEN ever been sued for wrongful reporting?
A: APSCREEN has never been sued, in any court for any reason, EVER! Actually, our founder is the expert witness that Lawyers hire when others get sued for shoddy work.
In 1990, well known Labor Lawyer Lee Paterson once told our Founder: “Your best selling point, Tom, is to tell your prospective customers that you’ve never been sued.” To date, APSCREEN has never been sued anywhere for any reason. In 2014, famous Consumer Attorney James Francis said: “Your business model will never get sued, Tom”.
Q: Do I need to sign a contract and be locked in for a period of time to use APSCREEN? Costs?
A: APSCREEN does not lock you into a contract. We believe you should be able to try other avenues. We will be here when you want to come back. Plus, there are no costs - all we need is a Membership Application and Subscriber Agreement Form.
Q: How about Customer Service?
A: We let our customers answer that question, just ask us for a reference! We recognize that your time is valuable and when you need an answer we strive to make sure to call you back as soon as we are able and try NOT to make your leave a message in the first place.