Importance of Name-Matching Processes

Can name-matching processes put your hiring decisions at risk?

CFPB cautions some background screeners may be violating the law.

Run an employment background check on “John Thomas”—a common name—and you’ll likely receive multiple records matching that name. It’s up to your background screening provider to accurately determine which of those records, if any, belong to your candidate.

An advisory opinion issued in November 2021 by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) asserts that background screeners can violate the law by not performing enough due diligence in their name-matching process.1 As a result, negative information is being falsely assigned to candidates—things like criminal records and bad credit—which can significantly impair the ability to gain employment.

Bad background checks can cause big problems. Most U.S. employers, 95 percent, perform background checks, according to a 2021 report sponsored by the Professional Background Screeners Association.2 This means that nearly every American worker submits to a background check at some point in their work life.

  • With this statistic in mind, the CFPB opinion warns that “even ostensibly low error rates can harm significant numbers of consumers.”
  • In addition, the opinion suggests “the risk of mistaken identities from name-only matching is likely to be greater among Hispanic, Black and Asian communities because there is less surname diversity in those populations compared to the white population.”
  • What’s more, the CFPB opinion affirms that inaccurate name-matching violates the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a federal law that governs the type of information that can be used in hiring decisions, as well as other consumer financial decisions. According to the CFPB, “Background screening companies that violate the FCRA can be liable for significant civil penalties, restitution for victims and other relief.”

Bottom line: misidentified background check records harm candidates, especially those with common names, and they can cause disproportionate harm to minority candidates.

The best practices for name match versus less than best practices. To speed up hiring, some background screening companies use automated processing technologies driven by artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. While this may help accelerate turnaround time by a few seconds or minutes and can potentially reduce costs, it can also compromise result quality by sometimes returning records that match the subject’s name only, regardless of other identifiers such as date of birth and address. This is known as a “name-only” match, and it’s unacceptable when a candidate’s livelihood and, consequently, the employer’s reputation are at risk.

The best practices in matching records to a candidate include a documented adjudication process that involves manual research and confirmation. For example, a matching criminal record is returned in a background check. Instead of automatically providing  the record to the employer, a team of dedicated researchers (known as an adjudication team) immediately springs into action. First, additional identifiers such as a middle name, maiden name, nickname(s), date of birth and address history are used to narrow the results and exclude unrelated records. Then, researchers may contact the record source, such as a courthouse, to further confirm a record match and the final disposition of the record.

Adjudication experts have an in-depth understanding of these critical distinctions and complexities and use their knowledge to ensure only the most relevant and permissible records are returned to employers in their background checks. Having a thorough, transparent adjudication process is important to ensure candidates aren’t misidentified and have a fair and equitable chance at employment.

At S2Verify, we don’t take shortcuts. We employ a robust adjudication team, comprised of seasoned former law enforcement professionals. Our team has extensive knowledge of criminal records, as well as local and state laws regarding the use of criminal records in hiring. Because our team is solely dedicated to criminal record adjudication, our clients can hire with confidence.

If you’re unsure about the name-matching protocol used by your background screening provider, you need to ask. Otherwise, your candidates and your hiring decisions may be at serious risk. To learn more about the S2Verify adjudication process, our adjudication team and how we’re able to return better and more complete results, faster and at a lower cost, contact us today.

1 https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-takes-action-to-stop-false-identification-by-background-screeners/#:~:text=CFPB%20Takes%20Action%20to%20Stop%20False%20Identification%20by%20Background%20Screeners,-Mistaken%20identity%20matching&text=WASHINGTON%2C%20D.C.%20%E2%80%94%20The%20CFPB%20today,in%20shoddy%20name%2Dmatching%20procedures.

2 https://www.hr.com/en/resources/free_research_white_papers/research-study-background-screening—trends-in-th_ksq5meoj.html

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