{"id":2696,"date":"2023-03-15T10:24:56","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T08:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/?p=2696"},"modified":"2023-03-15T10:30:28","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T08:30:28","slug":"can-we-do-background-checks-on-recruits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/2023\/03\/15\/can-we-do-background-checks-on-recruits\/","title":{"rendered":"Can we do background checks on recruits?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"358\" src=\"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LawAtWork-Newsletter-HEADER-2022-1024x358.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2698\" srcset=\"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LawAtWork-Newsletter-HEADER-2022-1024x358.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LawAtWork-Newsletter-HEADER-2022-300x105.jpg 300w, https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LawAtWork-Newsletter-HEADER-2022-768x268.jpg 768w, https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LawAtWork-Newsletter-HEADER-2022-1536x536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LawAtWork-Newsletter-HEADER-2022-2048x715.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Employers are often charmed by applicants, that they neglect doing background checks before employing them.\u00a0 This is however, a crucial procedure in preventing fraud against the company<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In seeking to implement \u201czero tolerance\u201d, organisations must concern themselves with the honesty and integrity of their employees.&nbsp; One of the ways in which this can be done is through background screening and integrity assessments of both existing employees and candidates for employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A typical background screen and integrity test would be carried out by professional service providers and might include one or more of the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Company searches<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Checking of criminal records<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Credit bureau enquiries<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Confirmation of work, schooling and higher education details as claimed<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Structured interviews with the person concerned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Interviews with references (lifestyle assessment)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Psychometric testing, and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Verification of tertiary qualifications.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Certain organisations have been known to use polygraph testing during the recruitment process for sensitive positions, such as those who will have access to company funds or assets.&nbsp; This is however a risky procedure as it could lead to allegations of unfair labour practices when an applicant is shown away based on the outcome of the lie detector test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In respect of background checking and screening, there are certain legal issues to be considered.&nbsp; These may be summarised as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa stipulates the right of the individual to fair labour practices and the right to privacy. The Constitution further takes a very strong stance against discriminatory practices.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Labour Relations Act of 1995 and the Employment Equity Act of 1998 seek to define rights as they pertain to employees: in essence, an employer may not unfairly discriminate against an employee or applicant for employment on any arbitrary ground, such as race, gender or age.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Employment Equity Act states, however, that it is not unfair to discriminate on the basis of an inherent requirement of a particular job.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In order to protect the employer from legal action against it in respect of breach of privacy, the employer must obtain the consent of the employee or the applicant for employment.&nbsp; This consent must contain sufficient detail to place the employee or applicant in a position so as to appreciate fully the nature and extent of the integrity assessment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Performing screening or vetting procedures on new recruits is a vital activity in securing the basic level of integrity in a company\u2019s workforce.&nbsp; History has shown that individuals with an inclination towards dishonest behaviour tend to become repeat-offenders.&nbsp; This trait will however not be uncovered by recruiting employers, if they do not follow a stringent policy of vetting new staff.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Always consult a reputable labour law practitioner when considering to appoint new employees and to avoid what might prove to be rather expensive litigation if a proper process is not followed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Employers are often charmed by applicants, that they neglect doing background checks before employing them.\u00a0 This is however, a crucial procedure in preventing fraud against the company. In seeking to &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2696"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2701,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2696\/revisions\/2701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-at-work.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}