Greater Sacramento Area

The Greater Sacramento region, one of California’s numerous and expansive metropolitan areas, contains the state’s capital plus eight counties in two states. With a population of approximately 2.2 million people, Greater Sacramento counties include El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba in California and Douglas county in Nevada.

Once a sleepy region, in recent years, the Sacramento area has experienced widespread and rapid growth, becoming one of the nation’s fastest-growing metros. Geographically close to the San Francisco metro, in Greater Sacramento, many residents commute to work both inside and outside the metro area. Major employers include Aerojet Rocketdyne, Apple (which operates a distribution center in the region), and Intel. 

The Greater Sacramento area’s growth and interconnectedness with its surrounding regions create an energetic job market filled with eager job seekers. As more individuals move to the area, local businesses may encounter applicants from many different counties. While this trend makes it easier to find talented individuals to hire, it also increases the importance of thoroughness in your hiring procedures—especially regarding employee background checks. 

Even if they already use background checks, businesses hiring inside Greater Sacramento should consider implementing a more thorough policy. Evaluating records from only your county of operation means you may miss essential records from an adjacent county; an individual with a clean record in Sacramento may not have a clean record in El Dorado, for instance. 

A metro-wide background check policy is your solution. By examining all nearby sources of data, you can put together a complete picture before hiring. 

Always observe the rules and regulations implemented to protect fair hiring. California places several obligations onto employers. The most notable of these rules is the statewide “ban the box” law, which came into effect in late 2017. All employers, including private businesses, are prohibited from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal past on an initial application. Background checks are not permissible during this initial hiring stage, either. To conduct a check, a business must first extend a conditional job offer based on a pre-determination of suitability. 

Your responsibilities as an employer continue after appropriately requesting a background check. Employers must consider several factors when they review background check results, including the type of crime, how long ago it occurred, and its relation to the job. If denied, applicants may appeal for reconsideration. California further instructs businesses to ignore 2-plus-year-old marijuana convictions and misdemeanors for which probation was completed. 

backgroundchecks.com provides several robust choices for employers seeking tools to enable them to better understand criminal records available throughout Greater Sacramento. Instant record search results are available for El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, and Sacramento counties through our US OneSEARCH; this tool also searches records in all US states. Some counties, including Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba in California and Douglas in Nevada, do not have instant results available, so a direct courthouse search in these counties can furnish helpful information. 

To keep your search confined to California, a state-specific background check can produce the results you need. A regional OneSEARCH can also allow you to include results from nearby states such as Oregon and Arizona.

Data available in California flows from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (updated monthly), the state sex offender registry (updated bi-weekly), and county-level superior court records. Information from these sources can include a subject’s:

• Name and age
• Offense and offense date
• Sentence date and length
• Parole date, if applicable

By taking advantage of these tools as part of a compliant metro-wide background check policy, Sacramento employers can expand their horizons in hiring without an increase in risk. Take the opportunity to discover what these options can do for your business today.