UF uses a background-checking service whose parent company’s government screening unit is being sued by the U.S. government.
The federal government is suing USIS for fraud after the company submitted more than 650,000 incomplete checks, which the government uses for hiring, Reuters reported.
UF first began using HireRight, Inc., in 2008 to complete criminal background checks on its employees.
Paula Fussell, the vice president for human resource services at UF, said UF does not have a contract with HireRight but uses the company for select background checks.
“We’ve had a really good relationship with HireRight,” she said. “Right now we don’t have plans to change.”
USIS was reportedly used for the background check on National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, as reported by Reuters.
“The good thing about criminal background checks is you find out if someone has a criminal history,” Fussell said. “The bad thing is it doesn’t tell you what people plan to do.”
Criminal background checking at UF is done for all new hires in technical, executive, administrative, managerial support and faculty positions. UF uses HireRight for criminal background checking on a national level.
Fussell said HireRight has been helpful in background checking UF faculty.
“We wanted them because they were able to process the volume,” she said, “and process them in a timely basis at a reasonable cost.”
HireRight criminal background checks cost about $50. The checks search from anything between social security validations to address histories.
Joe Khan, a 28-year-old UF chemical engineering graduate student, said because of HireRight’s connection to USIS, UF should look to use other background checking companies.
“They should look into other competent competitors,” he said. “I’m sure there are better options out there.”
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 1/30/2014 under the headline "Background-check service company sued for fraud"]
