Tips_For_Ordering_ESS

ESS makes it easy to get started. Here is a quick question-and-answer guide with links to additional information.

      1.    Am I authorized to order and receive ESS Reports right now?
2.    How do I request a report from ESS?
3.    What kind of reports or package should I order?
4.    What else should I fax to ESS besides the ESS Order Form?
5.    Is there anything else I should do before sending in the report request to ESS?
6.    When should I expect to receive the ESS Report?
7.    Do I have a choice of how I can receive reports from ESS?
8.    Who should I contact if I have questions about the ESS Report? Billing? Etc.
9.    What should I do if I decide not to hire the applicant because of the ESS Report?
10. What if I want to cancel a report request that I already sent to ESS?
11. Are there ever any fees or costs in additional to the price listed on my ESS Order Form?
12. Does the applicant see the ESS report?

If you have other questions, we are waiting to help you at 800-473-7778.

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1. Am I authorized to order and receive ESS Reports right now?

If not, it will only take a minute. All individual requesters are required to sign an ESS Authorized User Agreement. To download the ESS Authorized User orm, Click Here You may fax it to us right away or when you send us your order.

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2. How do I request a report from ESS?

Requests for ESS Reports are faxed to ESS using an ESS Order Form. If you do not already have one, please contact our Customer Services Manager, Christie Lambeth at Christie@employscreen.com or call her at 1-800-473-7778 X 104. She or one of her assistants will be happy to send you a customized form right away.

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3. What kind of reports or package should I order?

ESS offers a full line of employment screening reports, which are listed on the ESS Order Form and fully described on our client services website. (Click Here to view Report Descriptions). We have also created three report packages, at discounted pricing, designed for different risk levels or job classifications, from entry level to upper management. If a package does not fit your needs, we will customize one for you.

Click Here to view samples of the three report packages.

If you are new to the position and know that your predecessor requested ESS reports, we can let you know what type of reports were previously ordered. We may already have a customized ESS Order Form on file for you. Please contact our Customer Services Manager, Christie Snell at Christie@employscreen.com or call her at 1-800-473-7778 X 104. She or one of her assistants will check your report history and help you decide what reports are right for you.

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4. What else should I fax to ESS besides the ESS Order Form?

ü As required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, before a consumer report is requested, you should have a single page disclosure/written authorization form from the applicant or employee. ESS requires this form along with your ESS Order Form.

Click Here to download ESS’s FCRA compliant release and authorization form WITH Credit.
Click Here to download ESS’s FCRA compliant release and authorization form WITH OUT Credit.

If you have an existing authorization form and would like to know if it is FCRA compliant, please contact the ESS Operations Manager, John Beaudette at JohnB@employscreen.com or call him at 800-473-7778 x 101. You may also fax the form to his attention at 800-321-2905.

ü If your report request includes an employment verification, education verification, and/or reference checks, then please fax the full employment application and resume (if available) along with the ESS Order Form and the Release and Authorization.

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5. Is there anything else I should do before sending in the report request to ESS?

We understand that time is of the essence during the hiring process, and it is our goal to return a high quality, complete report to you as soon as possible. There are several things you can do, or ask your applicant to do, that will greatly enhance our ability to provide the best information possible in the shortest amount of time. Click Here for a checklist of Important Items to Note For Processing your ESS Report Quickly and Completely.

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6. When should I expect to receive the ESS Report?

We will send you the completed report as soon as possible. Our turnaround average is between 48 and 72 hours. It may be sooner, and sometimes it may take longer, but we will always send you the most complete report possible by 72 hours from the time the request was received by ESS. If there are any items pending at 72 hours, the report will clearly indicate what is pending and why. We will follow-up with the completed information as soon as possible. We are happy to arrange any special handling procedures.

When a report is not complete at 72 hours, it is most often the criminal history search that remains pending. There are some county and other government courts that require more than three days to complete the search. Click Here to view the ESS Report Availability Schedule. The schedule may change without notice, but we do update the list as soon as we learn of any changes.

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7. Do I have a choice of how I can receive reports from ESS?

Yes. At this time, you have the option of receiving your report by fax or by e-mail. In order to read ESS reports sent to your e-mail address, you need the Microsoft Snapshot Viewer installed on your computer. There are two versions of the Snapshot Viewer. Choose the correct version for your system below to download it now, or you can go to our Downloadable Files and Forms section to download it later. The program will usually download in less than a minute. You then need to install it by clicking on the icon which should also take less than a minute. If your computer is on a network, it is important that you be logged on as the System Administrator in order for this program to properly register in your system. If you are running Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you already have the Snapshot Viewer on your computer. If you are having trouble loading this program onto your system, please feel free to contact us at 1-800-473-7778 and we can help you.

Snapshot Viewer For Windows 98 Snapshot Viewer For Windows 2000

***Soon you will be able to access reports and check their status On-line***

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8. Who should I contact if I have questions about the ESS Report? Billing? Etc.

If you have a question on a report that you have already received, the name of the ESS Processor who worked on your report will be on the fax cover sheet (or email). You may call or e-mail them directly.
If you would like to check on the status of a report that is still in process, or add information to a report, simply call our customer service line at 1-800-473-7778.
If you have questions regarding your bill, please contact Chris Redmond at ChrisR@employscreen.com or call her at 1-800-742-5991 X 103 and she will be more than happy to help you.

For all other questions, please feel free to call 1-800-473-7778 and it will be our pleasure to help you in any way we can.

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9. What should I do if I decide not to hire the applicant because of the ESS Report?

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is relevant to all types of background reports, and specifically outlines certain steps an employer should take before making any adverse decision based in whole or in part on a consumer report. If you are not familiar with these obligations, please Click Here to review “What Employers Must Know About the FRCA.”

If you have any questions regarding the FCRA, please give us a call.

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10. How do I cancel an ESS Report request?

Please call us as soon as possible and we will immediately stop processing the report. However, we move quickly when we receive a new request. Credit bureau products are generally obtained within the first hour of receiving your request and the cost we incur cannot be reversed. Similarly, criminal record searches and motor vehicle reports are either conducted or dispatched shortly after we receive your request.

Obviously, we will not charge your account for any report component that we have not begun or that we can cancel and not incur any cost. At the time of your cancellation call, we will let you know the status of the report and what fees we are not able to remove from the order. In general, if 48 hours has passed since the time of the request, all our labor and fixed costs have been incurred and you will be responsible for the full price of the report request.

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11. Are there ever any fees or costs in additional to the price listed on my ESS Order Form?

Our services and products are competitively priced and the pricing on your ESS Order Form is usually the final charge necessary to complete the report. We choose not to raise our general pricing to cover all possible fees that could surface on a given screening, which essentially overcharges clients for each report that does not involve an irregular fee.

However, some situations will call for an additional fee. For example, some criminal courts charge a fee to access their public records; some employers use a fee-based service to verify employment, etc. Since additional fees are the exception, they are not included in our standard pricing.

Some additional fees are known in advance and new clients are provided a schedule and asked to review it regularly because changes may occur without notice. Click on the appropriate link to view the Special Requirements Listing, Additional Fee Schedule, and Report Availability Schedule. New clients are informed that these fees will be assessed as they arise unless we are instructed otherwise.

Other times we do not know if an additional fee will be necessary until we begin to process the report. In these situations, we will contact you, explain what information will require an additional fee, and ask your permission to proceed. We will ask if you would like to establish a set policy regarding occasional additional fees or continue to call you on a per case basis.

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12. Does the applicant see the ESS report?

If the applicant is a California resident, then the answer is always “Yes.” Click Here to learn more about California’s new amendments to the California Civil Code.
If the applicant is not from California, he/she still has a right to know the nature and scope of the report. They obtain this by writing to ESS and requesting a disclosure of any information from any file that we may have on them.
If you are considering taking an adverse action based on the ESS report, then the applicant must be given a copy of his/her report and a Summary of Rights as noted in the FCRA information cited in #10. Click Here for a review of that process and/or for a copy of the Summary of Rights.

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As always, if you have any questions, please contact us for answers to any of your questions.