Background Check Procedures on the Bloomington Campus

September 2011

Note: These are the procedures for conducting background checks for Staff and Hourly positions on the Bloomington campus. Please contact the appropriate campus Human Resources office for the procedures used on the other campuses.

I. Background Checks

The Background Check Policy requires the verification of the following employee credentials:
1. Employment History: For Staff positions, hiring departments must verify that the selected applicant actually worked in those positions cited by the applicant that qualify him or her for the position, as well as all employment during at least the previous seven years.
2. Education: For Staff positions, hiring departments must verify education beyond the high school level that qualifies the applicant for the position.
3. Licenses: For Staff and Hourly positions, hiring departments must verify any licenses required for the position.
4. Criminal History & Sex Offender Registry: For Staff, PERF Hourly, and certain other Hourly positions, hiring department must request a criminal history and registry check from HireRight, a third-party vendor.
All applicants (Staff and Hourly) must complete the university-designated application to be considered for employment with Indiana University, disclosing relevant credentials and work history and all criminal history for verification.
1. Professional (PA) and Support Staff (SS) application forms will be completed through the On-Line Application (OLA) System.
2. Service (SM) and Hourly application forms are at hr.iu.edu/employment/bloomington/jobapp.html.
The existence of a criminal conviction does not automatically disqualify an applicant from employment. Supervisors are expected to make good decisions regarding an applicant's background and potential duties and responsibilities to be assigned.
All written and oral offers of employment are conditional based on the completion of the employment, education, license, and criminal history checks and will contain the following statement: "This offer is contingent on the university's verification of credentials and other information required by state law and IU policies, including the completion of a criminal history check."
1. Employment History, Education, and Licenses: It is strongly recommended that these verifications be completed before making an offer of employment. All verifications should be completed within 30 days of making an offer of employment.
2. Criminal History & Sex and Violent Offender Registry: These background checks are to be initiated through HireRight after acceptance of the conditional offer of employment.
  1. Rather than the full standard check, a department may request a limited criminal history and sexual and violent offender registry check for applicants under the age of 22 using only the applicant's permanent home address.
The hiring department can request that HireRight perform a check of employment history and/or education for additional fees by using the "New Request" option on the website and selecting the additional check(s) to be performed.
The hiring process, including the initiation of the E-Doc and the applicant beginning work, may proceed while the various background checks are underway.

II. The Criminal Background Check Process

The applicant must complete a Background Check Consent Statement, which gives Indiana University the explicit written consent of the candidate to conduct a criminal background check. (Background Check Consent Form PDF)
1. For those positions filled using OLA, the Background Check Consent Statement is part of the process and is completed when an application is submitted online.
2. For positions filled using paper applications, the Background Check Consent Statement is completed at time of submission of the paper application.
  1. The department must receive a paper copy of the selected candidate's signed and dated Background Check Consent Statement prior to conducting the criminal history and sex and violent offender registry checks. A faxed or photocopied form is acceptable.Departments are to maintain the completed Background Check Consent Statement with the candidate's application material.
After a conditional offer of employment is made and the department has received the signed consent form, the department can obtain the selected candidate's social security number and date of birth.
1. The private information may be collected in person, over the telephone, or in writing from the selected candidate.
2. Due to security concerns, this private information is not to be sent electronically.
The request for a criminal background check is entered on the HireRight website by the hiring department's authorized person.

III. Becoming an Authorized HireRight User

University Human Resource Services (UHRS) needs the following information for the department's authorized person:
1. First and last name
2. Position title
3. Campus phone number
4. Campus fax number
5. E-mail address
6. Campus address
7. Dept code (i.e. BL-BUS, UA-HUMM)
Authorization for access must come from a member of management within the department.
UHRS will notify the department's authorized user after the HireRight set up is complete. The authorized user will receive an email from HireRight with an initial assigned password.
Once the record is set up, the authorized user can log in to the HireRight system.

Go to www.hireright.com
Click on "Login"
In the Company ID field, enter "I2U" (case sensitive) for the Bloomington location
In the User Name field, enter your IU email address (case sensitive)
In the Password field, enter your HireRight password (case sensitive)
Click on "Login"
Once you have successfully logged in to the HireRight system for the first time, you should change your initial password

IV. Submitting Requests for Criminal Histories

Detailed instructions for requesting a background check are on the HireRight site. Once logged in, the steps are:
1. Click on "Quick Order"
2. Select either:
  1. "IU Standard Check" or
  2. "IU Limited Check" for those under 22 years of age
3. Type in the IU Reference number using the format described below.
4. Select a position type from the "Please select the position Category" drop down menu (Hourly, Staff, Academic, or Not Applicable)
5. Type in the applicant’s name, address, contact phone number, email address (if known), social security number, date of birth
6. Click on "Next Page"
7. Go to the bottom of the "Additional Cities/Counties, if any, for Criminal Search" page and click "Next Page"
8. A summary of the information entered will appear for review (Note: It is important to confirm the correct information has been entered before proceeding to step 9. Failure to verify the information could lead to additional charges, complications in the billing process, and incomplete or false results.)
9. Click the box indicating you have read and complied with the legal requirements for requesting a background check
  1. You can access the requirements through a link at the bottom of the Summary Input page
  2. You only have to read the summary for the first check submitted
10. Click "Complete"

V. Criminal History Background & Sex and Violent Offender Registry Check Results

Upon completion of the background check, HireRight will inform the university of the results.
If there are no court records, an email will be sent to the person who submitted the request stating the candidate "Meets Company Standards." The department can then proceed with finalizing the hire.
If a court record has been found, an email will be sent to the UHRS Employment office informing them that the status is "Pending." UHRS Employment will take the following steps:
1. UHRS Employment will contact the hiring department to (a) determine if the candidate is already working and (b) obtain the employment application if not already on file in the UHRS office.
  1. If the individual is already working, and the conviction was not indicated on the application, he or she will be suspended in accordance with the appropriate university policy until the issue is resolved.
2. UHRS Employment will send a letter to the candidate or employee informing him or her of the results of the background check, along with a copy of the background check report and a statement of his or her rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
  1. The letter can be sent electronically (email) or through the U.S. Postal Service.
  2. The letter or email will state that (a) a conviction has been found, (b) a final decision will be made shortly about the individual’s conditional offer of employment, (c) the report may be considered in that decision, and (d) if the individual has any questions about the accuracy of the report, he or she should contact HireRight at the provided address.
3. UHRS will review the report, compare it with information provided on the individual's application, and discuss the issue with the hiring department.
4. If the HireRight report provides a confirmation of a conviction reported in the application material, the original hiring decision will be reviewed and a final decision will be made, with the expectation that, in most cases, the hiring will go forward.
  1. If the offer of employment is confirmed, the hiring department must inform UHRS Employment, who will change the individual's status from "Pending" to "Meets Company Standards" on the HireRight website.
5. If the HireRight report reveals a falsification in the application material, the offer of employment will be revoked and the individual will be terminated if already employed.
  1. If the offer of employment is revoked, either because of a falsification or because UHRS and the department concur that it was not an acceptable hiring decision, UHRS Employment will inform the candidate of this decision either by letter through the U.S. Postal Service or via email. The letter will state (a) the conditional offer of employment has been withdrawn, (b) the report from HireRight may have influenced the decision, and (c) to contact HireRight if the candidate wishes to dispute the contents of the report.
  2. If the offer of employment is revoked, UHRS Employment will change the candidate's status from "Pending" to "Does Not Meet Company Standards" on the HireRight website.
- NOTE: The contents of all letters are prescribed by the FCRA.
Social security trace
1. If the social security trace could not be completed due to a lack of credit history, an email will be sent to the department's authorized person stating, "No Data Found."
  1. The department's authorized person should verify the social security number was entered correctly and, if not, resubmit the request. The department will be charged for a second background check request.
  2. If the SSN was entered correctly, the hiring department should contact the candidate to verify the number and, if there was an error, resubmit the request. The department will be charged for a second background check request.
  3. If the social security trace cannot be completed because the candidate has not yet established any type of credit history, the employment offer can proceed with significant attention given to the I-9/E-Verify process.
  4. The department must notify UHRS Employment ( ) of the results of the I-9/E-Verify process.
  5. UHRS Employment will change the candidate's status from "Pending" to "Meets Company Standards" on the HireRight website if the I-9/E-Verify final results authorized the person to work in the U.S.
  6. UHRS Employment will change the candidate's status from "Pending" to "Does Not Meet Company Standards" in the HireRIght website if the I-9/E-Verify final results are that the person is not authorized to work in the U.S.
  7. Important note: If the person receives a "Tentative Non-Confirmation" (TNC) result from E-Verify and elects to contest the TNC, the person must be allowed to work during the appeal process until the U.S. Department of Homeland Security makes a final decision.
2. If the issue cannot be satisfactorily resolved with a verifiable social security number (e.g., due to the applicant providing a false number or having a credit history under another name), the department will receive a message from HireRight indicating the discrepancy.
  1. If the I-9/E-Verify process has not yet been initiated, complete and submit the I-9 to E-Verify. Notify UHRS Employment of the I-9/E-Verify results and follow the same procedures as described above in "Social Security trace."

VI. The IU Reference Number

This number is assigned to each background check request and is critical for HireRight to use in submitting “Pending” cases to the correct campus Human Resources office, for those offices to use in determining the hiring department, and for UHRS to use in billing for the background check request.
The IU Reference number will consist of the following elements, each separated by a dash:
1. The two-character campus designation: BL for the Bloomington campus. Note: UA and BA are not used. HireRight uses this field to determine the physical location of the position in order to send the report to the correct campus HR office.
2. The two- to four-character designation in HRMS for the department in which the position is located. These codes can be viewed in the IUIE or accessed through the FDRS (Financial Data Retrieval System).
3. The seven-digit account number to which the request is to be billed. If there is a subaccount, it should follow the account number after a single space.
Examples of the IU Reference Number

VII. Billing

Each month, HireRight will submit a bill to UHRS for the previous month's requests. The bill will contain the name of each individual for whom a check has been performed and the cost of that check. UHRS will sort the requests by university account number and charge the appropriate accounts.