Mistake in Background Check Caused a Delay in Hiring

[thet]

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: California


I am actually a new immigrant. I entered the US on April 2012 and received my SSN after 2 weeks, greencard was received after 3 weeks. I applied to this company and got hired for a job pending acceptance of offer letter and successful background check. On 3rd week of May, I received the offer letter through email stating compensation and all other nitty-gritty stuff but I have no way of accepting it as acceptance of offer could only be done through a weblink which will be forwarded "soon"(this was indicated in the offer letter too). I have never received that weblink email. On the first week of June 2012 my drug test and background check came with positive results except for the SSN verification. On that same day, I called the background check company that my SSN has just been issued April of 2012. Background check company told recruitment manager to get a different SSN verification service as there is new SSA law preventing them to verify newly-issued SSN. An email was sent to the recruiter (and I was copied on it) stating the 3 options that could be made in my case. I received another form to fill up from the background company. However on third week of June, the SSN verification came with another negative result. I was beginning to be mad at the background check company because they could not get it done correctly and I only have less than 1 week to get the background check completed so I called their applicant hotline. This is where I found out that what the recruiter ordered was the OLD SSN verification service and NOT ANY OF THE 3 OPTIONS that was given to her (the NEW one, which should be the right thing to do for my case). Background check company reached out to the recruiter again. On fourth week of June, recruitment manager told me not to come on my training date as my SSN has not yet been verified. Please note that it was only on last Friday of June that the recruiter ordered the correct service. The following day (Saturday), I checked the applicant web center of the background check company and I saw that my SSN verification has been finally cleared. Bearing in mind that only my SSN verification is the only thing preventing me to join training (and is now completed), I reported to the office in the hope that the recruiter can still accommodate me. The recruiter got mad stating that I should have not reported to the office because she told me to do so. I asked for the date of the next training class. She didn't give me any answer.

I feel very disappointed with how the recruitment process was handled. IN THE FIRST PLACE, IF THE RECRUITER ORDERED THE CORRECT SSN VERIFICATION SERVICE FOR ME, BACKGROUND CHECK COULD HAVE BEEN COMPLETED 5 DAYS BEFORE MY START DATE. Now here is the tricky part: In the offer letter, it states,

"It's required that you meet all of the requirements before your start date or you risk having your offer of employment rescinded."

Here are two of the requirement that I feel will be points to consider.

• Your formal acceptance of this offer letter, as well as any other required hiring documents; --- again, the link where I can formally accept the letter has never been forwarded to me.

• The satisfactory outcome of the standardized background check(s), including verification of a valid driver's license if required for your job--- again my background check came out satisfactorily. The delay on my SSN verification was due to the recruiter's negligence.

I am a former call center quality assurance supervisor and call center manager for a US telecom being outsourced in my country and the position I am applying for in this company is just 'call center representative.' During my interview with the hiring manager, he told me that I am more than qualified for the job so the 'should-have-been' 30-minute behavioral interview was trimmed down just to 15 minutes.

Anyway, I have not heard again from my recruiter about my new start date and/or a letter about rescinding the offer. I feel lost. I was actually hesitant to moving to the USA (if not for my husband) as I already have a stable and quite financially rewarding career in my country of origin. I feel like I was treated badly. My background check was successful as well as all other requirements were completed in less than 48 hours. There was no confirmation on start date nor any withdrawal of offer letter. Again, I tried to contact the recruitment manager through email and phone, no answer. I feel like I have wasted 2 months of my time as I look forward for this big telecom company...all of this, just because of the recruitment manager's negligence on my SSN verification.

While I am thinking of consulting a lawyer, do I have a ground to file a complaint?

Please help.

Regards,
Maria

[jk]

what do you think you have an action for? Incompetence is generally not a cause of action.

hopefully you don't understand the terminology you used in your post:

On the first week of June 2012 my drug test and background check came with positive results

positive results on a drug test are generally not a good thing.

• Your formal acceptance of this offer letter, as well as any other required hiring documents; --- again, the link where I can formally accept the letter has never been forwarded to me.

have you asked the sender for the link?\

[thet]

what do you think you have an action for? Incompetence is generally not a cause of action. \

I am not sure whether my offer has already been rescinded because my background check was "not completed" before my start date (Though I have not yet received any letter that the company is formally withdrawing its offer). Again, this was mainly because the recruitment manager failed to order the correct SSN verification service. I have asked for status of the next training date, no affirmative response was given.

hopefully you don't understand the terminology you used in your post: positive results on a drug test are generally not a good thing. \

Ok. Forgive me for the incorrect choice of words. My drug test result came back satisfactorily (negative on all prohibited drug substance they needed to test) and background check came back with positive results.

have you asked the sender for the link?\

yes. I have asked the manager for the link. I did not get a respond. I did not bother to send another email thinking that the manager might feel I am pestering her and that the link will be sent anyway after my SSN has been verified.

[jk]

thet;633129]I am not sure whether my offer has already been rescinded because my background check was "not completed" before my start date (Though I have not yet received any letter that the company is formally withdrawing its offer). Again, this was mainly because the recruitment manager failed to order the correct SSN verification service. I have asked for status of the next training date, no affirmative response was given.

I would keep trying but I would also start looking elsewhere as well.

Ok. Forgive me for the incorrect choice of words. My drug test result came back satisfactorily (negative on all prohibited drug substance they needed to test) and background check came back with positive results.

I figured that was what you meant. Just wanted to be sure. Obviously if the drug tests were positive, that would explain everything.

yes. I have asked the manager for the link. I did not get a respond. I did not bother to send another email thinking that the manager might feel I am pestering her and that the link will be sent anyway after my SSN has been verified.

do they have a telephone?

[thet]

I would keep trying but I would also start looking elsewhere as well.

yeah... that's what I am going to do. This is the first time that this happened to me though and this has caused me to be emotionally distressed. I could have accepted other job offers (which unfortunately are already filled by this time) or perhaps look for another job in the 4-week course of my background check . I had high hopes when I migrated to America knowing that I have a clean background (criminal, education and employment wise---yes the company also did international background check) and that I am actually "downgrading" my role from management to rank and file position because I know that there is high competition among job seekers here. But as they say, sh*t happens...I surely learned my lesson the hard way.

do they have a telephone?

yes they have. I'll try to call sometime this week to follow up.

Thank you so much for your response. I really appreciate it.