Criminal Background Check if not on lease.

I am renting an apartment in St. Paul, MN. I will be the only person on the
lease and paying the bills. However, I would like a friend to live with
me -- and not put him on the lease -- be he has a criminal background.
He\'s since sobered up and got his life in order but his past record
probably won\'t pass a criminal background check; and the place I want to
rent does background checks on renters. If my friend Eric is not listed on
the lease, can they do a background check on him and not allow him to live
with me if he doesn\'t pass their check?

[OHlandlord]

Absolutely. The LL has the final say on who can live or stay in his building. If Eric is not on your lease, he has no right to stay in the unit. The LL can evict you for an unauthorized occupant. I suggest you explain to the LL that he had a drinking problem (or whatever) but has since sobered up and stayed out of trouble. If he has remained clean for a while, the LL may allow him. Otherwise, don't allow him to stay there (even temporarily) or find another apartment to live in with Eric.

I am currently working for a company for almost 2 years. I have complied with all fingerprint requests, self reported a 2nd degree misdemeanor (adjutication withheld) that occurred before working for this company, and spoke with a HR representative regarding my background (I was arrested in 2005 for solictation of a prostitute). The HR representative stated she would have to run my information through legal and get back to me (this was late July-early August 2006). She never did get back to me, so I proceed to work for this company from November 2005 to present. My paperwork was resubmitted when I went from part to full time position with the company. This time when my background information came back, they want to dismiss me. They called today to relieve me from my job and told me not to return. I know they will terminate.

Is it okay for them to do this? I have excellent work performance evaluations. There is nothing in my work history with this company for them to base dismissal. They had since November 2005 to discover this background information and never said a word. I have worked three different jobs for this company so paperwork is has been submitted three times. I currently have an "at will" contract for the school year. The only thing they can hinge on is the fact that I work with children, but I never broke any laws regarding children or according to the Jennifer Lumsford Act. I have worked with children the entire time I have worked for this company and now it is suddenly an issue.

With more people becoming aware of the usefulness of performing totally free background checks, be it for personal or business reasons, it is also not surprising that there have been a growing number of people searching for totally free background checks. Now, the question here is, do totally free background checks really exist? The answer is yes, totally free background checks do exist, but they are not the wise choice of background checks for the purposes of business or if you simply want exhaustive background information. This does not mean that totally free background checks aren’t capable of offering excellent investigation. However, you must understand that although free background check is helpful, in most instances quality does have a price, and this often does not include totally free background checks.

Let the applicant know that before any definite offer of employment is made, an acceptable check of all references will have to be done.
· Be sure to get in touch with the references given. If the references refuse to give you the information that you’re requesting for, you may get it from the applicant himself or, better yet, ask the applicant to request the reference to give you the information that you need.
· Take note that some references may be hesitant to divulge a lot of information regarding a former employee for fear of being sued. If this happens, be sure to document that the reference repudiated your request for information as to why you should not employ the job applicant.
· Ensure that you file and keep a record of the information that you get. Moreover, you should also record all unsuccessful attempts at getting information. This serves as protection from possible negligence hiring allegations.