Pre-employment Civil Litigation Checks: Why ?

When making a decision for potential business partners, and properties as well as potential director-level employees, most people focus on the prospect’s criminal background checks, educational credentials and work experience. It is important to conduct a thorough background check in order to verify all of these areas. However, one important factor that is missed sometimes is the area of litigation record check.

Conducting a civil litigation check reveals valuable pre-employment history. While a criminal history check focuses only on violation of a jurisdiction’s criminal code, civil litigation checks provide a wider array of relevant information. It encompasses various legal practices including torts, workers compensation, employment discrimination, bankruptcy, credit/debtor law, property, real estate and contracts, etc. It is important to understand the prospect’s involvement with any of these issues.

Pre-employment civil litigation checks are important due to the following reasons:
• If the prospect has extensive civil litigation involvement, it will equate to less time on the job.
• Certain types of civil litigation actions could mean red flags for company. Their determination will help you avoid such situations.
• If the prospect has a history of personal injury or multiple workers’ compensation claims against former partners or employers, chances are that your company will face a similar claim soon.
• If there are uncollected debts owed by the individual, your payroll department will have to face an extra hassle of complying with wage garnishment action. Individuals, who can’t manage their own finances, can hardly be good directors for a company.

Therefore, civil litigation checks should be a regular part of your business partner assessment and director-level employee screening processes.

It is advisable to conduct a civil litigation check through a professional background check company, which will take care of all your needs. You can make a completely informed decision with such information at hand.