As counties close their offices to prevent further spread of COVID-19 Coronavirus, approximately 40% of county courts across the country have, or will be, temporarily closed.
Where Checkr is unable to access court records, either because the courts are closed or the records are not available electronically, these closures will result in a significant increase in background check reports resulting in a “pending” status.
Courts that utilize electronic record systems will experience little, if any, delay. Courts that require in-person records retrieval such as Massachusetts, however, can expect more significant delays.
Checkr is continuing to monitor the situation closely. In an effort to provide additional information to our customers, please refer to https://data.checkrstatus.com/ for up-to-date information on court availability.
For questions, please contact Customer Success or your dedicated Customer Success Manager.
FAQs
What’s going to happen to all these Pending reports I’m looking at?
Searches will resume once the courts have reopened, and the report will complete once all pending searches have completed.
What should we tell our candidates?
Candidates that have reached out to Checkr regarding the status of pending reports will receive this notification: “In response to COVID-19, many courts and DMVs across the country have temporarily closed. This may delay the completion of some reports.”
In addition to this message, you can also advise candidates that reports will complete once courts reopen.
How can we adjudicate these reports?
You are free to engage/hire candidates while their reports are pending. If, however, you have made the preliminary decision to not engage/hire the candidate, you should wait until the report has fully completed in order to follow the two-step adverse action process.