Kathy,
That's a good article, but somewhat misleading with respect to background checks in this industry. The article suggests restrictions on criminal history and stresses financial background checks...which are the least of worries in most cases.
Any time an applicant is fingerprinted and submits personal information such as social security number, height, weight, eye color, hair color, birthdate, and birth place, that person may assume they're the subject of a criminal history investigation from the National Crime Information Computer, or NCIC. NCIC checks will include both wants checks (warrants or other wants), as well as what is sometimes called "triple I check," or backround criminal history check.
Applicants sometimes mistakenly believe that because a crime has been "expunged" at the local or state level, it's no longer available. If it's been submitted to the NCIC, chances are that in most cases it is still available, no matter how much time has passed. Not all departments and agencies submit the same information, some only submit felonies, others submit much more...but once it's there, it's there.
Obtaining this information is not illegal, and one doesn't have a right to only have someone sample the last few years of the history. When one submits a request for III history through the national law enforcement teletype system (as updated), one doesn't request a certain time period, but the whole thing.
Generally companies in aviation only look back ten years, but it's worth remembering that it's hard for a background agency or employer to overlook glaring items that occured prior to that time.
I have been in situations in which employees were denied security access or clearance due to things that surfaced much before ten years...things that they thought had gone away, but clearly had not.
It's not a matter of fair credit in such cases, but criminal history, and the fair credit reporting act doesn't alter that at all.
