NAID Background Checks and Drug Screening, A Matter of Fact
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NAID Member
Background Checks and
Drug Screening

NAID Associate Member A Matter of Fact is an Associate Member of NAID and has more than 15 years of experience in the Background Screening Industry. We have assisted many NAID members meet their Employee Background Screening needs.

Whether you want to be NAID Certified or just conduct thorough Employee Background Checks, A Matter of Fact can help.

Our Products and Services help meet the following
NAID Certification Background Check Requirements:

  • I-9 or Proper Work Permit/Registration
  • Employment History Verification
  • Social Security Header Search
  • Criminal Record Search
  • Driver's License Verification
  • Drug Screening

NAID Certification Employee Screening and A Matter of Fact Services For more information, see the summary chart: NAID Certification Employee Screening & A Matter of Fact Services.

Background Check FAQ
NAID Certification Specific

(These questions and answers were originally published in the 'NAID Certification Advisory.')

Q: One of my employees tested positive for drug use. Will this affect my Certification?
A: NAID Certification requires that employers routinely test their employees for illegal drug use. A positive result, however, will not prevent someone from being in an access position, nor will it hinder your Certification. The purpose for the screening is to ensure that Certified companies are aware of any illicit activities of their employees, so that appropriate measures can be taken to address the issue. Certain employee actions and behaviors can result in a breach of the security of customers’ confidential materials, which could adversely affect a company’s certified status, as well as cause other legal ramifications. Therefore, while NAID does not take the results of drug tests into consideration for Certification purposes, a positive result should always be taken seriously, and a procedure should be in place for handling this type of situation.

As a reminder, the results of Criminal Background screenings WILL be taken into consideration during scheduled and unannounced audits. Certification criteria require that no individual is placed in an access position if they have been convicted of a theft-related felony within the last seven years.

Q: What should be included in my ongoing Criminal Background Checks? Do I need to screen the same as I did for the initial/pre-employment screening?
A: In addition to an initial criminal background screening for each access individual, NAID Certification also requires that 1/3 of access individuals are screening annually. This can be done in one of three ways:

  1. Randomly choose 1/3 of access individuals each year.
  2. Screen 1/3 the first year, a different 1/3 the second year, and the remaining 1/3 third the third year, so that over a three year period all access employees have been screened.
  3. Screen all access employees once every three years.

These ongoing screenings must be done in the same manner as the initial screenings, including the social security trace, county and statewide searches. However, you only need to go as far back as the last screening that was done for a particular employee. For example, if someone was hired in October, 2008 and they come up in June, 2010 for a random screening, you only need to search between those two dates.

Q: What is a social security trace?
A: The Social Security Trace is a non-financial report of a person’s social security number, and it is required as part of the Certification background screening requirements. A trace will reveal all addresses and names associated with a particular social security number. That information is then to be used to determine the counties and states where background checks will need to be run, as well as the names under which to run them. The information returned from the trace should also be cross-referenced with the employee’s application and prior employment verification to check for any holes or discrepancies. The purpose of the trace is NOT to simply verify the SSN as valid; SSN validation is NOT the same as the Social Security Trace.

When an auditor reviews background checks during the audit, s/he will ask to see:
  • The full results of the SSN trace, with the complete listing of names and addresses
  • The full results of the individual county and statewide checks that were run from the SSN trace. The auditor will verify that the correct records were searched, and that there have been no felony theft convictions within the last 7 years.

For more information about a SSN Trace, see Social Security Number Scan. For more about verifying a Social Security Number, see How to Verify a Social Security Number.

Q: My drivers are part of a Department of Transportation consortium for random drug testing. Does this meet the NAID Certification requirement?
A: A DOT consortium usually consists of employees from many different companies, so there is no way to guarantee the number of employees that will be chosen from any given company. Therefore, the drug screenings of drivers selected in a consortium can be used toward the NAID random drug screening requirements (Criteria 1.3). However, a certified company is still required to make up the difference so that a total of 50% of that company’s employees have been screened within each 12 month period. Also, at least 50% of access employees who are NOT drivers, and therefore not included in the consortium, will also need to be screened to make up the difference, even if the number of drivers screened through the consortium represents 50% of the total number of access individuals.

Q: I have an employee who has received a security clearance from another entity. Do I still have to run a criminal background check on them?
A: NAID does NOT accept third party security clearances (military, security professional, government work, etc.) in lieu of background checks, unless the following is met:
  • The check was done at or near the employee’s date of hire and within the last 7 years.
  • The auditor is able to view a copy of the actual results, not just the clearance paperwork.
  • The check was done in accordance with NAID standards, as defined in Section 1.2 in the NAID Certification Application.

Q: My company is a publicly traded, conglomerate and/or non-profit corporation. Do board members and other executive personnel need to be screened as access employees?
A: In most cases, no. The general rule of thumb is that background screening, drug screening and employment verification needs to be done for anyone who has access to confidential material. This includes anyone who directly supervises those individuals or may grant access to the secure destruction area. For smaller, privately owned companies, this also means that the owner(s) or partners must be screened. For larger companies, conglomerates, or publicly traded organizations, the off-site Board of Director members or other corporate entities, including parent company executives, do not need to be screened; however, the on-site Operations Manager, or anyone in a similar position overseeing the entire operation, must be screened.

If a company provides services other than information destruction, and a different manager is appointed to each separate division, the company is required to screen the manager overseeing the information destruction operation, as well as any person on-site who oversees the entire facility.

As a reminder, anyone who has not been screened as an access individual must not be allowed access to confidential material without signing in as a visitor and being escorted by someone who has been screened.

Q: I employ or contract with individuals who have mental and physical disabilities. Do I still need to run background and drug screenings?
A: Yes, the NAID Certification requirements for criminal background screening and drug screening are the same for all employees that have access to confidential material before it is shredded.

For more Employment Screening FAQs, see Background Check Frequently Asked Questions.

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