Checking publicly available civil litigation information may ensure organizations safeguard themselves against hiring people found negligent or liable by a civil court, but involves a host of limitations and risks. Court record checks are in their infancy and databases only list more high-profile cases, writs, summons, things such as credit defaults, and cases not marked as private. As is the case with criminal history screening, an employee’s full background must be considered in the context of the essential requirements of a role, and any findings should be discussed with the candidate in question to determine if it is relevant at all to the decision-making process. As an alternative effective measure, global media searches, which span country and language barriers, can be useful in providing articles related to any litigation and are usually easier to understand and more focused than a civil litigation search.
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