Next to the applicant’s legal name, the date of birth is the most important identifier used in background checks. Most courts use it as a primary identifier, and some actually require it to process a record search.

To comply with FCRA regulations, criminal background check results must match more than one identifier. This protects people from getting confused with criminals who share their name. Every Michael Jones in the county shouldn’t suffer just because they share a name with a thief or a murderer. The most common identifier used to comply with FCRA regulations is the date of birth.

Some clients are wary of collecting dates of birth because they don’t want to be sued for age discrimination. We usually remind these clients that, while they’re not allowed to ask for dates of birth on job applications, they are allowed to request them on a background check disclosure form.

Some employers are simply unable to directly request the date of birth of their candidates. For these employers, Corporate Screening offers several solutions that allow the candidate to confidentially supply their own date of birth information directly to us.

While this process may increase the time a background check takes, it will protect the employer from risk of litigation while dramatically increasing the chances of an accurate background check. Request more information about this background check option.

You can also request a Corporate Screening background check demo to learn how you can benefit from thorough background screening.

Return to the Background Check FAQ page.