A record 16.9 million FBI criminal background checks were run for employment or licensing purposes in 2012, a six-fold increase since 9/11. But serious flaws in the FBI records are jeopardizing work opportunities for hundreds of thousands of job seekers every year, according to a new report from the National Employment Law Project.

The NELP report, entitled, Wanted: Accurate FBI Background Checks for Employment, estimates that 1.8 million workers a year are subject to FBI background checks that contain faulty or incomplete information, and 600,000 of those workers may be prejudiced in their job search because the positive outcome of their case is not reflected in the FBI record.

The report spotlights the FBI’s failure to ensure that its records are accurate and complete. Arrests are recorded but the final disposition of cases often is not—a critical defect, given that one-third of felony arrests are ultimately dismissed and charges are frequently reduced. Much of the toll falls on workers of color, who are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system and suffer the consequences of faulty FBI records in terms of job loss, hiring barriers, and financial hardship.
 
“People cannot get jobs, or they’re losing their jobs, because of these defects in the FBI’s records,” said Madeline Neighly, staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project and the report’s lead author. “Employers assume FBI background checks are the gold standard, but the records are unreliable. Around half of the FBI’s records are missing information on the final outcome of arrests—information that in many cases would significantly benefit workers who have turned their lives around,” said Neighly.

In 2006, the U.S. attorney general reported that the FBI’s Interstate Identification Index system, from which FBI background reports are created, is “still missing final disposition information for approximately 50 percent of its records.” Although the attorney general’s report noted this was a serious problem, the situation shows no meaningful signs of improvement, according to the NELP report. 

The NELP report tells the stories of several affected workers, including Raquel Vanderpool, a 31-year-old Latina mother of two who lost her job as a nurse assistant, which she had held for eight years, when the FBI erroneously reported a conviction for altering a prescription. In fact, the charge had been dismissed and sealed six years earlier. After losing her job, Ms. Vanderpool was unemployed for four years. 

“I lost four years. I lost everything, including my confidence. I’m just now able to contribute again and support my family, but I could have been so much farther in my career,” said Vanderpool. Other case stories featured in the report include a port worker denied security clearance because his FBI background check failed to note that a misdemeanor arrest from 15 years ago did not lead to a conviction. 

African Americans are especially disadvantaged by the faulty FBI records system, given that they are 14 percent of the U.S. population but account for 28 percent of the nation’s arrests, many of which never lead to conviction. This disproportionate impact was starkly illustrated when the Transportation Security Administration screened two million workers for clearance to work at the nation’s ports after 9/11. AfricanAmerican port workers were more than four times as likely as whites to challenge the accuracy of their FBI records in appealing the denial of a security clearance.

“The seal of the FBI supposedly marks these records as official, legitimate, and trustworthy, but that’s just not the reality,” said Neighly. “Everyone suffers when the records are wrong. Employers and licensing agencies lose out on qualified workers or suffer delays in filling positions, but undoubtedly, it’s the workers who are most hurt by these faulty records. And right now, the burden falls on the workers, not the FBI, to track down the verifying documentation so they can challenge the denial of a job. It should be the FBI’s responsibility to keep its records accurate.”

NELP says the FBI already has the capability to ensure its records are complete and accurate before releasing them for employment and licensing purposes. When the FBI receives background check requests for gun purchases, it contacts the appropriate federal, state, and local agencies to obtain any missing disposition information, and is able to clean up two-thirds of faulty records within just three days of the request. Among its recommendations, NELP is calling for legislation requiring the FBI to obtain missing disposition information prior to sending background checks for employment and licensing purposes, as the Brady Law requires for gun purchases.

Two bills soon will be introduced to address the issue. One, sponsored by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, seeks to clean up incomplete FBI background checks for employment in all cases, and enjoyed bipartisan support when last introduced. The second, sponsored by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), focuses on correcting the records for employment with the federal government and federal contractors.

"This important report illustrates the many examples of the devastating impact that faulty FBI criminal background checks have on employment and licensing opportunities,” said Rep. Scott. “Unfortunately, many deserving workers who are qualified for the positions they are applying for are being denied employment consideration because of faulty FBI records."

“Finding a job in this economy is already hard enough,” agreed Rep. Ellison. “No one should lose the chance to work because of an inaccurate background check. The Accurate Background Check (ABC) Act fixes this for Americans applying for federal jobs.” 

The report also calls on the FBI and the Department of Justice to take immediate corrective steps that do not require legislation. These measures include accepting and maintaining updated criminal history information from states and other agencies that can be readily accessed by the FBI, enforcing current regulations that would go a long way to improve the reliability of the records, and actively monitoring and reporting information on the impact of the faulty records to ensure greater transparency and accountability over the current system.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT: Wanted: Accurate FBI Background Checks for Employment