FWIW, it is illegal to ask an applicant for or require an SSN on the job application. It is also illegal to ask for on a job application or during an interview process for their age or DOB (although you can ask if they are at least 18 years old) or for their marital status, whether they have or plan to have children, if female if they are now pregnant or plan to become pregnant, among other things like their religion or ethnicity and whether they own or rent their home. You can ask on the application if the applicant is eligible to work in the US but you cannot ask for proof of citizenship or for their legal work authorization documentation prior to employment, i.e. the I-9 form which can only be completed on the first day of work and no later than the third day of employment and likewise with E-Verify.
State law determines whether you may question applicants about their criminal records. Some states have adopted “ban the box” laws, which prohibit employers from including a question on application forms about criminal records. Some states prohibit employers from asking about arrests that didn’t lead to convictions or expunged records. Some states allow employers to consider only certain criminal convictions in making job decisions. But where you are allowed to ask on the job application about felony criminal convictions, providing false information on the application and as proved in a background check is reason not to hire, to rescind a job offer or to terminate as soon as known.
Only after a job offer has been made in writing, can the employer ask for an SSN and DOB or a driver’s license (but only if driving is an integral part of the job such as driving a company vehicle or driving their personal vehicle as a regular part of their job – most typically for outside sales people), and only on a form separate from the job application and only if it is for the purpose of performing a background check. In which case, the person to whom the job offer has been made, signs a release for the background check to be performed and has to be provided with a document (sometimes a Consumer Credit Protection statement even if they are not doing an actual consumer credit check) that informs the person of their legal rights to dispute should their offer be rescinded based on a background check where the applicant to whom the job offer has been made disputes any incorrect information on the background check or cases where some information like prior employer or education was not able to be confirmed or a negative credit rating that is in dispute.
At my last job we had, on advise from our legal counsel, a policy of destroying background check reports after the 1st 90 days of employment.
An interesting tidbit.
Some applicants object to filling out a job application if they have already submitted their resume, stating that “my resume already has all that information on it”. But on a job application, there is typically a statement just above the signature line stating something like, “I certify that all answers and statements on this application are true and complete to the best of my knowledge. I understand that, should this application contain any false or misleading information, my application may be rejected or my employment with this company terminated.” Since a resume has no such statement, absent a job application with the signed statement, an employer may not be able to rescind a job offer or terminate an employee for providing false information as to prior employment and or education or criminal background.
Interesting reply. I have heard some of these restrictions, but your response is the most detailed I’ve seen. I’m just bookmarking it with my reply since I’m going back into the market soon and am getting toward that “grey” zone. lol