The identity layer
Every check starts here, and it's foundational rather than informative on its own: a Social Security number trace confirms the number belongs to the name attached to it and surfaces the address history tied to that number. This is what tells the screener which counties to actually search — it's a routing step, not a red flag generator by itself.
The criminal record layer
This is what most people picture when they hear “background check,” and it has real range depending on the package: a national database search (an aggregation of licensed and scraped records, with real coverage gaps — see what you're actually paying for), county criminal court records (the search that goes straight to the courthouse, typically covering the past 7 years), federal criminal records for offenses prosecuted federally, and a sex offender registry check.
Every hit gets adjudicated against the candidate's actual identifying information before it's reported, since name-only matches produce false positives constantly — there are a lot of people named Michael Johnson.
The verification layer
Only in the higher-priced packages: confirmation that someone actually worked where and when they claim, at the title they claim, and that a stated degree was actually conferred. This is the layer that catches a fabricated resume rather than a criminal history, and it's the one most relevant to payroll fraud specifically — a fabricated employee with a clean-looking resume sails through the criminal layer with nothing to catch.
A motor vehicle record shows up too, but only if the role involves driving and the employer specifically ordered it — it's job-relevant, not a default inclusion.
What legally can't show up
- An arrest that didn't lead to a conviction, past the FCRA's 7-year lookback. Federal law caps how far back most non-conviction records can be reported, and a number of states go further and bar reporting them at all regardless of age.
- Expunged or sealed records.If a court expunged it, it's not supposed to exist in the eyes of a background check — though database errors where an expunged record resurfaces from an outdated data source are a real, if uncommon, failure mode.
- Medical information.The ADA restricts medical-related inquiries to after a conditional job offer, and even then it's handled separately from a standard background check, not folded into one.
- Your credit score, as a number.A credit report can appear for roles where it's job-relevant (handling company funds, for instance) and where state law permits it — several states restrict or ban credit checks for employment purposes entirely — but even then what's reported is credit history and account information, not a bare score.
What a clean report doesn't mean
Not a guarantee
A background check confirms what's in public and licensed records. It says nothing about whether someone will falsify a timesheet next year or divert a vendor payment. That's an ongoing-controls problem, not a hiring-gate one.
The step that comes after a hit
Finding something isn't the same as being allowed to act on it immediately. The FCRA requires an adverse action process — a pre-adverse action notice, a copy of the report, and a waiting period before a final decision — and several states layer ban-the-box or individualized-assessment rules on top of that. Reputable vendors, including GoodHire and Checkr, build this workflow directly into their platform rather than leaving it to the employer to track by hand, which is the single easiest place for a DIY screening process to get sued.
Which package actually covers this
See background check cost per employee for what each tier includes at Certn, Checkr, GoodHire, HireRight, and Sterling, or browse the full background check platform lineup.