Ventura County, California Court Records

Located northwest of the City of Los Angeles, Ventura County has a population of about 844,000 and has seen marked growth along with the rest of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Nearby counties include Kern, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara. Major employers include Oxnard College, Kaiser Permanente, Harbor Freight Tools, and the JM Smucker Company.

Having grown because of expansion out of Los Angeles, Ventura County is a popular destination for families and professionals. Many corporations make their headquarters here, where real estate is not as in demand as within LA. These conditions attract job seekers of all stripes, making hiring for key positions much less stressful. However, you might run into unsavory or potentially dangerous individuals, too--and you'll need a way to know who is who. Background checks can help.

Though background checks provide employers with very important information, they do fall under the same regulations that concern other types of consumer reports. California has enacted extensive regulations that exceed the typical "ban the box" laws. Since 2017, state laws have been in effect wherever local laws aren't more stringent, such as in Ventura County.

Known as the California Fair Chance Act, this law governs hiring practices statewide for anyone employing five or more people. Public employers (such as the state or county governments) must also obey the law, as do those private companies who do business with the public. Provisions include the following:

• You must make a conditional job offer before asking questions about an individual's criminal history. You can't ask these questions on your application, nor can you run a background check before making an offer, even with an applicant's consent.
• You must conduct an individualized assessment of an individual's criminal record. Consider factors such as the crime's potential relation to the job's duties, the severity of the crime, and how long ago it occurred.
• You must follow the adverse action guidelines created by the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the California Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act, also called the ICRAA.

You must take care to obey federal laws as well as California's regulations. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires a standalone disclosure and the applicant's consent to a background check. However, California's ICRAA is more stringent than the FCRA. You must also provide a statement of California's job applicant rights separately from the federal disclosure form. We recommend a close reading of the ICRAA to understand all your requirements.

Positive drug tests for cannabis will no longer be a valid reason for taking adverse action against candidates in California from 2024 onward. You may still drug test candidates, but you may not make decisions over the legal off-duty use of cannabis. However, using cannabis on the job is still illegal.

Once you've navigated California's maze of regulations, you can start to choose the tools you'll use to evaluate candidates. Many companies choose to start by looking for criminal records a candidate might have left behind anywhere they've previously lived. Our US OneSEARCH, with its reports ready within minutes, searches for records matching your candidate's information using our criminal records database gathered from state sources nationwide. Our online coverage map shows all our source information.

Some counties, including Ventura County, choose to restrict easy third-party access to criminal record data. We suggest a traditional county courthouse search for hiring managers who need to investigate the most up-to-date information available on an applicant's status with the courts.

Background reports sourced from county court records may include the subject's:

• Name
• Offense/Charge
• Sentence
• Disposition

Ventura County provides a wide range of valuable opportunities for finding talent and hiring the ideal candidate for your open position. Approaching this potentially useful opportunity with a plan to protect your business and select better candidates makes a difference. Start putting together a compliant vetting policy for your business today.