Rhode Island Background Checks

Health Street makes background checks in Rhode Island easy with a complete array of comprehensive, precise and detailed employment background screenings. Our Rhode Island background checks start with simple, fast criminal database checks and can be extended for a full view of a person's history by looking at local and national records, educational records, past jobs, and more. Rhode Island background checks ensure you and your workforce are protected from an employee who lies on his or her job application or worse

What background checks in Rhode Island does Health Street offer?

Health Street's criminal background check packages always start with a Social Security Number Trace. From there, you can add specific background checks, choose from one of our most popular packages, or build your own.

Triple Database Package

(starting at $99)

Includes:

Court Record Package

(starting at $99)

Search the Court Record Repository at the state or county level. This background check is an investigation of court records in the counties or states that a person has used their Social Security Number.

Platinum Background Check Package

(starting at $175)

Includes:

Everything in Triple Database Package plus Courthouse Repository (State and/or County level)

Ultimate Package

(starting at $250)

Includes:

Everything in Platinum Package plus a 10 panel drug test.

Build Your Own Package

(prices vary)

Mix and match a variety of our background screening services to create your perfect package. This can include criminal database checks, sanctions, resume verifications, and drug testing.

Resume Verification

(starting at $39)

Check a person's job history, degrees, references, and certifications.

DOT Background Check

(starting at $39)

Ensure DOT compliance with our driver screening services.

Why Health Street For Rhode Island Background Checks?

Health Street combines industry knowledge, a commitment to accuracy, and a spirit of fairness when performing background checks in the Ocean State. Comprehensive employment screenings keep you and your business from stumbling into legal problems. A thorough background screening is essential to confirming that your new hires in are qualified and honest.

Health Street's combination of high tech and high touch make background checks in fast and reliable. We offer simple, secure web technology matched with local court runners to protect your company.

Due diligence is critical. Poorly performed background checks can expose you in the following ways:

Not uncovering a past criminal record.

Revealing personal or excess information that cannot, by employment law, be taken into account.

In either case, you could be held legally liable. It is critical that you stay in compliance with local labor laws. Let Health Street's experts conduct your background checks in New Mexico so you'll know that your candidates have been fully and properly vetted before hire.

See All Background Checks

DOT Background Screening Services

If your business hires truck drivers, DOT regulations require that you reach out to prior employers as well as check the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse for violations. You also need to run a Motor Vehicle Report (MVR) to ensure that your drivers have a clean, safe driving record.

Health Street takes this work off of your hands and stores your Rhode Island background checks securely in the same convenient online portal where you can manage your DOT drug testing and random pool. We contact prior employers, check the Clearinghouse on your behalf, and report it all back to you in a comprehensive background check report, that includes:

Conducting historical research of Rhode Island driving record.
Contacting prior employers from before the Clearinghouse began in January 2020.

See All DOT Background Checks

Resume Review and Verification Checks

Education verification and reference checks are also critical to the pre-employment background checks in Rhode Island. Employers should also verify an applicant's resume, confirming their:

education and degrees
job history
professional licenses and certifications
references

Calling all of the schools and employers on a person's resume to confirm if your applicant is telling the truth could take hours. Fortunately, Health Street can easily handle your Rhode Island resume and employment verifications quickly and effectively. We will flag any discrepancies and report them back to you.

Rhode Island Background Screening Information

Background Check Laws Specific to the State of Rhode Island

In Rhode Island, America's smallest state by area, a wide variety of state and federal laws govern the use of background checks for employment purposes. Formally called the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, this state follows both the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), as well as ban-the-box laws which were enacted statewide in 2014.

The ban-the-box law prohibits employers from asking applicants any questions about their criminal history until the first interview at the earliest. At that point, employers may make inquiries, either formally or informally, about their past convictions. Under similar laws passed previously, this ban only extended to arrests or charges.

This new law, which was written as an amendment to the Rhode Island Fair Employment Practices Act, applies to any public or private company with more than 4 employees, with some exemptions for religious institutions and law enforcement positions.

There are only two exceptions to the law currently in place. The first is if either state or federal law would disqualify a person with a certain criminal history from being hired, and the second is if the position requires any kind of fidelity bond which would be impossible to obtain with a criminal record.

Even after the first interview, employers must be cautious that their hiring practices don't violate the rights of applicants under the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This includes making sure every applicant is treated equally and avoiding questions about sensitive issues like medical history and financial standing, unless you have been cleared to ask these questions based on the scope of the job in question.

Relevant Statistics on Crime in the State of Rhode Island

Since it's so small and sparsely populated, Rhode Island is considered one of the safest states in the United States. Despite that fact, crime still occurs here, and it's important to consider the security of your company when making hiring decisions.

In 2019, 219 incidents of violent crime per 100,000 population occurred in the state of Rhode Island.

Roughly 30 people per 100,000 population died as a result of drugs in Rhode Island in 2019. This number is quite a bit higher than it was in 2016, increasing by 39% in three years.

Overall, violent crime was down by 6.3% from 2017 to 2018, with just 2,317 incidents state-wide in 2018.

16 murders were committed statewide in 2018.