Are you a driver for Uber, Lyft, or any one of the other rideshare companies? Are you thinking of applying to become one? Either way, you will be subjected to a background check. Before you begin employment with any rideshare company and often consistently throughout your employment, you will be subjected to criminal and other background history checks.
How are the Background Checks Performed?
As part of the application process to each rideshare company, you are required to give permission for the company to perform a background check. Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Uber Eats, Post Mates, and a few others generally use a company called Checkr. Checkr will go out and search multiple databases around the country for criminal records and poor driving records that match to you. If something that is disqualifying appears, then the background check fails. If this was a first-time application, you will be denied the job. If you were already employed at the time, you will be locked out of the app and will not be able to work.
Either way, you are entitled to know what information appeared on the report that cost the job, and it is the requirement of the employer to provide you that information. In the rideshare world, Checkr will typically provide the information directly to you in an email.
The 3 Most Common Errors:
There are many ways that a background report can contain an error that costs a job. However, the three most common are:
- Merged or Mixed Files: Often times one person is confused with another because they have the same name and/or date of birth or other personal information.
- Expunged/Sealed Offenses: While a criminal conviction can be reported indefinitely, many people are able to have the offense expunged or the file sealed. Yet a background report can locate and report that information as if it was never sealed or expunged.
- Misread Public Record Information: Sometimes the background reporting agency will misread the record and fail to note when a felony is reduced to a misdemeanor or misread a not guilty verdict as guilty. Also, driving records can be misread and misunderstood, causing the report to indicate a poor driving history when there was none.
What are your Rights?
First, you have a right to an accurate report for your employment, so if any of the above scenarios should happen, you should call our offices immediately.
But also, you have a right to dispute the inaccurate information on your report and force the background company to investigate your claims and respond within thirty (30) days. Most background companies such as Checkr will notify you about this when the application is being denied and will point you directly to where your dispute should be sent. Upon receipt of the results of the investigation, assuming the bad information was removed, you can direct the background report company to re-issue your new background report to the employer.