What Minnesota adds to an employment background check

The federal requirements for employment background checks are described in the background check you are supposed to see. Minnesota adds to them, and the addition is unusually practical.

The Minnesota disclosure

Minn. Stat. § 13C.02, subd. 1, provides that a person may not obtain or cause to be prepared a consumer report for employment purposes unless the person

clearly and accurately discloses to the consumer that a consumer report may be obtained

before the report is obtained — typically with the employment application.

That much parallels the federal rule in § 1681b(b)(2). What Minnesota adds is the mechanism.

The disclosure must contain a box you can check to request a copy of the report. An affirmative opt-in, on the same piece of paper you are already signing.

If you check it, the agency must send the report within 24 hours, together with information about dispute procedures.

On written request, the agency must disclose the nature and scope of the report within five days (subd. 3).

Why the checkbox matters more than it looks

Under federal law you get the report only at the pre-adverse-action stage — after the employer has the report and is contemplating acting against you. That is late. Useful, but late.

The Minnesota checkbox gets you the report at the same time the employer gets it, whether or not anything has gone wrong.

Which means you find out what the report says before it costs you anything. If it contains someone else’s criminal record, or a case that was dismissed, you learn it while you are still a candidate rather than after an offer evaporates.

Tick the box. It costs nothing, it is on a form you are signing anyway, and it is the only mechanism in either statute that gets you the report early.

The federal layer still applies

Before the report is obtained — § 1681b(b)(2) requires a clear and conspicuous written disclosure “in a document that consists solely of the disclosure,” plus your written authorization. The standalone-document requirement is federal and it is strict.

Before adverse action — § 1681b(b)(3) requires the employer to give you a copy of the report and a written description of your rights before acting. Before, not after.

Public records and the § 1681k notice

One more federal provision applies specifically to employment reports containing public record information.

15 U.S.C. § 1681k requires an agency furnishing a report for employment purposes that contains public record information likely to have an adverse effect on the consumer’s ability to obtain employment to do one of two things:

• notify the consumer of the fact that public record information is being reported, at the time it is reported to the user; or
• maintain strict procedures designed to insure that such information is complete and up to date.

For arrests, indictments, convictions, suits, tax liens, and outstanding judgments, reporting the current status at the time of the report satisfies the “up to date” requirement.

That word current is the practical hook. A dismissed case reported without its dismissal, or a vacated judgment reported as outstanding, is not current status — and public record entries are exactly where employment screening reports go wrong. See judgments, liens, and bankruptcies.

A checklist for a Minnesota job application

1. Read the disclosure rather than initialling past it. It is supposed to be its own document.
2. Check the box requesting a copy. Twenty-four hours.
3. Read the report the same day it arrives, against what you know.
4. If something is wrong, act immediately — tell the employer in writing and dispute with the screening company, which is a consumer reporting agency subject to the ordinary reinvestigation rules.
5. If a pre-adverse-action package arrives, that is § 1681b(b)(3) and the window is short.
6. Keep everything, including envelopes. See building a record that holds up.

Whether an employer or an agency complied, and what follows if not, are questions about documents and facts we do not have. What is general: Minnesota gives you a way to see the report early, it is a checkbox, and almost nobody ticks it.