Powerchex

HireRight

HireRight

American employment screening company

HireRight is a global family of background screening companies based in Nashville, Tennessee.

Quick Facts Company type, Traded as ...

Acquisitions and mergers

Powerchex

On June 23, 2010, HireRight announced that it had acquired Powerchex, a UK-based pre-employment screening company specialising in the financial services sector in the City of London.[2] Powerchex was a full member of the UK chapter of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners or NAPBS,[3] and was started by Alexandra Kelly in 2005 who is the former managing director and owner of the company.

In October 2010, Powerchex was rebranded as HireRight.[4]

Both Powerchex and Kroll Background Screening (below) are now fully owned subsidiaries of HireRight.

Kroll

On August 3, 2010, HireRight then-parent company Altegrity Risk International announced it had completed the acquisition of Kroll Inc. from Marsh & McLennan Companies in an all-cash transaction valued at US$1.13 billion. In October 2010, Kroll Background Worldwide was rebranded as HireRight.[4]

On March 13, 2018, it was reported that Duff & Phelps Corp. would buy Kroll, Inc. (which did not include background screening portion of the former Kroll business that had been rebranded with HireRight brands).[5] On June 4, 2018, the transaction was completed.[6][7]

General Information Services

On Friday, May 25, 2018, HireRight and General Information Services (GIS) announced their intent and agreement to a merger.[8] The companies announced the closing of the merger on July 12, 2018.[9] The resulting combined group is the largest provider of background screening services in the United States. Following the merger, HireRight rebranded, with both HireRight and GIS using the new branding.[10]

J-Screen and PeopleCheck

On October 12, 2019, HireRight announced the acquisition of J-Screen in Japan and PeopleCheck in Australia.[11]

HireRight was the subject of a number of class-action and Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) lawsuits.[12][13] In 2011 the company paid $28 million to plaintiffs who accused HireRight of failing to provide copies of reports to job applicants and failing to resolve disputes.[12] And on August 8, 2012, the US Department of Justice announced HireRight settled charges of violating the FCRA for $2.6M.[12][14]

Companies that use background check services must follow FCRA procedures or face class-action liability with millions of dollars in exposure.[15] According to a Wall Street Journal investigation into hiring practices in the trucking industry, class-action lawsuits were brought against trucking companies over how they use HireRight.[12][16] HireRight customer U.S. Xpress settled in 2013 for $2.75M, and Swift in 2014 for $4.4M over their failure to disclose hiring practices.[17][18][19][20]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Fact Sheet". Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  2. [2]
    "Third of applicants tell lies to get a job". ERT Weekly. September 1, 2005.
  3. [3]
    Powerchex Joins the National Association of professional background Screeners [dead link]
  4. [4]
    "Kroll Background Worldwide And Powerchex Unite Under HireRight Brand". HireRight. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  5. [5]
    Banerji, Gunjan (March 13, 2018). "Duff & Phelps to Buy Corporate-Investigations Firm Kroll". The Wall Street Journal. The New York Times, New York City, United States. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
  6. [6]
    "Duff & Phelps Announces New Business Unit After Completing Kroll Acquisition".
  7. [7]
    "Kroll's History". Kroll. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  8. [8]
    "HireRight and GIS to Merge". HireRight. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  9. [9]
    "HireRight and GIS Ownership Complete Merger". HireRight. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  10. [10]
    "New HireRight, New Look". HireRight. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  11. [11]
    "HireRight Strengthens Global Offering with Two Key Acquisitions in Japan and Australia". HireRight. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  12. [12]
    Chao, Loretta (19 October 2016). "Driver-Screening Firms Draw Scrutiny". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  13. [13]
    "Litigation: Wirt v. Altegrity, Inc. & HireRight, Inc". Legal Action Center. Archived from the original on 2019-05-11. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  14. [14]
    Office of Public Affairs (8 August 2012). "Employment Screening Services Provider Settles Charges of Violating Fair Credit Reporting Act". www.justice.gov. Department of Justice. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  15. [15]
    Holland, Ron; Batten, Jonathan (20 October 2017). "FCRA 101: How to Avoid Risky Background Checks". SHRM. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  16. [16]
    "Job applicants claim inaccurate background check report prevent them from finding a job | New York Consumer Law Blog". Law Office of Adam G. Singer. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  17. [17]
    Kell-Holland, Clarissa. "U.S. Xpress settles for $2.75 million in lawsuit over background checks". Land Line Magazine. Archived from the original on 2019-05-11. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  18. [18]
    Barradas, Samuel (11 April 2013). "Illegal Background Checks Cost U.S. Xpress $2.75 Million". TruckersReport.com. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  19. [19]
    Jaillet, James. "Swift makes $4.4 million settlement with 160,000 driver applicants over background checks". Overdrive. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  20. [20]
    Miller, Arnall Golden Gregory LLP-Montserrat C. "Swift Transportation Company, background checks and the FCRA | Lexology". Lexology. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
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