Board approves change to preemployment checks; verification to be optional with 2% randomized audits

The Board of Supervisors voted 4–1 May 21 to revise County human resources policy so that employment‑history verification (the step that calls prior employers to confirm dates and positions listed on a resume) is optional rather than mandatory for every hire. The change was recommended by HR to address rising costs and administrative delays tied to third‑party verification services.

Key elements of the approved revision - Optional verification: Departments may still request HR to perform full employment verification on selected candidates, but the default background‑check workflow will no longer include routine employer calls for every applicant. - Criminal checks unchanged: The policy explicitly keeps criminal‑history checks intact for all candidates, including Social Security validation, state and national criminal checks and sex offender registry review; those checks remain required. - Randomized audit: As a safeguard, HR will conduct at least a 2% randomized verification audit of applicants/hires (HR staff will select roughly every 50th applicant in the review pool) to ensure accuracy and discourage falsified resumes. HR told the board that the central HR office will perform those checks and will honor additional department requests for verification beyond the sample.

Why it matters: The change is intended to speed hiring and reduce vendor costs for routine verifications while preserving core safety checks and adding a randomized audit to deter misrepresentation. Supervisors asked for operational details and legal vetting; HR and county counsel said the approach was reviewed with legal staff.

Board debate and vote - Supporters noted the time and cost burden of verifying every resume entry, the small historical rate of deceptive employment reports and the added protection provided by criminal and identity checks and the 2% randomized audit. - Opponents raised fairness questions and sought detail on how the audit would be implemented; one supervisor (recorded dissent) expressed concern about equal treatment across positions and about whether random checks could miss problematic hires in safety‑sensitive roles. - Vote: Motion to adopt HR policy as presented passed 4–1.

Next steps: HR will operationalize the 2% randomization protocol, continue criminal checks for all candidates, and provide departments the ability to request full employer verification when positions or circumstances warrant it. The county attorney’s office reviewed legal aspects of the revision, HR said.

Ending: The board’s action balances cost and timeliness against risk controls by retaining criminal checks and adding a periodic random verification requirement and on‑demand verification upon departmental request.