In California, employers can’t seek the arrest record of a potential employee (even though arrest record information is public record). If an applicant is out of jail but awaiting trial, employers can inquire regarding an arrest.

There are exceptions for certain arrests when the applicant will be employed in health care and have access to patients or drugs.

You can take steps to prepare for an employee background check before you apply for a new job. By doing so, you could reduce the chance of being surprised by inaccurate or forgotten information that could show up during the background check process.

The Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) is a California law that requires investigative consumer reporting agencies (ICRAs) to institute reasonable procedures to ensure they provide and use consumer information in a way that is fair, equitable and respects consumers’ right to privacy, particularly with regard to reports furni

When an employer performs a background check on you and finds incorrect information, you have options and rights.

Even if you feel that you have nothing to hide or don’t particularly care whether an employer knows a lot about your private life, there are still reasons you should pay attention and understand your rights when it comes to background checks.

The federal law governing employment background checks (Fair Credit Reporting Act) doesn’t prohibit employers from asking questions about criminal history on a job application. Ban the Box laws (check box on job applications about criminal history) are being enacted at the state, county and city level in response to this practice.

Credit reports are compiled by a credit reporting agency and contain data from many different sources. They are commonly used to make decisions about a person’s ability to obtain credit, employment, insurance and rent or purchase a home. Government agencies also use credit reports during the course of investigations.

We often hear people use the terms credit report and credit score interchangeably without realizing they are different. It’s understandable since credit scores and credit reports are related (credit scores can be based upon information found in a credit report). Both may be used by financial institutions, employers and others to make critical decisions affecting your ability to obtain a line of credit, loan, employment, insurance or rental. However, credit reports and credit scores are used for different purposes, come with very different rights and aren't equally transparent.

There are a number of different ways to make your voice heard if you believe that someone isn’t complying with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Yes.  If you don't pay attention to the permissions, you may give apps access to more information than you'd like. Android and iOS both provide tools (in the settings) that allow you to have some control over whether an app can get or use specific types of data.  An app may need to access your contacts list to add friends, or it might need to be able to use the camera to remotely deposit a check at your bank. An app might also be collect information that seems unrelated to its purpose, like a flashlight app accessing your contacts.