Continuous monitoring and rescreening help you track employee information after hire, ensuring your workforce remains safe and compliant long after onboarding.
At iprospectcheck, we understand the challenge of keeping up with employee screening after the hiring process, and we’ve helped countless businesses navigate these monitoring strategies.
In this guide, we will break down the key differences between these two approaches so you can choose the best fit for your company.
Key Takeaways
- Use employee rescreening to meet compliance requirements by conducting thorough background checks at scheduled intervals, typically annually, and verifying employees haven’t developed new criminal records, lost their professional licenses, or engaged in substance use.
- Implement continuous monitoring to receive instant notifications when court records, motor vehicle violations, or professional license statuses change, giving you the ability to remove high-risk employees from duty immediately.
- Partner with iprospectcheck for accurate, compliant employee screening solutions that fit your specific industry needs, whether you choose rescreening, continuous monitoring, or both.
Rescreening and Continuous Monitoring: Quick Comparison
| Employee rescreening | Continuous monitoring | |
| Approach | Checking certain background check reports to look for information that might have changed post-hire | Automated checks of specific databases to look for new information and provide real-time alerts to employers |
| Timing | Occurs at pre-determined intervals under the company’s policy or regulatory requirements, typically once per year | Automated and continuous, with real-time alerts upon changes |
| Compliance monitoring | Checks for compliance when rescreening occurs to ensure a company’s policies and rules are followed | Avoids compliance gaps by continuously checking for new information and providing real-time alerts |
| Risk identification | Identifies potential liability risks during regular rescreens | Identifies potential liability risks as soon as they are reported |
| Cost | More affordable than continuous monitoring | Higher cost than rescreens or standard background checks, but can prevent costly liability issues |
| Ideal for | Companies with low to moderate risk exposure that want to ensure their employees continue to meet standards; for some regulated industries, it’s legally required | Companies with high risk exposure and those in regulated industries, such as transportation, healthcare, finance, and those that work with vulnerable populations |
What is Employee Rescreening?
Employee rescreening involves performing specific background checks at regular intervals, typically annually, around an employee’s performance evaluation or before an impending compliance audit.
Purpose:
While certain background information, such as employment history or education, remains relatively static, other relevant information can be fluid and change.
Rescreening your employees each year helps you verify key information and catch potential issues, such as:
- New criminal conduct that could impact their jobs
- Whether they’ve maintained their professional licenses (where applicable)
- Substance use disorders that could risk the safety of your other employees and/or the public
Depending on your industry, rescreening your employees at least annually might be legally required.
For example, DOT guidelines require regulated employers in the transportation industry to rescreen safety-sensitive workers at least annually and to perform DOT drug tests (random drug tests, post-accident drug and alcohol tests, reasonable suspicion tests, and others) at relevant times.
How it works:
1. Include Rescreening in Your Company’s Background Check Policy
Like pre-employment background checks, employee rescreens should be included in a comprehensive screening policy.
Define your rescreening intervals (e.g., annually) and any events that could trigger a rescreen (e.g., a promotion, a workplace accident, information about criminal involvement, or information about potential drug use).
List the types of background checks you’ll include for rescreens.
Depending on the job’s duties and any regulatory requirements, you might include:
- criminal history checks
- motor vehicle records checks
- professional license verification
- social media checks
- drug tests
2. Train HR Staff
Thoroughly train your HR staff about employment rescreenings, how they differ from regular pre-employment background checks, various triggering events and regular intervals, and the types of reports to include.
3. Comply With Notice and Consent Rules
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires you to notify employees and obtain consent before you conduct any employment background check, including rescreenings.
Your notice should be on a standalone form. It’s possible to use an evergreen notice for both the pre-employment background check and future rescreens by disclosing that your company conducts both.
However, if you operate in California, be aware that the state’s laws require new notice and consent every time you screen your employees.
4. Choose a Trusted Background Check Partner
It’s best to partner with a background check company that’s known for reliable, fast, up-to-date, and compliant reports.
At iprospectcheck, we work with companies in every industry across the US to conduct thorough, accurate, and FCRA-compliant background checks, including employee rescreens.
5. Assess Criminal Information Fairly
If you discover that an employee has a pending charge or a new conviction, EEOC guidance under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act states that you must assess the information as it relates to their job duties and workplace safety before you decide to terminate them based on the charge or conviction.
For example, if your employee works a desk job that doesn’t involve driving, and you learn that they have recently been convicted of a DUI offense, the conviction might bear little relationship to their job and not form the basis for taking an adverse employment action.
By contrast, if your employee has a recent DUI conviction and has a job that requires them to drive, you might instead determine that they pose too great a risk to continue their employment.
6. Complete the Adverse Action Steps
If an employee rescreen reveals new information relevant to the job that makes you want to terminate them, you must complete the following adverse action steps before making a final decision:
- Send a pre-adverse action notice – Notify your employee about the information that concerns you and give them a copy of the report, along with the current CFPB-approved version of “Summary of Your Rights Under the FCRA.”
- Give the employee a reasonable response time – Give your employee a reasonable time to provide evidence that the information is wrong or of their rehabilitation. For example, if an employee has a new DUI conviction but shows you that they have since completed rehabilitation, you might take it into consideration. A reasonable timeframe is usually 5 business days.
- Send a final adverse action letter – If you ultimately decide to terminate employment, send your former employee a final adverse action letter that includes a copy of their FCRA rights. Comply with your company’s internal termination policy.
Pros of rescreening:
- Improves workplace safety – Annual rescreens help to identify problematic behavior and/or criminal convictions that could threaten the safety of your other employees and customers.
- Regulatory compliance – Certain industries, including transportation and healthcare, require regular rescreens of safety-sensitive workers. Conducting rescreens at the required intervals helps maintain regulatory compliance.
- Maintains workplace standards – Regular employee rescreens help to ensure that your employees continue to meet your company’s and industry’s requirements and allow you to maintain workplace standards.
- Reduces liability risks – If you fail to rescreen an employee who subsequently engages in conduct that harms someone else that you should have discovered, you could face negligent supervision and retention liability.
- Ease of implementation – Since employee rescreens work the same way that background checks do, they might be easier for your HR staff to implement.
Cons of rescreening:
- Might miss information for months – Rescreening employees once per year might mean that you miss criminal involvement, license issues, and other problems for months, potentially exposing you to liability in the interim.
- Potential compliance gaps – Like background checks, rescreens provide a snapshot of an employee at one point in time. If you’re in a regulated industry, you could have compliance gaps because of the time lapse between screenings.
- Slower response times – Months between rescreens means that you might not be able to respond very quickly to new, problematic information.
Best for:
Rescreening is best for companies with low to moderate risks that want to maintain workplace standards and ensure their employees continue to meet requirements. It’s also legally required for certain regulated industries, such as transportation.
Know Before You Hire
What is Continuous Monitoring?
Continuous monitoring involves screening court databases, state driver’s license records, social media (where allowed), and other records in real time, allowing you to receive nearly instant alerts when an employee’s relevant information has changed.
For example, if a CDL driver is charged with a DUI, continuous monitoring can alert you of that fact immediately so that you can take appropriate action.
Similarly, if you’re alerted that an employee has been convicted of assault and could potentially risk workplace safety, you can take fast action to protect your other employees and the public.
Purpose:
Since continuous monitoring provides real-time alerts about new, relevant information that could threaten workplace safety, regulatory compliance, or your company’s reputation, it allows you to proactively respond immediately instead of potentially increasing your liability risks.
How it works:
1. Create a Continuous Monitoring Policy
If you plan to implement continuous monitoring, you must create a policy that defines the types of records that will be checked, the types of new records to watch for, and how your company will respond to various types of information.
2. Train HR Staff
Train your HR staff about how to respond to alerts and the steps they must take when reviewing new information.
3. Comply with Notice and Consent Rules
Like pre-employment background checks and employee rescreenings, you must comply with the FCRA’s notice and consent rules.
This means notifying your employees that you conduct continuous monitoring and obtaining their written consent.
If you operate in California, state law requires you to disclose and obtain consent each time you conduct a background check.
To comply, you should have specific disclosure and consent forms you use for continuous monitoring separate from and in addition to those you use for pre-employment background checks and/or employee rescreens.
4. Partner With an Experienced Provider
To implement continuous monitoring, you’ll want to work with an experienced provider like iprospectcheck that regularly performs both background checks and continuous monitoring for employers.
We use automated software to scan records and send alerts to you when new, relevant information appears in an employee’s background in the categories you select.
5. Comply with the Law
Make sure to comply with Title VII and the FCRA when you learn about new, problematic information before you take adverse employment action against your employee.
This includes assessing new convictions or pending charges as they directly relate to the job and workplace safety.
It also involves following the adverse action steps previously described above before making a final decision.
Pros of continuous monitoring:
- Provides real-time alerts – Real-time alerts allow you to rapidly respond to new information that could threaten your business.
- Enhances regulatory compliance – If you operate in a regulated industry, continuous monitoring can ensure you maintain regulatory compliance by immediately alerting you to such things as license issues, new convictions, or other negative issues. For example, if you receive an alert that a nurse on your staff has allowed his license to lapse, you can immediately remove them from duty until they resolve their license issues.
- Reduces liability risks – Being able to address safety risks in real time can reduce the chance that your company will face liability risks. For example, if you learn that a CDL driver has been charged with a DUI, you can remove them from duty to prevent potential accidents and liability issues.
- Protects your company’s reputation – Since continuous monitoring allows you to respond to problems immediately, you can remove problematic employees before they can damage your company’s reputation.
Cons of continuous monitoring:
- Increased cost – Continuous monitoring is more expensive than employee rescreens and regular background checks.
- More difficult implementation – Continuous monitoring relies on automated software to continuously scan databases and send real-time alerts, which will require you to work with a partner that offers robust API integrations, such as iprospectcheck.
Best for:
Continuous monitoring is ideal for companies with high compliance needs, such as those that operate in regulated sectors, such as transportation, healthcare, K-12 education, and those that work with vulnerable populations.
Why Employers Use Both
Some companies choose both continuous monitoring and employee rescreens to comply with regulations and identify risks in real time.
For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) mandates employers to conduct MVR screens, drug tests, and physicals at specific intervals, which can be accomplished through employee rescreens.
At the same time, the employers might also want to use continuous monitoring to receive instant alerts about major traffic violations and other issues that could risk compliance.
Using both ensures you get in-depth screening at regular intervals while staying instantly informed of high-priority changes as they occur.
Know Before You Hire
Trust iprospectcheck for Employee Rescreening and Continuous Monitoring
Employee rescreening and continuous monitoring can help you ensure your employees continue to meet your standards post-hire.
At iprospectcheck, we make both processes simple and compliant, so you can focus on running your business with confidence.
To learn more and receive a free quote, contact iprospectcheck today by calling us at (888) 509-1979.
DISCLAIMER: The resources provided here are for educational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult your counsel if you have legal questions related to your specific practices and compliance with applicable laws.
FAQs
Is employee rescreening legally required?
Employee rescreening is legally required for companies operating in certain regulated industries, including transportation, healthcare, education, and companies working with vulnerable populations.
For other companies, rescreening isn’t usually legally required.
How often should companies rescreen employees?
Most employers rescreen employees annually in advance of their performance evaluations.
Employers might also choose to rescreen employees when trigger events occur, such as workplace accidents, potential promotions, or reasonable suspicion that the employee has engaged in criminal behavior.
Can continuous monitoring replace rescreening?
In regulated industries like transportation, DOT-regulated employers must conduct specific rescreens at regular intervals under DOT rules.
For those companies, continuous monitoring can’t replace rescreening, but it can supplement it.
