Rolling Background Checks at Work are Becoming More Common
If someone accuses you of a crime, you could be arrested. Being arrested in New York causes an immediate record because your case and arrest information can be accessed by other people and could appear in a background check. Before you even set foot in a courtroom, your case could cause employment, immigration, and other problems regardless of whether you are actually innocent or guilty.
According to Bloomberg news in a July 2018 article, recent changes in society are causing employers to implement periodic background checks as they go from screening job applicants to looking for negative background information regarding their current employees. Rolling background checks are periodic background checks that could be run annually, monthly, weekly, or daily. Some employers are also notified immediately when an employee has been arrested. The MeToo movement and gig economy are partially to blame as employers increasingly worry about the possibility that someone in their ranks is a sexual predator or could otherwise subject them to a lawsuit for hiring someone with a record. Retailers are also moving to implement more criminal record monitoring. Banks can get sued or fined by the government if they fail to properly screen prospective and existing employees. J.P. Morgan was recently fined for failing to properly screen employees which lead to them hiring several people with criminal convictions.
If you’ve been arrested in New York City, your best strategy is to avoid conviction and get your case dismissed. Convictions are serious because they increase the risk that your arrest and case will always show up in a background check. A dismissal is the best possible way to reduced the risk of your case showing up in an employment background check because dismissed cases can be sealed in New York.