Odessa, Texas Background Checks: A Guide for Employers [2025]

Employers in Odessa, Texas must ensure their new hires are safe and suitable for their jobs. One way to do this is to conduct in-depth background checks on candidates under consideration.

Pre-employment background checks deliver a picture of a candidate’s background by revealing their criminal history, educational record, employment history, and other relevant details. This information facilitates better hiring decisions.

At iprospectcheck, our expert investigators perform comprehensive background checks for employers in Odessa, Ector and Midland Counties, and across all of Texas.

Our team of experts has written this in-depth guide about how background checks in Odessa should be conducted.

What is an Odessa Employment Background Check?

An Odessa pre-employment background check is a screening process conducted before an applicant is hired that involves an in-depth investigation into the applicant’s work record, education, criminal history, and other information related to the job.

Odessa employers use these pre-employment checks to verify a potential new hire’s honesty, reliability, and qualifications for the position.

When a background check is completed correctly, it can help you make good hiring decisions while protecting your current employees, customers, and your company’s brand.

Why Do Employers in Odessa Conduct Background Checks?

There are many reasons why employers in the area perform background checks, including:

1. Protecting the Safety of the Workplace

Checking the backgrounds of job applicants protects workplace safety by screening out those who have job-related convictions or concerning driving records.

2. Preventing Bias in the Hiring Process

Employers must avoid bias in the hiring process.

One way to do so is to create a thorough background check policy that conforms to relevant federal and state employment background check laws.

Your policy should include detailed procedures for your HR staff to prevent potential unconscious biases from affecting hiring choices and ensure all background screens are completed uniformly.

3. Following State/Federal Regulations

In some industries, employers might be regulated by state or federal governmental agencies.

Some regulated employers are required to complete background checks before hiring applicants.

For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) regulates employers in the transportation industry and requires them to complete DOT background checks before hiring people for safety-sensitive jobs.

Similarly, Texas employers hiring for jobs involving work with disabled or elderly adults and children must complete thorough background checks before onboarding new hires.

4. Mitigating Liability Risks

Employers that fail to conduct background checks could be liable if an employee later negligently or intentionally hurts someone else when a background check would have shown the employee was potentially dangerous or otherwise unsuitable.

Carefully screening applicants with background checks mitigates the risks of negligent hiring lawsuits.

5. Building Customer Trust

If your company regularly handles the sensitive information of your customers, it’s important they know you take privacy and confidentiality seriously.

When you make background checks a part of your hiring process, this demonstrates to your customers that you ensure your employees will appropriately handle their sensitive information.

What Shows up on an Odessa Employment Background Check?

Employers request information relevant to the positions they are trying to fill, so what might appear on an Odessa employment background check can vary.

However, here are the most commonly requested searches:

• Verification of identity information
• Criminal history search
• Employment verification
• Education verification

Additionally, employers hiring for jobs requiring driving as a job duty might ask for motor vehicle records checks.

Those offering positions requiring professional credentials might request professional license verification.

Here’s some information about what you might see on these common background check reports:

Verification of Identity

As a starting point, a consumer reporting agency (CRA) will perform identity verification to ensure the records reviewed and reported are for the right person.

This helps to prevent errors caused by attributing records to an applicant that instead belong to a similarly-named individual.

Employment Verification

Employers that request employment verification will receive information about the candidate’s work record.

An employment verification report will include each employer’s address and name, the dates when the applicant was employed at each company, and the titles the applicant held while working for each employer.

Criminal Background Check for Employment

A criminal background check for employment reveals whether a candidate has pending criminal charges or past criminal convictions.

When a candidate has a reportable conviction or pending offense, you’ll see the following information:

• Case number
• Date of the offense
• Type of charge
• Whether the offense was a felony or misdemeanor
• How the charge was disposed
• When the disposition occurred
• When available, details about the sentence handed down

It’s important to note that expunged, non-disclosed, and sealed records are non-reportable and can’t be inquired about.

Education Verification

Verifying an applicant’s education confirms what they have reported about their educational achievements.

On an education verification report, you’ll see the following information:

• Names/addresses of each school the applicant attended
• Dates the applicant attended each school
• Whether the applicant received a degree or diploma

Motor Vehicle Records Check

A motor vehicle records (MVR) check is important for employers hiring drivers.

This type of report reveals the following information about an applicant’s driving record and license:

• Driver’s license number
• Driver’s license classification
• Date the license was issued
• Expiration date
• Traffic citations
• Major traffic crimes
• Whether the license has been suspended or revoked

Professional License Verification

Professional license verification confirms an applicant’s professional credentials and license.

This report will reveal the license number and type. It will also show the date the license was issued, whether the reported license is valid, the expiration date, and whether the candidate has any public discipline or sanctions against their license.

How to Conduct Odessa Employment Background Checks

1. Write a Compliant Background Check Policy

Before you begin checking your applicants’ backgrounds, your company should begin by writing a thorough, compliant background check policy.

Train your HR staff to ensure your background checks are correctly completed and do not violate the law.

2. Comply With the Notice and Consent Requirements

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), employers must notify applicants that they perform background checks.

You should provide this notice in writing on a separate form to ensure your candidates see it.

Before commencing a background check, you must also get the candidate’s signed consent.

3. Partner with a Trustworthy Employment Screening Provider

Choose a reputable company to perform your background checks such as iprospectcheck.

When you work with the right provider, you can be confident that your background check reports will be accurate, current, and legally compliant.

At iprospectcheck, we stay up to date with all state and federal employment background check laws to ensure compliance, and our technology seamlessly integrates with the applicant tracking systems (ATS) used by most companies.

4. Wait Until Late in the Hiring Process

It’s best to wait until late in the hiring process to run background checks.

When you wait until after you’re fairly sure you want to hire an applicant or have a small pool of candidates to run a background check, this helps to save time and money.

Running background checks on every potential candidate doesn’t make financial sense.

5. Tailor Your Background Check Requests

When you order employment background checks, only choose searches that are relevant to your industry and the job you are offering.

Tailoring your background checks keeps you from paying for unnecessary information.

At iprospectcheck, we have a menu of searches from which to choose when you’re creating a tailored background check request.

6. Evaluate Criminal Convictions Individually

Don’t follow a general policy to deny every applicant who has a criminal record.

Instead, evaluate an applicant’s conviction individually in relation to the job before denying employment.

7. Communicate the Results

Once you have received the report and have made a decision, communicate with the applicant.

If you have decided to hire the applicant, give them their start date and make an onboarding appointment.

If you have decided not to hire the applicant because of negative information in a background check, follow the next step.

8. Follow the Adverse Action Process

The FCRA requires employers to follow the adverse action process when they intend to base a negative hiring decision on information from a background check.

Before making a final decision, send the applicant a pre-adverse action letter. Include a copy of the section of the report that contains the concerning information.

Give the applicant a reasonable amount of time to respond by challenging the information or providing evidence they have been rehabilitated.

If you still want to turn the applicant down, send a final adverse action letter to the applicant, and include a copy of their rights under the FCRA.

Relevant Employment Screening Laws

Federal Laws

Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is arguably the most important federal employment screening law and applies to consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) and employers in every state, including Texas.

Under the FCRA, CRAs have a seven-year restriction when reporting the following information to employers for jobs with annual salaries under $75,000:

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

This consumer privacy law doesn’t prevent CRAs from reporting criminal convictions older than seven years, and it also doesn’t limit reports of information about an applicant’s employment record or educational background.

Employers must also abide by the FCRA’s disclosure and consent requirements. Before requesting a background check, employers must disclose to applicants their intention to complete a background check. This notice must be given on a separate form to ensure its visibility.

They must also secure an applicant’s written consent before a CRA can complete a background check.

The FCRA also mandates employers follow the adverse action process before making a final decision not to hire an applicant based on negative information learned from a background check, including:

• Pre-adverse action notice – The employer must send a notice to the applicant that the employer intends not to hire the applicant based on information included in the background check report. The employer must include a copy of the report section that contains the concerning information.
• Reasonable time to respond – The employer must give the applicant a reasonable time to respond (generally, five business days) by providing evidence they have rehabilitated or that the reported information is wrong.
• Final adverse action notice – The employer must send a final adverse action notice if they still decide to deny employment to the applicant.

Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act (FCA)

The Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act (FCA) was signed into law in Dec. 2019 by former President Donald Trump. This law places limitations on criminal history inquiries performed by federal agencies and companies with federal contracts.

Agencies and federal contractors can’t inquire about an applicant’s criminal record until a conditional employment offer has been extended.

The FCA also prohibits federal agencies from extending federal contracts to federal contractors that ask applicants about criminal history information before making contingent employment offers.

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (Title VII) prohibits discrimination in employment based on protected characteristics, including race, national origin, color, religion, sex, and others.

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s guidance for employers, this law also applies to employment background checks that reveal an applicant’s criminal history.

If you discover an applicant’s criminal record from a background check, you should individually evaluate the conviction’s details in comparison to the position the applicant has applied for before deciding not to hire them.

State Laws

Mini FCRA

Texas Bus. & Comm. Code § 20.05 is known as the mini-FCRA because it includes similar provisions to the federal FCRA, including a seven-year restriction on the ability of CRAs to report certain older information to employers for jobs paying less than $75,000 per year.

However, the state law also restricts CRAs from reporting criminal convictions that predate the background check by more than seven years while the FCRA does not.

While this might appear to prevent CRAs from reporting older convictions on Odessa background checks, it does not.

Since the Texas law was passed after the FCRA, the FCRA’s pre-emption provision means the FCRA controls instead of the state’s law.

While older convictions can be reported on background checks regardless of age, many CRAs limit the reporting of old convictions in alignment with the state’s law.

Expunction Law

Like many other states, Texas allows people with certain criminal records to request expungement. Called expunction in Texas, this process is codified at Tex. Code Crim. Proc. § 55.01.

Under this law, people with the following criminal records can ask the court for an expunction:

• Pardoned convictions
• Deferred third-degree misdemeanors
• Acquitted or dismissed charges

The effect of expunction is to remove these records from the state’s criminal repository, so they can’t be reported or used for any purpose.

However, Texas expungement is quite limited and is unlikely to affect most background checks.

Non-Disclosure Law

While most people are ineligible for expungement in Texas, some can ask the court for an order of non-disclosure under Tex. Govt. Code § 411.074.

The Texas non-disclosure law allows people with qualifying misdemeanor and non-violent felony convictions to ask the court for an order of non-disclosure.

If the court grants the non-disclosure request, information about convictions subject to the order can’t be reported by CRAs on background checks.

Multiple offenses are ineligible for non-disclosure, including DUIs, violent felonies, sexual offenses, and more.

Texas Regulatory Consistency Act

The Texas Regulatory Consistency Act is a new law that will be effective on Sept. 1, 2023.

This law preempts municipal and county ordinances that go further than state laws, including local labor and employment laws.

While the law’s impact is still being assessed, it will likely preempt local ban-the-box laws in cities such as Austin and counties such as Harris and Dallas.

However, Odessa and the counties of Ector and Midland do not have local ban-the-box laws. Other local ordinances might be affected, however. You should talk to legal counsel to learn about its impact on local laws that apply to your industry.

SB 1849

Another new law, SB 1849, will streamline the background screening process for employers hiring people to work in positions involving vulnerable populations.

Under this law, a centralized database including information from the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) will be created by Sept. 1, 2023.

Employers will be able to search the database to check whether an applicant has been debarred or excluded from employment.

This law also mandates employer reports of individuals who were terminated because of misconduct committed against children, disabled people, or the elderly.

Why Choose iprospectcheck for Pre-Employment Background Checks in Odessa, TX?

When you want to streamline your recruitment process and ensure that you’re hiring the best talent for your organization in Texas, consider iprospectcheck.

Our team provides a wide range of background check services tailored to deliver accurate and legally compliant information for your decision-making process.

Partnering with us offers you the advantage of our industry knowledge, commitment to legal compliance, and our dedication to delivering prompt, comprehensive, and precise results.

Don’t leave your recruitment decisions to chance. Take a step towards a safer and more productive workplace.

Contact iprospectcheck today to discover how our background check solutions can strengthen your recruitment process: (888) 509-1979

Helpful Resources:

1. Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal History Records Search: Explains how employers can ask for criminal history information in Texas.
2. Texas Department of Health and Human Services Background Checks: Gives information to social services and healthcare organizations about their background check requirements and how to complete them.
3. City of Odessa Human Resources Application Procedures: Explains the process used by the City of Odessa for hiring applicants that private employers can emulate.
4. Texas Workforce Commission References and Background Checks Guide: Provides legal guidance and legal sources for employers when checking references or conducting background checks.

DISCLAIMER: The resources provided here are for educational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult your own counsel if you have legal questions related to your specific practices and compliance with applicable laws.