Texas Background Checks

Health Street provides a full range of criminal background checks in Texas, allowing companies to accurately screen job applicants before hiring. We offer a wide variety of employment screening ranging from a simple criminal database search to comprehensive investigative research of a person’s criminal record, job history, credentials, and references. For quality, professional and timely background screenings, look to Health Street to provide your business with employment background checks in Texas.

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What background checks in Texas 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.

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.

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Platinum Background Check Package

(starting at $175)

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

(starting at $250)

Includes:
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Everything in Platinum Package plus a 10 panel drug test.
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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.

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Resume Verification

(starting at $39)

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

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DOT Background Check

(starting at $39)

Ensure DOT compliance with our driver screening services.

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City Background Checks

For information regarding background checks in a specific city, click the relevant link below:

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Why Health Street For Texas Background Checks?

Criminal background check in the Lone Star State must be done in accordance with state law. There are very specific requirements that companies must follow in order to perform a legally compliant background check, and it varies by state. Health Street’s understanding of local laws combined with advanced technologies help keep you in compliance with background check laws.

A Credit Reporting Agency, or CRA, should do more than just checking a public database on your behalf. Running background checks present a pair of equally troublesome risks:

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Not uncovering criminal activity
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Revealing too much information, including things that by law cannot be considered during the hiring process

If you receive information from your CRA that you are not permitted to include in your hiring decision, you can run afoul of laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). On the flip side, if you miss a critical criminal record, it can be even more devastating. For these reasons, it’s critically important to work with a CRA with experience performing comprehensive employment background checks in .

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DOT Background Screening Services

If you hire truck drivers or other vehicle operators covered by DOT, then you know you have to comply with the Department of Transportation’s FMCSA modality regulations. To comply with DOT regs, you must:

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Contact previous employers (from before January 2020)
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Review the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse for January 2020 and later.
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Run the Texas Motor Vehicle Report (MVR).

These measures ensure that your new hire has a safe Texas driving record and no drug or alcohol violations in the past three years.

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Resume Review and Verification Checks

Sometimes, the job candidate who seems to be most qualified is lying on his or her resume. In fact, it is quite common for people to misrepresent their education, degrees earned, and work history in order to qualify for a job that they otherwise would not obtain. An unqualified employee—especially one who forges aspects of their experience—creates serious risks for business leaders and HR executives.

Health Street’s background checks in Texas can verify a person’s resume, confirming the information that they have provided to you about their education, employment history, professional licensure, and degrees earned. We can even check references. Including these options on your background check in Texas gives you and your business the protection it deserves and the knowledge that you are hiring honest, qualified candidates.

Texas Background Screening Info

Background Check Laws Specific to the State of Texas

In Texas, changing laws on background checks have made many employers cautious about implementing new policies. Like many states, Texas is governed by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which requires that employers give written notice to applicants when they want to conduct a background or credit check as part of the hiring process. This written notice must also include information on whether the background check will be conducted by an employee, or by a third-party agency.

Right now, the status of ban-the-box legislation in Texas is up in the air. Fair chance hiring policies made it easier for individual cities and municipalities to pass ban-the-box legislation, but recently Texas House Bill 577 would take away that option. Austin was the only city that did pass ban-the-box legislation limiting questions about arrests and convictions before an interview, but if HB 577 passes, this ordinance would cease to exist.

To reduce liability, employers in Texas should limit their questions about criminal history only to those that have a legitimate impact on the position in question. This guidance comes from the Texas Workplace Commission, as well as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency that administers and enforces civil rights laws that pertain to workplace discrimination.

Employers should also be aware that applicants in Texas are not required to disclose any alternative sentences they’ve received, which includes deferred adjudication and pleading no contest, when they are asked about convictions. Unless the employer asks about these sentences directly, applicants are under no legal obligation to disclose.

Statistics on Crime in the State of Texas

The large state of Texas is a diverse place, with many police and sheriff’s departments working together to enforce the law. Overall, incidents of crime are trending downwards, although rates of arrests for some crimes are going up.

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In 2018, there were 1,324 individuals murdered in Texas, a small drop from 2017 when just over 1,400 people were killed.
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Overall, violent crime in Texas decreased by 3.7% from 2017 to 2018.
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Hate crimes increased by a remarkable 100% from 2017 to 2018, with 430 offenders arrested in a total of 380 incidents.
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Rates of family violence increased incrementally, with 197,023 incidents reported in 2018 alone.
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More than 27,000 individuals were arrested for aggravated assault in 2018, a 20.3% increase from 2017 where 22,508 people were arrested for the same crime.

Citations

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Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), “Don’t Kill Fair Chance / Ban the Box in Texas.” Nation Inside, https://actionnetwork.org/letters/dont-kill-fair-chanceban-the-box-in-texas
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“References and Background Checks.” Texas Workforce Commission, twc.texas.gov/news/efte/references_background_checks.html
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Samuels, Alex. “Texas Senate says cities can’t ban employers from asking about criminal history.” Texas Tribune, 16 April 2019, https://www.texastribune.org/2019/04/16/texas-senate-ban-the-box-sick-leave-bills/
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“2018 Crime in Texas – Executive.” Texas Department of Public Safety, https://www.dps.texas.gov/crimereports/18/executiveSummary.pdf