Checkr Dashboard

The Logs page provides a log of all your API and webhook calls. Click an individual call or log to find its details and troubleshoot your integration.

You can use logs during your development cycle to review all API and webhook calls for both successful and unsuccessful requests over time. Logs can help you identify which calls dropped and why.

API logs

To search for a specific API call, enter a resource ID for the call. This ID could be the unique `id` for the candidate or the report used in the call. In the search results, click the call to show details. You can also filter the API calls by status and timeframe.

API logs have the sections below:

• Summary (timestamp, IP address, API URL called, method used, status of the call, content type, and user agent)
• Request query parameters
• Raw request body
• Parsed request body
• Response body

Webhook logs

This page shows all webhook logs originating from your account's API key or OAuth application.

To search for a specific webhook event, enter a report ID for the event. In the search results, click the event to show details. You can also filter the webhooks by HTTP response status, timeframe, and retries.

Webhook logs have the sections below:

• Summary (timestamp, webhook URL, status, event, and retry number, if applicable)
• Raw request body
• Response body

On the Analytics page of the Checkr Dashboard, you can review and evaluate your background check process. Charts on your Analytics page vary by how many candidates you screen and the Checkr packages or account features you have. You can also filter charts and download chart data.

Overview

The Overview tab shows your account's reports during the selected date range with the information below:

• Completion and adjudication rate
• Turnaround times
• Outcomes

Volume

The Volume section provides the charts below:

• Invitations completed: If you don't use the Order background check button, this value is empty. List the number of invitations created during the selected date range. List the number of invitations completed as a percentage of the number created.
• Reports completed: List the total number of reports completed during the selected date range. List the number of reports completed as a percentage of the number created.
• Reports adjudicated: List the number of reports completed and adjudicated during the selected date range. List the number of reports adjudicated as a percentage of the number completed.
• Report status & Report status by day: Chart the number of reports created during the selected date range and their current status. Possible statuses are Complete, Dispute, Pending, or Suspended. Results appear by day for the selected date range.
• Report outcome & Report outcome by day: Chart the number of reports created during the selected date range and their current outcome. Possible outcomes are Clear, Consider, or other. Outcomes appear by day for the selected date range.

Turnaround time

The Turnaround Time section provides the charts below:

• TAT summary: List the average turnaround time in days for invitations, reports, and adjudication.
  • Minimum
  • Median
  • Average
  • 90th percentile
  • Maximum
• TAT metrics: The metric reported for the row:
• Invitation: The time between an invitation’s creation and the candidate completing it
• Report: The time between a report’s creation and its completion
• Adjudication: The time between a report’s completion and its first adjudication decision
• TAT drilldown: List the turnaround time for all reports created during the selected date range by the measures below:
• Turnaround time (in hours) for the report’s invitation completion
• Report completion
• Report adjudication
  Reports without invitations, or without adjudication, are blank for those columns.
• Report TAT distribution: Show the distribution of turnaround times (in days) for reports created within the selected date range.
• Report TAT by package: Show the distribution of turnaround times (in days) by package for reports created within the selected date range.
• Pending and suspended reports due to unresolved candidate exceptions: List the exception types for long pending and suspended reports. List the number of reports pending or suspended because of these exceptions.

Note

This report won't include data from the most recent 24 hours.

• Exception type: The unresolved candidate exception responsible for the screening’s status of Pending or Suspended
• Pending reports created: The number of reports created during the selected date range that currently have the Pending status
• Suspended reports created: The number of reports created during the selected date range that currently have the Suspended status
• Average days since report creation: The average number of days since the report was created

Criminal

The Criminal tab shows SSN trace and criminal searches in reports from your account during the selected date range with the information below:

• Completion and turnaround times
• Search outcomes
• Map of all counties in the United States, color-coded for those counties' county criminal search turnaround times

SSN trace and criminal screenings volume

The SSN Trace and Criminal Screenings Volume section includes the charts below:

• Screenings created: Show the number of SSN trace and criminal screenings ordered during the selected date range.
• Screenings pending: Show the number of SSN trace and criminal screenings that currently have the Pending status. This information also appears as a percentage of the total number of criminal screenings created during the selected date range.
• Screenings consider: Show the number of complete SSN trace and criminal screenings with the Consider status. This information also appears as a percentage of the total number of criminal screenings created during the selected date range.
• Screenings created by day: Show the number of criminal screenings created during the selected date range by day and by criminal screening type:
• County criminal records
• Sex offender registry
• Federal criminal records
• Federal district criminal
• State criminal records
• Global watchlist records
• Municipal criminal records
• National criminal database
• Screenings status: Show the status of SSN trace and criminal screenings created during the selected date range in two ways. The status can be Complete, Pending, or Suspended.
• As a total
• As a percentage of all criminal screenings created for the date range
• Complete screenings by day: Show the number of SSN trace and criminal screenings created during the selected date range that have completed by the measures below:
• Screening type
• Day created
• Pending screenings by day: Show the number of SSN trace and criminal screenings created during the selected date range that remain in Pending status by the measures below:
• Screening type
• Day created
• Criminal screenings outcomes: Show Clear or Consider outcomes for criminal screenings created during the selected date range by screening type.
• Clear criminal screenings by day: Show the number of criminal screenings created per day with a Clear outcome by screening type.
• Consider criminal screenings by day: Show the number of criminal screenings created per day with a Consider outcome by screening type.
• Adverse media outcomes: Show Clear or Consider outcomes for adverse media searches created during the selected date range by screening type.
• Clear adverse media by day: Show the number of adverse media searches created per day with a Clear outcome by screening type.
• Consider adverse media by day: Show the number of adverse media searches created per day with a Consider outcome by screening type.

SSN trace and criminal screenings turnaround time

The SSN Trace and Criminal Screenings Turnaround Time section includes the charts below:

• County Criminal Check TAT in hours: Map the average turnaround time for all criminal screenings by United States county. Average turnaround time has a scale from blue to red. Light blue is for the shortest turnaround times. Bright red is for closed counties or counties with turnaround times longer than 10 days. White means that the county had no available data.
• County TAT in hours: List the average turnaround time for criminal screenings by US counties.
• Screenings TAT summary: List the turnaround times below for each screening type started during the selected date range. Turnaround time is from screening creation to completion.
• Minimum
• Average
• Median
• 90th percentile
• Maximum
• Screenings TAT drilldown: List each report including an SSN trace or criminal screening created during the selected date range by report ID by the measures below
• SSN trace or criminal screenings that each report includes
• Creation and completion timestamps
• Turnaround time in both days and hours.

Motor vehicle records (MVR)

The MVR tab shows motor vehicle records in reports from your account during the selected date range with the information below:

• Completion rate
• Outcome
• Map of all United States states color-coded for states' MVR search turnaround times

MVR volume

The MVR Volume section includes the charts below:

• MVRs created: Show the total number of MVR screenings in reports for the selected date range and the total number of MVRs completed for that set.
• MVRs created by day: Show the total number of MVR screenings in reports for the selected date range by day.
• MVR status: Show the current status (Complete, Pending, or Suspended) for all MVR screenings in reports created during the selected date range.
• MVR status by day: Show the current status for all MVR screenings created during the selected date range by report creation date.
• MVR outcome: Show the Clear or Consider outcome of all completed MVR screenings created during the selected date range.
• MVR outcome by day: Show the Clear or Consider outcome of all completed MVR screenings created during the selected date range by report creation date.

MVR turnaround time

The MVR Turnaround Time section includes the charts below:

• State MVR TAT in hours and DMV closures: Map the average turnaround time for all MVR screenings by United States state. Average turnaround time has a scale from blue to red. Light blue is for the shortest turnaround times. Bright red is for closed counties or counties with turnaround times longer than 10 days. White means that the county had no available data.
• State TAT in hours and DMV closures: List the average turnaround time for MVR screenings by United States state, whether the state closed its DMV, how long ago, and why.
• MVR TAT summary: List the turnaround times below for each MVR screening from the account. Turnaround time is from report creation to completion.
• Minimum
• Average
• Median
• 90th percentile
• Maximum
• MVR TAT drilldown: List each report that included an MVR screening created during the selected date range by the measures below:
• Report ID
• MVR creation and completion timestamps
• Turnaround time in both days and hours

Verifications

The Verifications tab shows health checks and employment and education verifications from your account's reports during the selected date range with the information below:

• Completion rate
• Turnaround time
• Outcome

Health checks & verifications volume

The Health Checks & Verifications Volume section includes the charts below:

• Drug checks created: Show the number of drug checks ordered during the selected date range and the number that completed.
• Health checks created: Show the number of occupational health checks ordered during the selected date range and the number that completed.
• Education created: Show the number of education verifications ordered during the selected date range and the number that completed.
• Employment created: Show the number of employment verifications ordered during the selected date range and the number that completed.
• Health checks and verifications created by day: Show the number of health checks and verifications created during the selected date range by the measures below:
  • Drug check
  • Education verification
  • Employment verification
  • Occupational health check
• Day
• Screening type:
• Health checks and verifications status: Show the status of health checks and verifications created during the selected date range in two ways. Status can be Complete, Pending, or Suspended.
• As a total
• As a percentage of all similar screenings created for the date range
• Complete health checks and verifications by day: Show the number of health checks and verifications created during the selected date range and which ones completed by the measures below:
• Screening type
• Day created
• Pending health checks and verifications by day: Show the number of health checks and verifications created during the selected date range that remain pending by the measures below:
• Screening type
• Day created
• Health checks and verifications outcome: Show the Clear or Consider outcome for health checks or verifications created during the selected date range by screening type.
• Clear health checks and verifications by day: Show the number of health checks and verifications created per day with a Clear outcome by screening type.
• Consider health checks and verifications by day: Show the number of health checks and verifications created per day with a Consider outcome by screening type.

Health checks & verifications turnaround time

The Health Checks & Verifications Turnaround Time section includes the charts below:

• Health checks and verifications TAT summary: List the turnaround times below for each health check or verification started during the selected date range. Turnaround time is from report creation to completion.
• Minimum
• Average
• Median
• 90th percentile
• Maximum
• Health checks and verifications TAT drilldown: List each report including a health check or verification created during the selected date range by the measures below:
• Report ID
• Health check or verification on each report
• Creation and completion timestamps
• Turnaround time in both days and hours

Continuous

The Continuous tab shows the information below:

• How many candidates are enrolled and unenrolled in continuous subscriptions for the selected date range
• Data sources that triggered reports for these candidates
• Adjudication results

Continuous

The Continuous section includes the charts below:

• Active continuous subscriptions: Show the total number of candidates enrolled in continuous subscriptions.
• Continuous subscriptions enabled: Show the number of candidates enrolled in continuous subscriptions during the selected date range.
• Continuous subscriptions disabled: Show the number of continuous checks disabled during the selected date range.
• Enrollments by week: Show the number of continuous subscriptions enabled by week.
• Unenrolled by week: Show the number of continuous subscription enrollments canceled during the selected date range. Enrollments can be canceled for one of two reasons:
• The customer manually cancels enrollment.
• The candidate has a report with the adjudication status of Post-adverse action.

Reports

The Reports section includes the charts below:

• Continuous report funnel: Show the transition of reports created during the selected date range through the continuous subscription process.
• Reports created: Show the total number of continuous reports created within the specified date range.
• Reports completed: Show the subset of reports created that completed during the specified date range.
• Reports Consider: Show the subset of reports created that completed with a report status of Consider.
• Reports Adverse Actioned: Show the subset of reports completed with the Consider status that had adverse action.
• Unenrolled: Show the number of candidates unenrolled in continuous services either by the customer or because of a post-adverse action decision for that candidate.
• Continuous data sources: Show the origin of data triggering a new report during the selected date range for candidates enrolled in Continuous Crim or Continuous MVR.

Adjudication

The Adjudication tab provides an overview of your adjudication systems for your account's reports during the selected date range.

Use these charts to determine the most common charges for your candidate groups and which ones most often result in adverse actions. You can then use this information to determine whether to adjust your Assess rules or your adjudication matrix to improve the adjudication process. You can also learn whether your team is evaluating candidates fairly and consistently in different locations.

Report adjudication

The Report Adjudication section includes the charts below:

• Reports completed: Show the number of reports created during the selected date range in two ways:
• As a raw number
• As a percentage of reports created
• Reports adjudicated: Show the number of reports created during the selected date range that have been adjudicated in two ways. Adjudicated reports have a status of Engaged, Pre-adverse action, or Post-adverse action.
• As a raw number
• As a percentage of reports completed
• Reports unblocked by PAM or Assess: Show the number of reports created during the selected date range that PAM or Assess unblocked in two ways.
• As a raw number
• As a percentage of reports completed

Note

Reports that PAM unblocked means that PAM hides all reportable charges and the report has the Clear outcome. Reports that Assess unblocked means that the report outcome is Consider and the Assess label is Eligible.

• Report funnel
• Reports created: Show the total number of reports created during the selected date range. This number includes manually created reports and candidate-completed invitations.
• Reports completed: Show the number of reports completed out of all reports created during the selected date range. Incomplete reports might be in progress, pending, or suspended.
• Reports Engaged: Show the number of reports with an Eligible outcome and an Engaged adjudication decision.
• Report lifecycle: Show the lifecycle of reports created during the selected date range, from creation through completion and adjudication.
• Report lifecycle summary: List the number of reports created during the selected date range by the measures below:
• Status: Complete or Pending
• Outcome: Clear or Consider
• Assess decision: Eligible, Escalated, or no decision
• Adjudication (if applied through the Checkr Dashboard or API)

Criminal screening adjudication

The Criminal Screening Adjudication section includes the charts below:

• Reports unblocked by PAM: Show the number of reports created during the selected date range for which PAM hid all reportable charges, resulting in a Clear report outcome.
• Charges unblocked by PAM: Show reports created during the selected date range that PAM unblocked by the measures below:
• Screening
• Charge category and subcategory
• Charge type
• Whether the charge was dismissed
• Reports unblocked by Assess: Show the number of reports created during the selected date range with the Consider report outcome and the Assess label of Eligible.
• Charges unblocked by Assess: Show reports created during the selected date range that Assess unblocked by the measures below:
• Screening
• Charge category and subcategory
• Charge type
• Reports adverse actioned: Show the number of reports created during the selected date range that resulted in adverse action.
• Charges on adverse actioned reports: Show all reported charges on reports that resulted in adverse action by the measures below:
• Screening
• Charge category and subcategory
• Charge type

Assess

Assess adjudication is available only for United States screenings.

The Assess Overview section includes the charts below:

• Assess start date: The date that the account started using Checkr Assess for reports
• Reports in pre-Assess benchmark: The number of reports created in the 3 months before the Assess start date
• Reports assessed in date range: The number of reports created in the selected date range that were completed and assessed

Assess efficiency and fairness impact

The Assess Efficiency and Fairness Impact section includes the charts below:

• Reduction in Consider reports requiring manual adjudication: Compare the number of Consider reports requiring manual adjudication for the 3 months before Assess and the selected date range. To calculate the percentage, subtract the rate before Assess from the rate after Assess and divide the result by the rate before Assess.
• Reduction in adverse action rate of Consider reports: Compare the number of Consider reports resulting in an adverse action for the 3 months before Assess and the selected date range. To calculate the percentage, subtract the rate before Assess from the rate after Assess and divide the result by the rate before Assess.
• Consider reports requiring manual adjudication: Show the percentage of Consider reports requiring manual adjudication for the 3 months before Assess and the selected date range.
• Adverse action rate of Consider reports: Show the percentage of Consider reports resulting in adverse action for the 3 months before Assess and the selected date range.

Assess TAT impact

The Assess Turnaround Time Impact section includes the charts below:

• Reduction in average manual adjudication TAT: List the reduction in average adjudication turnaround times from the 3 months before Assess to the selected date range. Adjudication TAT is the time between a report’s completion and its first adjudication decision.

Note

If you upgrade a report, the turnaround time won't include adjudication that happened before the upgraded report completed.

• Reduction in % of adjudication over overall TAT: Show the percentage reduction in overall turnaround time from the 3 months before Assess to the selected date range.
• Average manual adjudication TAT: Show the average number of hours from report completion to manual adjudication for the 3 months before Assess and the selected date range.
• % of adjudication over overall TAT saved: Show the percentage of reports’ turnaround time required for adjudication for both the 3 months before Assess and the selected date range. Report turnaround time measures from report creation to adjudication.

Continuous check adjudication

Continuous check adjudication is available only for United States screenings.

The Continuous Check Adjudication section provides the Reports Adverse Actioned chart. This chart lists the number of reports created during the selected date range that resulted in adverse action because of a Continuous Check report. The information appears both as a raw number and as the percentage of reports completed.

MVR adjudication

MVR adjudication is available only for United States screenings.

The MVR Adjudication section includes the charts below:

• Reports with failed MVR rule: List the number of reports created during the selected date range that included an MVR screening that caused a Consider outcome.
• MVR rules applied: List the total numbers of reports created during the selected date range for each rule applied and the MVR report's information:
• Status: Complete or Suspended
• Outcome: Consider or not available

Manual adjudication

The Manual Adjudication section includes the charts below:

• Reports manually adjudicated: List the number of reports that your team manually adjudicated, or set to an option below through the Checkr Dashboard:
• Engaged
• Pre-adverse action
• Post-adverse action
• Report volume and average TAT by adjudicator: Show each adjudicator's number of processed reports and the average turnaround time.
• Pre-adverse action rate by adjudicator: Show each adjudicator's percentage of reports resulting in adverse action.

On the Analytics page of the Checkr Dashboard, you can filter charts and download chart data. You can also learn which charts are available.

This article has the sections below:

• Filter charts
• Download chart data

Filter charts

Each tab of the Analytics page provides filters you can use to customize your charts. Filters affect only the current tab and don't save between sessions.

Available filters vary by chart and can include the ones below:

• Date range: The date range to show data from
• Package: The package to show data from
• Candidate work location: The candidate’s work location
• Node name: The name of the node to show data from (Node name is available only for accounts with a hierarchy and at least 1 node.)
• Node ID: The node to show data from (Node ID is available only for accounts with a hierarchy and at least 1 node.)
• Country: The location where the candidate is applying to work

Use the steps below to customize with filters:

1. Select Filters.
2. In the window that opens, define your filters with options such as "is equal to," "is blank," "contains," or "doesn’t end with." You can use multiple filters at once.
3. Select Run.

Download chart data

Download chart data from the Analytics page using the steps below:

1. At the top right of the section, select the icon with the three vertical dots and then select Download Data.
2. In the window that opens, select the download options:
• File format: Select the file format for your download. Options include TXT (tab-separated values), Excel Spreadsheet, CSV, JSON, HTML, Markdown, and PNG.
• Results
• With visualization options applied: Download the value or chart as it appears in the Analytics page.
• As displayed in the data table: Download the raw spreadsheet data generating the visualization.
• Values
• Formatted: Round large numbers, and include special characters such as %.
• Unformatted: Apply no special formatting to the raw data.
• Limit
• Results in table: Download only the results from the selected table, limited to 500 rows.
• All results: Download all results.
• Custom: Set the number of rows to download.

You can use features in the Candidates page of the Checkr Dashboard to organize and manage candidate reports.

Search

To show all search parameters, select Advanced filters. You can use keywords to search for candidates by metadata you added using the Checkr API. You can search using both the key and the value. For more information, refer to Candidates in the Checkr API documentation.

Add tags

You can use tags to easily search for reports in the Checkr Dashboard. After you add tags to a report, a Tag filter appears on the Candidates page.

Download a CSV

To download a CSV file of reports, select Export to CSV. When the report completes, Checkr sends a link to the CSV file to the email address on your account.

Download a PDF

Select Download PDF, and select a file from the menu:

• The report order summary includes the information below:
  • Candidate-entered PII
  • Custom report settings 
  • Packages and searches associated with the order but not the records
  • Search status
• The report PDF is the completed report.

Review history

To open a list with report actions and when they happened, select Show report log. The log starts at the report order and ends at engaging the candidate or using the adverse action process. Checkr retains reports in accordance with applicable laws and agreements between Checkr and its customers and affiliates. For example, for FCRA purposes Checkr retains reports for at least 5 years.

The Continuous checks page has three tabs:

• Bulk action
• Ineligible persons
• Driver record reports (DL 414)

The Ineligible persons and Driver record reports (DL 414) tabs appear only for accounts with Continuous MVR (motor vehicle record) enabled.

Bulk action

Use the Bulk action tab to perform bulk actions, check their status, and download processing errors.

Start a bulk action

To start a bulk action, use the steps below:

1. From the Bulk action tab, select Start bulk action.
2. Select a continuous product and an action to perform.
3. Confirm that your CSV file meets the requirements below:
• Case-sensitive column names in the first row
• A column called “candidate_id”
• Each row with the individual's Checkr-assigned unique candidate ID
• Fewer than 500,000 rows
• No personally identifiable information (PII)
4. If your account uses nodes, confirm that the CSV file also meets the requirements below:
• A column called, “state code,” for 2-character United States abbreviations (example: TX)
• A column called, “custom_node_id” (also known as a custom ID)
5. Select the Submit button to upload your CSV file. If the file doesn't meet the formatting or size requirements, an alert appears.

If you’re enrolling or updating individuals, select the checkbox that certifies the tasks below:

• You provided required disclosures to all individuals.
• You received proper consent from all individuals.

After the bulk action finishes processing, you receive a confirmation email.

Enrollment history

The Enrollment history section lists the status of each bulk action:

• Processing: The bulk action is processing.
• Complete: The bulk action finished processing with no errors.
• Review: The bulk action finished processing with errors.

When the bulk action has errors, you can download an errors CSV file from the Errors column. The errors CSV file has the information below:

• The individual's Checkr-assigned unique candidate ID
• Error reason

You can download the original bulk action CSV file from the File column.

Ineligible persons

The Ineligible persons tab lists drivers removed from Continuous MVR because of an error.

When you enroll a driver in Continuous MVR, the driver license information comes from a previously completed MVR report (Continuous MVR prerequisites). States can remove enrollments for invalid or outdated personally identifying information. Continuous MVR errors can happen immediately after enrollment or up to 30 days later.

The Ineligible persons tab shows all individuals removed from Continuous MVR in the last 30 days and the information below:

• Removal date
• Candidate ID (Checkr-assigned unique ID for the individual)
• Individual’s name
• Error reason

You can download the last 90 days of your account’s error history. If you need more than 90 days of errors, contact Checkr.

California drivers only: Driver record reports (DL 414)

Checkr interacts with the California Employer Pull Notice (EPN) program so that you can monitor the driver’s records of people who drive for you.

A driver’s record, also called driver license (DL) printout (DL 414), has the information below:

• Abstracts of convictions
• Accidents
• Driver license application information

You can search for DL 414 documents by candidate ID and DL 414 creation date.

To download a PDF of a candidate's DL 414 documents, click the Download link in the DL 414 Form column.

For compliance purposes, Checkr provides an audit log of each time someone downloads a DL 414 document. To download an audit report log, select Download audit report.

 

Report status	Description
Invitation sent	Checkr sent the invitation link, but the candidate hasn't responded yet and the report hasn't begun.
Pending	The report is processing. Most reports take 2-3 days to finalize, but some take longer, often for a reason below: Checkr is waiting for the candidate to submit information: Checkr required documentation from the candidate to continue the report. Checkr contacts candidates about exceptions like these so that your background check process works smoothly. Research is in progress: Some searches take significantly longer than others, usually because the county manually processes search requests.
Complete	The report completed processing and is ready for you to review.
Clear	The report completed with no records found.
Consider	The complete report has information for you to consider. This information might include the examples below for your team to review: Criminal records MVR violations that don't meet your MVR rules Employment or education verifications that weren't an exact match
Dispute	The candidate contacted Checkr to dispute information in the complete report. Adjudication can't continue while a report has the Dispute status. If you started an adverse adjudication before the dispute, you must restart it if the candidate still doesn't qualify after the reinvestigation. Checkr sends an email to the compliance contact on your account after the investigation, which can take up to 30 days.
Suspended	The report stopped processing because of missing information or incomplete searches. Checkr contacted the candidate to submit additional documentation, after which the report will continue. After a period of time, the report status automatically changes to Complete or Canceled. If you want the report to complete in its current state, you can select Complete now.  Some searches have Suspended status indefinitely. Note Incomplete reports have a Consider status if they contain information that merits the Consider status. For example, if the MVR search has the Suspended status but the county search has Consider, the overall report status is Consider.
Canceled	After some time, the report automatically changes to Complete status and searches cancel. If you want the report to complete in its current state, you can select Complete now.
Invitation Expired	The candidate didn’t respond to the invitation link in the allotted time. To continue with the candidate, you must send a new invitation. By default, invitation links expire after 7 days. To change the number of days your candidates have to respond to an invitation, contact Checkr.

 

Use the Adverse actions page to search for candidates involved in the adverse action process. Candidates can be at any stage in the process:

• Received a pre-adverse action notice
• Filed a dispute
• Received a post-adverse action notice

Search for candidates

To search for candidates, take an action below:

• Enter a keyword.
• Select a status.
• Enter a timeframe during which the adverse action was in process.

You can apply a combination of filters to your search.

For accounts with a hierarchy and at least one node, compliance geos determine the default waiting period between pre-adverse action and post-adverse action notices.

To manage the adverse action process, open the candidate's report.

Status filters

Status filters include the ones below:

• Pending: The candidate received the pre-adverse action notice for a motor vehicle records (MVR) search. The post-adverse action notice awaits your approval. After the required waiting period passes, you can send the pending post-adverse action notice.
• This status applies only for MVR searches. All other searches show candidates awaiting post-adverse action notices with the Scheduled status, not Pending.
• Scheduled: The candidate received the pre-adverse action notice, and you scheduled delivery of the post-adverse action after the required waiting period. The candidate automatically receives the post-adverse action notice on the scheduled date unless a situation below applies:
• The candidate disputes information in the report.
• You or Checkr cancels the adverse action process.
• Complete: The candidate received the post-adverse action notice, completing the process.
• Dispute: The candidate filed a dispute, and Checkr has started a reinvestigation. Disputes that happen during the adverse action process have two effects:
• The scheduled notice automatically cancels.
• The dispute prevents you from taking action during the 30-day reinvestigation timeframe.
• Canceled: Either you or Checkr canceled the adverse action process.
• Undeliverable: The pre-adverse action email was undeliverable. Reports with this status require your manual intervention.
• All: List all candidates involved in the adverse action process, even those who completed the process.

The Account settings page allows admins to manage their Checkr accounts and individual users to manage their account settings.

Use the Settings tab to edit your account settings.

Checkr populates the fields below while creating your account:

• Company name: This name appears in candidate-facing emails you send from this account as well as in the Candidate Portal for your candidates.
• URI name: This name appears in the links for your Candidates page, and you can't edit it.
• Account logo: This image appears in candidate-facing emails.

Enter information for the fields below:

• Support phone or email: Enter the phone number or email address that candidates use to submit evidence of rehabilitation or other context during the adverse action process.
• Billing email: Enter the address where Checkr will contact you about invoices and other billing communications. This email address can't log in to the Checkr Dashboard.
• Adverse action email: Enter the address that will send pre- and post-adverse action notices from you to candidates.
  This address also receives the undeliverable notice if the candidate's email doesn’t work. If your adverse action email address can’t receive messages, Checkr emails your addresses in the order below:
  1. User email for the account that initiated the adverse action process
  2. Adverse action email
  3. Support email
  4. Billing email
  5. Technical contact email

If none of these addresses work, the undeliverable notice goes to all users with at least admin account permissions.

• Technical contact email: If your company uses the Checkr API for integration, enter the person to contact for technical communications. Checkr uses this email address to contact your organization about important Checkr API issues or updates.
• Compliance contact email: Enter the person to communicate with Checkr about compliance issues or updates. Checkr uses this email address for updates about candidate disputes and changes to background check reports.

Manage notifications

Set email notifications

Use the Notifications section to select the content and frequency of your automated email notifications. You can set email notification preferences at the user level. To receive these notices, your account must have at least 1 subscribed user.

Checkr can send emails about the topics below:

• All report updates: Receive an email for any changes to report status.
• All candidate updates: Receive an email when a candidate receives an invitation or an invitation expires.
• All candidate stories: Receive an email for every candidate story submission.

Notifications about more specific report and candidate events are also available. For example, you can receive email notifications about specific report status changes.

Set candidate notifications

Checkr sends both email and SMS notifications by default, and you can customize what candidates receive.

Disable candidate notifications

Notifications are critical in ensuring that candidates can submit information and complete their background checks promptly. Disable notifications only in the situations below:

• Disable candidate invitation emails only if you want to manually send candidates links to their background check invitations. Even if you disable email invitations, candidates still receive emails when Checkr needs information from the candidate.
• Disable all candidate SMS notifications only when you want to turn off all SMS communications that candidates receive.

Manage users

Use the Users tab to find, edit, manage, or delete existing users, or to invite new users to your Checkr account.

Invite new users

To invite a user, enter the person's email address in the Enter email field and select Add user. Checkr sends an invitation to the user to set up a password and log in.

Assign roles to users

Checkr can't edit user permissions. To edit or add user roles for your account, contact your admin. By default, the first user on an account is an admin.

To assign roles to your users and grant them permissions within the Checkr Dashboard, select Edit in the Roles column.

Depending on the user's job function, set one or more of the roles below.

Available user roles

• Limited user: Limited users can access the candidates list but can't access candidate or report details. New users on an account automatically have this role.
• User: The user role can access reports. Assign the user role to staff who give candidates updates on their background checks.
• Requester: The requester role can perform the tasks below. Assign this role to recruiters who initiate background checks.
  • Access, send, monitor, and cancel background check invitations.
  • Add a search to an existing package.
  • Find report statuses on the Candidates page but can't find the results of completed reports.
  • Access candidate documents and exceptions but not completed report details.
• Adjudicator: The adjudicator role can perform the tasks below. Assign this role to adjudication staff.
  • Access candidate report details.
  • Adjudicate reports.
  • Engage candidates.
  • Send pre-adverse action notices to candidates.
• Restricted admin: The restricted admin role can perform all tasks of adjudicators and requesters for candidates in their account node but can't update billing information or settings. This role applies only for accounts that have a hierarchy with at least 1 node.
  This role can also perform the tasks below. Assign this role to administrators for subnodes on your account.
  • Invite users to the account.
  • Add searches.
  • Save packages.
  • Assign non-admin user roles.
  • Find invoices.
  • Change developer settings.
• Admin: The admin role has full access to all functionality in the Checkr Dashboard, with no node restrictions. This role can perform all tasks, including the ones below. Limit this role to core members of your team.
  • Update account settings, including billing information.
  • Add searches.
  • Save packages.
  • Assign all roles to any account user.

Individual users can have multiple roles, such as adjudicator and requester. To create custom roles and permissions, contact Checkr.

Delete users

To delete existing users from your account, select the menu icon and select Delete User. Checkr issues a confirmation and then deletes the user from your account. You can't restore deleted users, but you can invite the same email address again.

Unlock user accounts

Users with too many failed login attempts are locked out of their accounts. To send a user a password-reset email, select Unlock user from the menu next to their name.

Assign nodes to users

Before you can assign nodes to users, you must take the steps below for your account:

1. Create a hierarchy of nodes.
2. Request that Checkr enable user restrictions by nodes.

To use nodes to restrict user permissions, use the steps below:

1. From the menu, select Assign nodes.
2. Use the options to select nodes to assign to or unassign from the user.
3. Review your selection, and select Yes to confirm.

Enable single sign on (SSO)

Use the Single sign on tab to find and update your SSO settings.

Identity provider configuration

Copy your Checkr information into your IdP SAML configuration. Enter the values below into your IdP endpoint setup:

• Strategy: Paste the SAML.
• Single Sign On URL: Paste in the ACS URL field in your IdP’s SAML config.
• Audience: Paste in the SP Entity ID field in your IdP’s SAML config.
• Attributes: `email`
  Configure your IdP to send the email address for a user as the SAML Subject. If you're setting up SP-initiated SSO, you must make sure that all emails sent via this attribute match the domain specified on the Checkr Dashboard under Email Domain.
• Subject:NameID: Your IdP’s UUID or GUID.

Service provider configuration

Copy your SAML information into your Checkr setup:

• Sign in URL: The IdP callback endpoint (IdP URL) from your IdP platform’s SAML configuration. (Required for both IdP-initiated and SP-initiated SSO.)
• Email domain: Enter your email domain. All traffic within Checkr for users with this email domain direct to your SSO endpoint. This setting disables Checkr direct login. Only service-provider-initiated SSO requires this information.

  Important

  Enabling the email domain forces service provider-Initiated SSO. Make sure that you’ve tested IdP-initiated SSO and you meet the criteria to enable service provider-initiated SSO before you enter your domain in this field.

• Signing certificate: To upload a signing certificate from your SAML provider to your Checkr account, click Choose File. Your IdP will use this public certificate to sign the assertion. The assertion is your IdP Public Key (IdP Certificate) from your IdP platform’s SAML configuration.

Manage API keys and webhooks

The Developer settings tab provides access to your account’s API keys and webhooks. API keys enable API access to the Checkr service for customized interfaces. Webhooks provide account-level webhooks to which Checkr-generated events post.

API and webhook logs appear in the Logs page of the Checkr Dashboard.

For more information, refer to Webhooks in the Checkr API documentation.

Manage API keys

The API keys section lists active API keys for the account.

You can create both secret and publishable keys for your account. Use the secret keys in your staging and production environments. Keep your secret keys confidential, and store them only on your own servers.

For more information, refer to API keys in the Checkr API documentation.

Before you can access production keys, Checkr must credential your account for production API access. After credentialing, create and manage your API keys in the Developer settings tab.

To create a new key, select Create key.

For existing keys, you can take two actions:

• Select the eye to show and hide the password.
• Select Expire to set an expiration date for the selected key.

Add a new webhook

Use account webhooks to receive updates for objects created with the API. To get status updates, you must create webhook endpoints and add them in the Checkr Dashboard. Webhook endpoints have a limit of 2. If you try to create more than 2 endpoints in either environment, a "Quota limit exceeded" error appears.

For more information, refer to Webhooks in the Checkr API documentation.

The Configured webhooks section lists existing webhooks. Use the New webhook section to create a new webhook.

To add a new webhook for your account, use the steps below:

1. In the New webhook section of the Account settings page, enter a URL that meets the requirements below:
• HTTP, HTTPS, and AWS SNS protocols are supported.
• Use HTTP only for test environment webhooks.
• HTTP and HTTPS endpoints must be publicly accessible.
• AWS SNS endpoint must follow the format:
  `sns://<key_id>:<access_key>@<region>/<topic_owner>/<topic_name>`
2. Select the Live environment.
3. Select a jurisdiction: US or CA.
4. Select the Include related object in payload checkbox if you want to.
5. Select Add to create the new webhook.

To acknowledge receipt of a webhook, your endpoint should return a 2xx HTTP status code. Other information returned in the response header or response body is ignored.

If a webhook isn't received, Checkr continues trying to send it every minute for 10 minutes, then every hour for 24 hours.

Monitor webhook logs in the Logs page.

After you create webhooks, you can subscribe to the updates you want.

For more information about available subscriptions, refer to Webhooks in the Checkr API documentation.

Manage partner applications

Use the Application settings tab to create and manage partner applications for your account.

To create a new partner application, select New partner application.

Manage partner integrations

Use the Integrations tab to find and manage OAuth integrations enabled for your account.

To disable an integration for your account, select Turn off.

Manage nodes

Nodes are customizable segments that help you manage your Checkr account. After you define nodes, you can assign them to users, packages, your adjudication matrix, and other aspects of your Checkr account. Checkr calls your account’s configuration of nodes a hierarchy.

After your account has a hierarchy, you must maintain at least 1 node. You can edit a single remaining node in your account, but you can't delete it.

Create a node or parent node

To create a node or parent node, use the steps below:

1. Below the list of nodes on the Account hierarchy tab, select Add Row.
2. Enter a name and a custom ID for the node.
3. In the fourth column, select a parent node. If you don't select a parent node, the node goes in your hierarchy's top level.
4. Select Submit Hierarchy.

Create a node tier

To create a node tier, use the steps below:

1. Below the list of nodes on the Account hierarchy tab, select Add Row.
2. Enter a name and a custom ID for the node tier.
3. In the third column, open the menu and enter the node name.
4. In the fourth column, select a parent node.
5. Select Submit Hierarchy.

Remove a node

To remove a node, select the trash can next to it.

Manage brands

You can use brands to customize candidate messaging by node. The Brands tab appears only for accounts that have a hierarchy with at least 1 node. After you create a brand and assign nodes, that brand appears on candidate invitations for that node. The brand also appears on the screens where candidates submit information. Your account can have multiple brands.

Create a brand

Use the Brands tab to create brands for your account. A brand needs a website and logo to appear in your candidate communications.

To create a brand, use the steps below:

1. Enter a name.
2. Enter the website for the brand.
3. Upload a logo, and select Add brand. Checkr accepts all image file types, and suggests a minimum size of 160x160 pixels.
4. Your brand appears in the Manage brands section.

Assign nodes to brands

Assign nodes to brands to customize candidate communication by your account's nodes.

To assign a node to a brand, use the steps below:

1. From the Manage brands list, select Assign nodes.
2. Select nodes for your brand, and select Save.
3. Confirm your selection.

You can define and manage your adjudication matrix on the Screenings settings page.

With Checkr’s matrix, you can finely tune your team’s hiring process. Completed reports can show only charges relevant to your hiring standards.

Work with your legal department to define rules for use in the Checkr Dashboard.

Enable the matrix

To enable the matrix, contact Checkr. Then, in the Checkr Dashboard go to Screenings settings > Adjudication Matrix, and click Get Started.

After you enable the matrix, you can take two actions:

• Select Edit to configure the matrix. 
• Select PDF to download a PDF of your customized configuration.

Define filters

You can use the adjudication matrix to define which reportable records appear in your Checkr Dashboard. By default, Checkr shows all legally reportable offenses from each screening's search parameters and legally defined timeframe.

Filters apply only to the searches below:

• National criminal searches
• State criminal searches
• County criminal searches

Hover over a charge type to read its definition.

Misdemeanors versus felonies

For better individualized assessment, you can set different reporting standards for felonies and misdemeanors, including less-serious offenses.

Use the menus to define which charges Checkr background checks include:

• Show dismissed: Show dismissed records for the selected charge.
• Report none: Hide all instances of this charge type. You can hide minor infractions or violations irrelevant to the job duties and that wouldn't prevent you from engaging with a candidate.
• Last [x] years: Show the offense if the final disposition date is within the defined number of years.
• Report all: Show all offenses within your package’s scope that Checkr is legally allowed to report.

After customizing your matrix, click Save.

Show dismissed records

To promote fairness when considering background checks, Checkr doesn't report dismissed charges in any background report by default.

Although it is legal in most jurisdictions to report dismissed records, you usually shouldn't base adverse actions and hiring decisions on them.

To show dismissed records, select Show dismissed for the category or for individual record types.

Show filtered records

If you want a separate section of the report to show records that the matrix filtered out, select the checkbox. 

Audit history

Checkr provides a complete audit history of all matrix changes. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click Edited by user at timestamp.

Assign nodes to the matrix

To set different filters for each client or role, you can assign nodes to each matrix.

To create a matrix for your account, go to Screenings settings > Adjudication Matrix, and click Add new matrix.

You can assign multiple nodes to each matrix, but only one matrix can be associated with each node. To assign nodes to a matrix, use the steps below:

1. Select Assign Nodes.
2. Select the nodes you want to use for the selected matrix.
3. Select Save, confirm your changes, and select Close to make changes.

The Payment & billing page allows admins to do the tasks below:

• Set up or change payment information at any time.
• Open or download Checkr-issued invoices for your organization.
• Download a copy of your account's W-9.

Payment

In the Payment tab, you can add or edit payment information and update your billing email address.

Use the steps below to update your billing email address:

1. In the Billing email field, enter the updated email address.
2. Click the Update my account button.

If your monthly invoices are less than $2,500, Checkr asks you to provide a payment method for automatically paying your account's invoices each month. The payment method can be either a bank account or credit card, and you can add one of each.

Add bank account information

Checkr can process invoices through a linked banking account, called an Automated Clearing House account. To allow Checkr to process invoices through a bank account, enter the information below:

• Account holder’s name
• Routing number
• Account number

After your account information saves, your bank account will show 2 microdeposits in 2-4 business days. To verify your bank account, enter both deposit amounts in the Payment tab. Checkr can process payments only for verified bank accounts.

Add credit card information

To allow Checkr to process invoices through a linked credit card, enter the information below:

• Credit card holder’s name
• Card number
• Security code
• Expiration date

Invoices

You can use the Invoices tab to do the tasks below:

• Quickly review past invoices and their payment status.
• Download a CSV file of the invoice's specific charges.

The Invoices tab has the columns below:

• Month: Find the month that Checkr issued the invoice.
• Amount: Find the total for the invoice.
• Reports: Download the invoice's report_usage.csv file. This file shows the report, candidate, search, and invoice fee.
• Invoice: Download a PDF for the invoice.
• Status: Find whether the listed invoice is currently pending or paid.

If your account has a hierarchy with at least 1 node, invoices show two additional columns:

• Cost center: Find the name of the node associated with the background check.
• Hierarchy: List the cost center's parent, its parent’s parent, and so on to a root node.

For more information about invoice charges and timing, refer to a resource below:

• Frequently asked questions about payment and billing in the Checkr Help Center
• Fee information on the Checkr website

Documents

The Documents tab has two download links:

• Checkr's W-9 form: PDF of Checkr's most recent W-9 for tax purposes
• Checkr Customer Payment Information: PDF of Checkr's ACH information

Assess allows you to define adjudication rules across your team, hiring location, or company. Use the Assess page to:

• Understand Assess values
• Understand the hierarchy of rules
• Define global settings
• Create a new ruleset
  • Fairness and compliance rules
  • Custom rules
  • Lookback period rules
  • Count rules
• Assign rulesets
• Publish your ruleset
• Duplicate rulesets
• View previous versions of rulesets

Checkr Assess allows you to streamline your team’s adjudication process by defining rules by which returned records will be evaluated. When displayed in the Checkr Dashboard, these records will then be tagged to indicate the result of this preprocessing.

When a report is complete, any records that have not been filtered by PAM are matched against your eligibility criteria rules and assigned an outcome: “Eligible.” “Review,” or “Escalated.” The report is then assigned an overall outcome based on the screenings included within it.

You can create rules to evaluate Global Watchlist returns, Sex Offender Registry records, criminal records, and motor vehicle records. Records returned by Health Checks, Employment and Education Verifications, and other Checkr screening options that your Assess rules don't filter will be marked "Review."

Use the Assess page to define rules by which your eligibility criteria will apply to candidate records. To enforce standardized application across your adjudication teams, you can then assign these rules to your packages or candidate work locations.

The Assessment column on the Candidates page shows the results of these rules:

• Clear: The report returned no records.

• Eligible: The report returned no records that would make the candidate ineligible.

• Review: The report returned at least one record that needs evaluation based on your rules.

• Escalated: The report returned at least one record flagged based on your rules.

Assess values

Checkr Assess allows you to define adjudication rules that apply to records returned by criminal checks, employment and education verifications, motor vehicle records, criminal checks, and other Checkr screening options. Assess then applies a color-coded tag to each returned record or screening result, and each candidate report with one of three Assessment values:

• Eligible: The report returned no records that would make the candidate ineligible.

• Review: The report returned at least one record that needs evaluation based on your rules.

• Escalated: The report returned at least one record flagged based on your rules.

Assess rules

Assess allows you to configure four types of rules:

• Fairness and compliance rules: Adopt certain predefined rules designed to align with emerging best practices and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance for the consideration of criminal records. These rules can apply globally across all criminal records.
• Custom rules: Define custom rules that span charge categories, noncriminal screenings, lookback periods, and candidate age.
• Lookback period rules: Set "age limits" for each of 235 charge categories to be considered Eligible, Review, or Escalated. You can customize your criteria by the age of the record as well as the record type within each category.
• Count rules: Define rules based on the number of times in a defined period of time that a selected record type appears in a candidate's background. These rules apply across categories and other rule types.

Hierarchy of rules

Checkr Assess follows a hierarchy of rules to assess a charge.

First, Checkr filters records based on compliance rules for your account. Then, if your account has enabled our Positive Adjudication Matrix, the rules from that matrix apply and filter appropriate records from the report. Finally, your Assess rulesets apply to remaining records.

Assess rules are applied in the following order:

1. Fairness and compliance rules
2. Custom rules
3. Lookback period rules

When one of these rules is triggered, an assessment for the record is applied, and no further evaluation using these rules occurs for the record.

For example: If a record is marked Eligible by an implemented fairness and compliance rule, no other rule will be applied to the record. If a record is not evaluated by the compliance rules but is marked Escalated by a custom rule, lookback period rules won't apply.

Finally, count rules are applied after all others and are used to globally evaluate all returned records. When triggered, count rules can change the assessment of a record. For more information, refer to Count Rules later in this document.

Define global settings

Use the Settings tab to define global settings for Assess.

To help reduce bias and enable your adjudicators to work more efficiently, Assess allows you to choose how records that are Eligible according to your rules are displayed or hidden in the default view of Records in the Checkr Dashboard.

If enabled, these settings will be applied to all assessed records for your account.

• Display Eligible records: Displays records marked Eligible in the Checkr Dashboard, Candidate Portal, report PDF, and returns these records through the Checkr API. 
• Conceal Eligible records in the Dashboard: Conceals records marked Eligible in the Checkr Dashboard behind a "Show more" option. These records will be displayed in the Candidate Portal and report PDFs, and will be returned through the Checkr APIs.
• Remove Eligible records: Removes records marked Eligible from all available report views. These records will also not be returned through the Checkr APIs.
• Hide charges with Assessment "Eligible" from the Pre-Adverse Action modal: Records marked Eligible will not be included in the list of records available for selection for a pre-adverse action on the candidate's report page.
• Auto-engage candidates when their report is assessed as "Eligible": Automatically marks candidates Engaged if their report is marked Eligible. If enabled, users must also select the Packages for which candidates assessed as Eligible will be marked Engaged.

Create a new ruleset

From the Assess page, click Add a new ruleset to create a ruleset.

• In the window that opens, enter a name for your ruleset, and click Create. This name must be unique within your account.
• Then, use the Assess rulesets window to add a description, and define your rules.

Fairness and compliance rules

The Fairness & compliance tab allows you to adopt predefined evaluation settings to quickly filter more records eligible for your hiring practices.

Use these settings to align your review procedures with EEOC Enforcement Guidance based on record outcome, severity, time since offense, and age at offense. These settings also reflect common compliance practices used by many employers, and allow your adjudicators to focus on a more fair evaluation of your candidates.

Click the caret to expand the bar for a more complete description of each option. Then, click the checkbox to indicate that you would like to apply the settings to your returned background check results. Records returned within the selected categories will be marked Eligible in the Checkr Dashboard. (Use the Custom Rules tab to create custom versions of these settings for your account.)

Fairness and Compliance rules are grouped in the following sections:

• Non-convictions
• Charge severity & timing
• Charge type
• Candidate details

Non-convictions

• Dismissed charges are eligible
  
  • A dismissed disposition means the charge did NOT result in a conviction. This classification covers both dismissals and findings of non-guilt. For example, the court dropped the charge against the defendant or the defendant was found not guilty or responsible after trial.
  • By allowing dismissed charges to be assessed as "Eligible", you can better align your evaluation practices to EEOC Enforcement Guidance that states the existence of a criminal record alone does not mean criminal conduct has occurred.

• Non-felony deferred / alternative adjudication charges are eligible
  
  • A deferred or alternative adjudication charge has NOT resulted in a conviction. In most cases, deferred and alternative adjudications result in some form of court supervision instead of jail time and a criminal conviction. Upon successful completion, the charges are often dismissed.
  • The entry of alternative judgment can show the court believes the defendant is a good candidate for rehabilitation and does not pose a danger to the community. By allowing non-felony dismissed alternative adjudication charges, you can better demonstrate your practice of giving careful consideration to the gravity of charges.

• All pending charges are eligible
  
  • Pending charges have not yet received a final adjudication (or outcome), and are either still being reviewed by the prosecutor or currently progressing through court.
  • Allowing pending charges to be assessed as "Eligible" helps you to avoid the possibility of disqualifying a candidate based on an assumption of guilt for a charge that does not yet have a verdict.

Charge severity & timing

• Charges with less-than-misdemeanor severity are eligible
  
  • These are the lowest level severity charges, such as infractions, can include both convictions and non-convictions, and are typically punishable only by fines.
  • Removing lower severity charges from your evaluation can both expand your funnel and better align your practices to consider the severity of the charge as the more important factor.
• Non-felony charges older than 7 years are eligible
  
  • Charges can be either convictions or non-convictions. Under the FCRA, non-convictions (like dismissed charges) are reportable for up to 7 years, and convictions are reportable indefinitely. To help protect access to employment, some states restrict the reporting of all records (regardless of outcome) beyond 7 years.
  • By allowing non-felony charges that are older than 7 years to be assessed as “Eligible”, you can align your evaluation practices to be consistent with a growing trend in state consumer protection laws and better demonstrate that your policy takes time since offense into consideration. Policies that create permanent exclusion from all employment based on any and all offenses are likely inconsistent with the business necessity standard and can create unintended consequences in the makeup of your workforce. 

• All charges older than 7 years are eligible
  
  • The age of the charge itself is an important factor when evaluating candidates.
  • By allowing charges that are older than 7 years to be assessed as “Eligible”, you can align your evaluation practices to be consistent with a growing trend in state consumer protection laws and better demonstrate that your policy takes time since offense into consideration. Policies that create permanent exclusion from all employment based on any and all offenses are likely inconsistent with the business necessity standard and can create unintended consequences in the makeup of your workforce. 

Charge type

• Non-felony marijuana possession charges are eligible
  
  • Marijuana possession is a specific category of criminal charges and can be either a conviction or a non-conviction. This classification does not include cultivation or sale.
  • Removing lower level marijuana possession charges can help you to better align your evaluation practices with the changing landscape of legalization of medical and recreational marijuana use.

• Non-felony drug possession and paraphernalia charges are eligible
  
  • Non-felony charges can be either convictions or non-convictions. This setting combines specific categories of criminal charges (Drug Possession, Intent to Possess Drugs, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Possession of Drug without Prescription) with severity (charge level).
  • With this setting, you will allow lower level drug possession charges to be assessed as "Eligible", and help you to better align your practices with both job relatedness and charge severity.

• Vehicle & traffic charges are eligible (excludes charges resulting in death and DUIs)
  
  • This category includes all charges within the categories of Unsafe Operation, Speeding, License & Registration, Vehicle Equipment, and Parking. They do NOT include any charges related to Driving Under the Influence, Hit & Run Causing Death, or Reckless Driving Causing Death.
  • With this setting, you will allow Vehicle & Traffic charges to be assessed as "Eligible", and help you to better align your practices with both job relatedness and charge severity.

• Public nuisance charges are eligible
  
  • This setting assesses all charges in the Public Nuisance section as “Eligible”. This includes the following charges: Disorderly Conduct, Littering, Loitering, Maintain a Disorderly House, Noise Ordinance Violation, Obstruct Passageway, Public Urination, Unlawful Storage.
  • This setting can help to better align your practices with both job relatedness and severity. Public nuisance charges have been critiqued as potentially discriminatory towards communities of color, persons with mental disabilities and domestic violence survivors.

• Prostitution charges are eligible
  
  • This setting assess the following charges as “Eligible”: Promoting Prostitution, Prostitution, and Soliciting a Prostitute. It does NOT include the charge Prostitution Involving Minor.
  • This setting can help to better align your practices with both job relatedness and severity. Prostitution charges can disproportionately discriminate against women.

Candidate details

• Charges when candidate's age was under 25 if the candidate is now over 28 are eligible
  
  • The age of the candidate at the time of offense is an important factor when evaluating eligibility. Charges that occurred when the individual was 25 years old or younger will be assessed as "Eligible" if and only if the candidate is currently more than 28 years old.
  • Selecting this option allows you to better align with the EEOC recommendation to consider factors such as the candidate’s age at the time of offense when determining employment for candidates with records.

• Charges when candidate's age was under 18 are eligible
  
  • The age of the candidate at the time of offense is an important factor when evaluating eligibility. Charges that occurred when the individual was 18 years old or younger will be assessed as "Eligible".
  • Selecting this option allows you to better align with the EEOC recommendation to consider factors such as the candidate’s age at the time of offense when determining employment for candidates with records.

Create custom rules

Custom rules allow you to define rules which will apply across all charge categories and can include variables such as the number of offenses, the age of the record, and the candidate’s age at disposition. The rules apply in the listed order. If you click to edit a rule, you can reorder the list.

Rules can include multiple conditions, all of which must be true to apply your selected assessment.

Click Create new rule to add a new custom rule.

1. Enter a rule name.
2. Select an Assessment: Eligible, Review, or Escalated.
3. Select Applies to from the menu.
   • Options include Criminal Charge, Education Verification, Credit Report, FACIS Search, and other Checkr screening types enabled for your account.
4. Click Add a condition, and select a condition from the menu:
   
   • Age at offense is
   • Charge is
   • Charge severity is
   • Count is
   • Disposition is
   • Years since charge is
   • MVR status was
   • Registered on list
5. Use the second pulldown menu to define the parameters of the condition. This menu will update automatically according to your selection in the first menu.
6. Add more conditions to define your rule, and click Save.

Once saved, Checkr will display a synopsis of your rule. Use the icons to copy, edit, or delete the rule, if desired.

Non-conviction charges

For compliance purposes, charges without a conviction disposition should always be reviewed. These charges should be reviewed and carefully considered before a final adjudication decision is made.

Non-conviction charges include:

• Arrest
• Deferred/alternative adjudication
• Dismissed
• Expunged
• Invalid
• Merged
• Pending
• Transferred
• Warrant

Lookback period rules

Use the Lookback period rules tab to configure lookback periods for 235 charge categories and 3 different charge severity classifications (felony, misdemeanor, and less-than-misdemeanor).

Lookback periods are measured as the number of years since the context date on a record. For criminal charges, the context date is the most recent event in the charge's history. For example, if the most recent event is the release date, the context date is the release date. If the most recent event is the arrest date, that is the context date. 

By default, all charge categories are set to Review for your defined lookback periods. 

For each charge type, enter the number of years’ lookback period to define each Eligible or Escalated tag. Any records occurring between these two defined lookback periods will be set to Review.

Click the charge type for a description of the category. These definitions are general descriptors for the charges identified within each charge category, and do not represent specific legal or statutory definitions for the crimes identified on consumer reports. Checkr recommends assigning lookback periods for each individual charge category.

For example, to define lookback periods for speeding records, click Vehicles & Traffic, then click Speeding.

Use the fields provided to enter lookback periods for charges more than the number of years entered in the Eligible column, and less than the number of years entered in the Escalated column. All charges falling between these two entries will be marked Review. Any cell without an assigned lookback period will default to Review.

For example: Enter “7” in the Eligible column, and “2” in the Escalated column to achieve the following result.

In the following example:

• All Felony speeding records less than 7 years old will be marked Escalated, and all others will be marked Review. (Enter 7 for Escalated, and leave Eligible blank.)
• All Misdemeanor records more than 5 years old will be marked Eligible, less than two years old will be marked Escalated, and 2-5 years old will be marked Review. (Enter 5 for Eligible, and 2 for Escalated.)
• All speeding records that are less than misdemeanors will be marked Eligible. (Enter 0 for Eligible.)

Use CSVs to export or import lookback period rules

Checkr provides the means to use CSVs to manage your lookback period rules.

• Click Download template to download a blank template.
• Click Export to export your configured lookback period ruleset as a CSV.

Once downloaded, you can edit your existing ruleset by uploading an edited CSV. All new rules will overwrite any existing rules. Click Import to import your CSV as a new lookback ruleset. 

Count rules

Use the Count rules tab to define rules which will filter on the number of records returned for any selected category across the entire report.

Count rules evaluate all records returned in a report and count those that match their conditions. Count rules are applied across all records, including those evaluated by your fairness & compliance, custom, or lookback period rules.

The application of count rules to records evaluated by other rules can result in a change to their assessment. For example, count rules can result in assessments for individual records changing from Eligible to Escalated or Review; they will never result in assessments moving from Escalated to Eligible or Review, or moving from Review to Eligible.

Count rule examples

For example: Create a lookback period rule that states “mark speeding offenses more than 4 years old as Eligible" and a count rule that states "Count is more than 3" with an assessment of Review.

• If 3 speeding records greater than 4 years old are returned, they will be marked Eligible, but if 4 speeding records are returned, no matter their age, all 4 will be marked Review.

While count rules apply “Count is” logic across all returned records, count rules will never result in an assessment that requires less review by your adjudication team than the assessment applied by your other Checkr Assess rules.

Assign rulesets

After a ruleset has been published, assign it to the work location or package to which it should be applied. You can also make a ruleset the default for your account.

Rulesets can be assigned to multiple entities (such as work locations and packages), and to multiple combinations of entities (such as package and work location). When rulesets are applied to records, the more restrictive assignment will take precedence over more general assignments.

Assignments are applied in the following order:

1. Package + work location
2. Package + segment
3. Package
4. Segment
5. Work location
6. Account default

For example, an account can create three rulesets and assign them to three different entities:

• Ruleset: "Account Default Ruleset", which is assigned as the account's default ruleset.
• Ruleset: "California general ruleset", which is assigned to a location representing California.
• Ruleset: "California driver ruleset", which is assigned to location and package (California location + driver package).

Assess will then apply the following rulesets to the following reports:

• A report in NYC would be assessed by the "Account Default Ruleset."
• A report in SF with a non-driver package would be assessed by the "California general ruleset."
• A report in SF with a driver package would be assessed by the "California driver ruleset."

Click Assign Ruleset from the menu.

In the window that opens, select the entity to which the ruleset should be applied, then use the checkboxes to select specific entities.

Once saved, the ruleset will apply to the selected entities.

Publish your ruleset

To save your draft and activate your ruleset, click Publish.

Note that a ruleset must be made the default for the account, or assigned to a work location, or segment before they will begin assessing reports.

Duplicate rulesets

Assess allows you to duplicate rulesets to use as the basis for new rulesets.

Select Duplicate Ruleset from the menu, enter a name for the new ruleset, and click Create.

View previous versions of rulesets

Assess records the settings for each published version of your rulesets, and allows you to review them at any time. Click into a ruleset, then select View Versions from the menu to open a window listing all published versions of the ruleset with the user name and publication date.

What is fair chance?

At Checkr, we believe people with records should have the opportunity to move forward from their past. Fair chance hiring refers to the practice of hiring people with criminal records. It is built on the premise that everyone, regardless of their background, has the right to be fairly assessed for a role they are qualified to hold. 

By practicing fair chance hiring, companies can tap into a pool of qualified, diverse talent with a wide range of experiences that builds diversity and ultimately leads to stronger business outcomes.

Fair chance dashboard

You can access your organization’s fair chance dashboard from the Fair chance tab in your Checkr Dashboard. This dashboard displays hiring-related education, resources, and analytics for customers with available data. 

The fair chance dashboard is available for all customers who use Checkr products for employment purposes. The fair chance dashboard doesn't apply for customers who use Checkr products for tenant, insurance, or business purposes. 

The data in this dashboard appears for users in your organization who have permission to access analytics. These roles include admin users and other roles that have explicit permission to access analytics in the Checkr Dashboard.

For more information about user permissions, visit the Users sections of the Account settings user guide.

Analytics

The analytics documented below don't appear for all customers, and some customers might have only one of the two. Your organization’s available data determines what appears. 

Adverse action rate bar chart

The 3-bar chart feature shows your adverse action rate as compared to that of "average" and "high fair chance" customers of a similar size over the past year.

Adverse action rate represents [the total number of candidates that your organization has initiated adverse action for] / [the total number of reports with a status of Consider].

Similar size is defined as customers conducting a similar number of background checks per year.

Average is the adverse action rate of the 50th percentile for your group of customers of a similar size.

High fair chance is the adverse action rate of the top 10% of accounts (of your group of customers of a similar size) with the lowest adverse action rates.

Fair chance opportunity metric breakdown

This section shows the total candidates who received adverse action in the past year with a breakdown of candidates by 4 charge categories:

• Pending charges: A pending charge means that no official guilty or not-guilty decision has been made and the case is still ongoing.
• Petty charges: Petty charges are the lowest severity level, meaning the charge might not be serious in nature and might not be as relevant to your business or job type.
• Charges over 7 years old: The more time that has passed, the less likely an individual is to commit another offense. Charges older than 7 years old have surpassed the statistical reoffense rate.
• Charges from when the candidates were younger than 25 years old: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) encourages employers to consider factors such as age at the time of offense when determining eligibility for candidates with records. Emerging science about brain maturation suggests that adolescent brains continue to mature well into the 20s. Additionally, according to many world organizations, such as the United Nations, "youth" is defined as people younger than 25 years old. This means that candidates who were younger than 25 at the time of the offense could be considered a “youth.”

For more information about fair chance hiring practices, refer to Checkr's Fair Chance Mission.