Delivering the placement · Lesson 17 of 18 · 8 min
When you place a contractor you are the employer, which means the screening obligation and the liability for getting it wrong are yours rather than the client’s. This lesson is the shape of the process and the compliance sequence that protects you.
One framing note before the detail. This lesson describes a legal process, and the specifics — what may be asked, how far back records may go, which checks are restricted — vary by state and by locality and change. Where that is true, this page says so rather than inventing a rule that would be wrong somewhere.
The reliable version of this is: use a proper screening provider who knows your jurisdictions, and have your employment attorney look at your process once. Both are cheap relative to the alternative.
Confirming the person is who they say they are and is authorised to work. For anyone you employ directly, employment eligibility verification is a legal requirement rather than a screening choice.
When it applies: Every placement where you are the employer of record. Non-negotiable.
Contacting previous employers and institutions to confirm dates, titles and qualifications actually held.
When it applies: Most professional placements. It is the check that catches the largest number of real discrepancies, and clients increasingly assume you have done it.
Searches at county, state and federal level, plus national database checks. Coverage and depth differ by provider and by jurisdiction.
When it applies: Where the role or the client requires it. Note that when and how you may ask about criminal history is regulated by state and local fair-chance laws, so this is a check to run through a provider who knows your jurisdictions.
In healthcare, federal and state exclusion lists — a facility will not accept a clinician who appears on one. Other regulated sectors have their own registries and licence verifications.
When it applies: Before anyone works a shift in a regulated setting. Facilities audit this.
Driving history, licence status and endorsements.
When it applies: Any role that involves driving. Commercial driving roles carry their own federally regulated requirements that go well beyond a standard check.
Substance testing, and in clinical settings immunisation and health records.
When it applies: Where the client, the sector or the regulator requires it. What you may test for and how you may act on results varies considerably by state, and has changed in several states in recent years.
If you use a third-party screening provider — which you should — the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act governs how you request reports and, crucially, what you must do before acting on a bad one. The sequence is not complicated and it is not optional.
Disclosure, on its own document
Before ordering a report, give the candidate a clear written notice that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes. The requirement that trips agencies up is that this disclosure must stand alone — not folded into the application form, the employment agreement or a page of other text.
Written authorisation
The candidate authorises the check in writing. Keep it: if a dispute arises, the authorisation and the disclosure are the first two things anyone asks to see.
Order through a proper provider
Use a consumer reporting agency rather than assembling records yourself. They handle accuracy obligations, jurisdictional coverage and the paperwork, and they know which of your states restrict what.
Pre-adverse action, before you decide
If something in the report might cause you not to place the person, you notify them first — before the decision is final — and provide a copy of the report together with the summary of rights document. The purpose is to let them correct an error, and reports do contain errors.
Wait, and actually consider a response
The candidate gets a reasonable opportunity to dispute or explain. Treating this as a formality to be waited out is both the wrong reading of the requirement and how a mistaken record becomes a real problem for a real person.
Adverse action notice
If you still decide not to proceed, send the final notice with the information the rule requires, including how to contact the reporting agency and the candidate’s right to dispute the report’s accuracy.
Check yourself
A background report comes back with a record that would stop you placing the candidate. What has to happen before you make that decision final?
Where does the background check disclosure have to appear?
Sometimes a client will let someone begin while screening is still running. This is a real commercial option and it is a risk you should take with your eyes open: get the client’s agreement in writing, and be explicit about what happens — and who bears the cost — if the check comes back adverse after the person has been on site.
In regulated settings the answer is usually simply no. In healthcare in particular the credential file has to be complete before a shift, and an incomplete file means a cancelled shift.
Once the check clears and the person starts, the placement is still not finished — which is the last lesson.
Key takeaways
Yes, and when you place contractors you are usually the one who has to, because you are the employer of record. What gets checked depends on the role, the client and the sector: identity and work authorisation at minimum, commonly employment and education verification, and criminal, driving, drug or registry checks where the work or the client requires them. Clients frequently specify their own screening requirements in the services agreement, so read that before quoting a start date.
The sequence you must follow before declining to place someone based on a background report. First, a pre-adverse action notice sent before the decision is final, including a copy of the report and the required summary of rights. Then a reasonable period for the candidate to dispute or explain, which you have to genuinely consider. Then, if you still decline, a final adverse action notice with the reporting agency’s contact details and the candidate’s right to dispute the report. Your screening provider will supply compliant templates; getting the sequence wrong is one of the most commonly litigated screening failures.
Normally the agency, as part of the cost of placing the worker, and it should be priced into your margin rather than treated as a surprise. Some clients reimburse specific checks they have mandated, particularly expensive sector-specific screening, and that is worth agreeing in the services agreement. What you should not do is charge the candidate — several states restrict or prohibit it, and it is a poor signal in a market where candidates have options.
It varies enormously by check type and jurisdiction, which is why quoting a number here would be unhelpful. Database searches return quickly; court records, employment verification and anything requiring a human to respond can take considerably longer, and some jurisdictions are slower than others. The practical advice is to ask your provider for realistic turnaround on the specific checks and locations you use, then build that into the start dates you promise clients rather than discovering it on the first placement.
Sometimes, and it is a risk you should take deliberately rather than by accident. Some clients allow a contingent start with screening in progress; regulated settings generally do not, and in healthcare an incomplete file means the shift is cancelled. If you do start someone contingently, get the client’s agreement in writing and be clear about what happens if the check comes back adverse — including who bears the cost of the worker having already been on site.
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Next: The first 90 days and the guarantee
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