Why Does Your Applicant's Salary Matter?
Have you ever noticed there is a field for “Expected Salary” on the order entry form? Depending on your company’s permissible purpose and the location of your company or where your applicant resides, this information could affect what criminal records you do or do not see on a completed report.
Consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) are governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). As a CRA, One Source must follow the federal law when it comes to consumer reports. However, there are some state laws that preempt the FCRA and those specific state laws must be followed in addition to the federal law.
For example, if your company’s permissible purpose is employment and your applicant lives and/or works in Kansas and makes under $20,000.00 annually, One Source would only report 7 years of criminal history. If your company’s permissible purpose is employment purposes and your applicant lives and/or works in Kansas and makes over $20,000.00 annually, there would be no restriction on how many years of criminal history could be reported – assuming there are no other state laws to follow.
To give another example, if your company’s permissible purpose is employment purposes and your applicant lives and/or works in California, no criminal history records over 7 years can be reported – regardless of how much the applicant makes annually.
No two states are alike. While some states may just have a salary cap, some states may have a salary cap AND restrictions on non-conviction reporting.
Please contact One Source if you have additional questions regarding specific states or specific permissible purposes.
Disclaimer: As you may be aware there are many states and jurisdictions that are enacting bans on requesting information about an applicant’s previous salary. Previous Salary is different from Expected Salary. For enhanced compliance the field for Previous Salary has been removed from our a la carte employment verification products unless specifically requested and permitted by law.
