If I work for a software consulting company that places our employees on-site with our clients, what type of background info is the client entitled to?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
If I work for a software consulting company that places our employees on-site with our clients, what type of background info is the client entitled to?
We typically take contracts with clients that place our employees in their facilities. Background checks on our employees on behalf of the client are normal, however our latest client is asking for employee home addresses, social security numbers and emergency contact numbers. Is this information legally required in a non-job placement scenario (our employees are there temporarily but are W-2’d with us)? Is it within our legal rights to deny this information?
Asked on June 22, 2015 under Employment Labor Law, Texas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
It's not a matter of "legal" requirements--the law does not mandate background checks or say what should be part of them. It's a matter of the two parties (the consultanting company and the client) want and can agree to. Your client doesn't need to hire you--they choose to. Since it is purely voluntary whether to hire your firm (or any firm), they can say what information they want. You are free to say you will not provide it, since no law forces you to work with them..,and they in turn can refuse to hire your firm. It's like with an individual's employment: the employer can decide what its terms of or requirements for a job are, and an individual can decide whether to take that job or not.
You and the prospective client, being free to enter into (or not) a relationship, have to work it out between you. And if you are to uncomfortable with these demands (which is not unreasonable: social security numbers, for example, are sensitive information), you may need to walk away.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.