Dover Background Checks: An Employer’s Guide [2025]

Dover employers must hire reliable, trustworthy, and qualified people to fill open positions.

Pre-employment background checks enable companies to verify their candidates’ qualifications and suitability before they hire.

At iprospectcheck, we regularly conduct comprehensive employment background checks for employers in Dover, Kent County, and throughout the state.

This guide explains what you should know about employment background checks in Dover, the applicable laws, and how employers can ensure compliance.

What is a Dover Employment Background Check?

Employment background checks in Dover investigate candidates’ qualifications, education, work history, professional credentials, criminal history, and other key details to enable employers to evaluate their job suitability, experience, and safety.

Employers in Delaware use background checks to make informed hiring decisions and verify the claims candidates make on their applications and resumes.

Why Do Local Employers Conduct Background Checks?

1. Promote Workplace Safety

Employers must create a reasonably safe workplace environment for their employees, vendors, and customers.

Employment background checks promote workplace safety by identifying issues in a candidate’s past that might indicate a disregard for safety regulations or convictions that could make them unsafe to others.

2. Ensure Fairness in Hiring

Consistent, uniform background check processes help employers ensure fairness in hiring and reduce the impact of unconscious bias.

3. Maintain Regulatory Compliance

Regulated employers in industries such as transportation, K-12 education, and healthcare must comply with state and federal regulations that require specific types of background checks.

For example, transportation carriers must conduct DOT background checks, DOT physicals, and DOT drug screens before hiring truck drivers.

Similarly, employers in Dover that provide services to vulnerable populations like disabled people, elderly adults, or children, must complete fingerprint-based background checks, mandatory drug tests, and sex offender and abuse and neglect registry checks before hiring volunteers, contractors, or employees.

4. Reduce Negligent Hiring Risks

When employers hire an unsafe individual without checking their background who goes on to injure others while working, they can face serious legal repercussions and liability.

Pre-employment background checks demonstrate an employer’s due diligence in making sure their new hires are safe, competent, and responsible and reduce liability risks.

5. Build Client Trust

Many employers regularly handle the sensitive, personal identifying information (PII) of their clients and customers when completing transactions, performing banking functions, or delivering healthcare services.

An untrustworthy employee might access a client’s sensitive information or negligently cause a data breach, exposing the information to bad actors.

Thorough background checks enable employers to ensure their employees are safe and can be trusted to handle sensitive information confidentially and securely.

This helps to build clients’ trust in the organization’s focus on security and safety.

6. Protect the Organization’s Brand

Employees are the public face of the organization they work for.

A bad employee’s malfeasance can severely damage a company’s brand.

Pre-employment background checks enable companies to ensure their candidates will be good brand representatives and help to build a positive brand image.

What Information Appears on a Dover Background Check?

What shows up on a background check depends on the searches you request.

Many Dover employers ask for the following background checks:

Criminal History

When an applicant has a criminal record or pending case, a criminal background check reports the following details:

• Criminal case number
• Offense date
• Offense type
• Severity (misdemeanor/felony)
• Case disposition
• Disposition date
• Sentence (when available)

Don’t treat criminal convictions as an automatic bar to employment.

Instead, individually assess a conviction as it relates to the open position and workplace safety before using it to deny employment.

Expunged convictions can’t be reported on background checks.

Employment Verification

Employment verification reveals the following details about an applicant’s current and past jobs:

• Employer name and address
• Employment dates at each company
• Positions held and job titles

Verifying a candidate’s employment history allows employers to identify employment gaps, confirm claimed experience, and authenticate the representations they made on their resume and during interviews.

Education Verification

Education verification discloses the following information:

• Names and addresses of schools attended
• Enrollment dates
• Whether the candidate earned a degree or diploma

Education verification enables an employer to verify a candidate’s claims and ensure they possess the qualifications necessary to perform the job.

Professional License Verification

Professional license verification discloses the following information about an applicant’s credentials:

• License validity
• License number
• Issuing body
• License type
• Issuance date
• Expiration date
• Revocations/suspensions
• Other public sanctions

Verifying an applicant’s professional credentials shows whether an applicant has the required license or certificate for the job.

Identity Verification

An Identity Verification shows the following about the number an applicant provided:

• Names associated with the candidate
• Date of birth
• Address History

Background check providers perform Identity Verification as a preliminary step to confirm an applicant’s identity, ensure the accuracy and validity of the information they report, and identify other jurisdictions that might need to be searched.

Motor Vehicle Records Check

Companies that hire drivers routinely request MVR checks, which show the following information:

• License validity
• License number
• Holder’s full legal name
• Licensee’s address
• Issuance date
• Expiration date
• Moving violations
• Major traffic offenses
• Revocations or suspensions

MVR checks allow employers to confirm their drivers’ safety and insurability.

Important Laws and Regulations

Federal Laws

Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)

The FCRA is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and protects consumers’ privacy in their information when CRAs gather, retain, and disseminate it to third parties, including employers.

Under the FCRA’s seven-year rule, CRAs can’t report certain information older than seven years for jobs with annual salaries less than $75,000, including:

• Arrests not resulting in convictions
• Paid tax liens
• Civil lawsuits and judgments
• Chapter 13 bankruptcies (10 years for Chapter 7)
• Debt collections

This rule doesn’t prohibit the reporting of convictions regardless of age, but Delaware’s clean slate law might.

The FCRA also has rules employers must follow when they partner with third parties to perform background checks.

Employers must notify applicants about their intent to complete background checks on a standalone form without including other information.

They must also secure their applicants’ signed consent before starting a background check.

Once an employer receives a background check, they must follow the adverse action process if they don’t want to hire the applicant because of the information they learned.

Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act (FCA)

The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act is a fair chance hiring law signed by former President Donald Trump in Dec. 2019.

This law prohibits private companies that seek or hold federal contracts from inquiring into an applicant’s criminal history until after they extend a conditional employment offer.

It also forbids federal agencies from contracting with companies that violate the FCA.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)

Title VII is a federal workplace discrimination law enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

This law prohibits employers from discriminating against applicants and employees because of their protected characteristics.

According to the EEOC’s enforcement guidance on the consideration of criminal convictions, employers should individually assess an applicant’s criminal record in relation to the open position before basing an adverse hiring decision on the conviction.

State Laws

Delaware Clean Slate Act

Delaware’s clean slate law was effective on Aug. 1, 2024, and automatically expunges criminal convictions once a threshold time has passed as follows:

• Five years – Drug possession convictions
• 10 years – Other drug convictions
• 10 years – Burglary tool possession
• 10 years – Counterfeit controlled drug sales
• 10 years – Unauthorized credit or debit card use

Other felonies, DUIs, domestic violence crimes, and sex offenses can’t be expunged.

Delaware Expungement Law

Under 11 Del. Code § 4372, individuals with Delaware criminal records can petition the court for expungement.

Expungement’s effect is to remove these records from the individual’s criminal history, and they can’t be reported by CRAs or used by employers for employment purposes.

However, courts have discretion whether to expunge a record other than those subject to Delaware’s clean slate law, and some records can never be expunged.

Social Media Privacy

Employers are prohibited from asking an applicant or employee for their social media passwords or to access their accounts in front of the employer under 19 Del. Code § 709A.

They also can’t require or coerce employees and applicants to add them to their social media contact lists.

Salary History Inquiry Ban

Under 19 Del. Code §709B, employers are prohibited from asking applicants about their salary history or inquiring about it by contacting former employers.

Employers can face significant civil penalties if they violate this law.

Ban on Polygraph Examinations

Other than police departments, employers in Delaware are prohibited from requiring applicants and employees to submit to polygraph examinations as an employment condition under 19 Del. Code § 704.

Delaware Ban-the-Box Law

Delaware has a state ban-the-box law that applies to state public employers.

Under this law, public employers can’t inquire about an applicant’s criminal history on applications or until after an interview.

Public Employer Prohibition on Use of Convictions

Under 2014 HB 167, public employers in Delaware can’t use misdemeanor convictions older than five years or felonies older than 10 years when making hiring decisions.

How to Conduct Employment Background Checks in Dover, DE

1. Develop a Background Check Policy

Create a comprehensive background check policy that specifies the procedures HR staff should follow before, during, and after background checks.

Your policy should track all legal requirements under federal and state laws.

Include information about the types of searches you’ll perform, according to the position levels and responsibilities at your organization.

2. Train HR Staff

Train the staff who will perform background checks on your policy and the steps they must take to ensure compliance and process uniformity.

This helps to reduce risks of unconscious bias and lawsuits.

3. Provide Notice and Obtain Consent

Notify applicants that your organization performs background checks on a separate form.

Don’t include information about anything else on this form.

Obtain the applicant’s signed consent before starting a background check.

4. Choose a Reliable Provider

Partner with a reliable background check company like iprospectcheck to ensure your reports will be accurate, contain current information, be comprehensive, and comply with the FCRA and state laws.

Working with iprospectcheck also provides the benefit of fast results to enable you to reduce time-to-fill and time-to-hire rates.

5. Time Background Checks Wisely

While Delaware’s ban-the-box law only applies to public employers, it’s smart to wait until the later stages of the hiring process to conduct background checks.

Waiting until after an interview or job offer saves time and resources.

6. Tailor Background Checks to Open Positions

Create tailored background checks for your open jobs to avoid paying for unnecessary information.

At iprospectcheck, we offer multiple industry-specific packages and add-on searches and can help you create customized checks to meet your requirements.

7. Evaluate and Communicate Results

Evaluate the results you receive carefully when you receive them.

Communicate with the applicant if you’re satisfied to schedule a start date and onboarding.

If you have concerns, complete the following steps:

8. Assess Convictions

If you learn about an applicant’s criminal conviction on a background check report, individually assess it with the job’s duties and workplace safety concerns before basing an adverse hiring decision on that information.

9. Follow the Adverse Action Process

If you decide not to hire an applicant because of negative information you learned from a background check, complete the following steps of the adverse action process:

• Send a pre-adverse action notice – Send a notice to the applicant that issues in their background check make you want to deny employment. Include a copy of the section of the report that contains the information.
• Give a reasonable response time (five business days) – Provide five or more business days for the applicant to respond to the notice by supplying evidence that the information is wrong or that they have been rehabilitated.
• Send a final adverse action notice – If you make a final decision not to hire the applicant, send a notice informing them of your decision and enclose a copy of their FCRA rights.

Trust iprospectcheck for Reliable Background Checks in Dover, Delaware

Dover employers must ensure their new hires’ safety, competency, and qualifications for their open positions.

Background checks facilitate better hiring decisions.

To learn more about our employment background checks and receive a free quote, contact us today: 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.