Michael Ray Brown of Tennessee is not a criminal, but was recently denied a part-time job after a background checking company determined he was.
Brown's background was delved into by a USA pre-employment screening company used by temporary agency Pro Logistics to check for possible criminal histories of prospective employees. Brown had applied for a job at Rich Products Corporation and got curious when no one called him back about the job.
"I had applied through the temp to hire company and happened to call the gentleman back when I hadn't heard anything about the job for a while and he told me that I had failed my background check," said Brown, who is 34. "I said, no, that can't be possible because I've never been in any kind of trouble."
Brown at first thought someone had stolen his identity, but by digging further found out the man the screening comapny determined to have a criminal history actually had a different social security number and birth year than him — they shared the same name and month and day of birth.
"What they (the pre-employment screening firm's representatives) were telling me was that I had gotten in trouble in Memphis," Brown said. "I contacted the (Shelby County) court clerks office and they said they had a Michael Brown in the system. They checked my social security number and date of birth against the one in their system and it turned out to be an entirely different person — that Michael Brown was born in 1958."
Brown, who was born in 1976, also got help with his problem from the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office, according to a sheriff's report.
Detective Steve Brown reported that he ran an "FBI Criminal History" check on Michael Brown and found he had no red marks on his record.
"My investigation shows that Michael Ray Brown (of Bell Buckle) has no criminal history and has not been arrested anywhere in the United States," the detective wrote in a report.
But when Micheal Brown called the pre-employment screening firm back to inform the company of the information he had uncovered, he said they refused to talk to him over the phone.
"They said they couldn't talk about anyone's personal information over the phone," Brown said
A news reporter contacted the company about the issue and the company's Vice President of Regulatory Compliance told the newspaper the company would launch an investigation into the problem with Brown's background check.
Soon after, the company had discovered how the error occurred and was in the process of correcting the erroneous information it previously provided to Pro Logistics concerning Brown.
The error occurred according to the pre-employment screening firm because background searches conducted by the company only utilize the prospective employee's name and date of birth. In Brown's case, another person existed in Tennessee who shared his name and date of birth and that person had a criminal history.
"That might lead some to ask why we don't use social security numbers when conducting these searches," the company's Vice President of Regulatory Compliance said, adding it is done to protect the identities of clients. "Identity theft is a huge issue all across America and ... this is an effort to protect individuals' identities."
The company's Vice President of Regulatory Compliance confirmed Brown contacted the screening firm after he learned of the error with his background report. The company would have told him they could not discuss personal information via telephone, the company's Vice President of Regulatory Compliance added.
"He (Brown) contacted the screening firm and was given the right instructions to correct the problem," the company's Vice President of Regulatory Compliance said. "We will not release information over the telephone. We ask clients to fax us a copy of a photo ID so we can start the process of fixing any possible mistake."
The company said it asked Brown to fax a copy of his license, but that it never received Brown's fax.
"Michael said he sent it, but we don't have a record of receiving it," the company's Vice President of Regulatory Compliance said. "He said he received a fax transmittal verification, but I've sent faxes myself where I got one of those but someone tells me later that they didn't get it."
The company's Vice President of Regulatory Compliance could not confirm how often such a mistake occurs at the screening company, but did say the company performs somewhere in the range of 100,000 background checks per week.
"It happens, but generally when the report goes back to the client, the individual says it's not me and we are generally, within a day or so, able to clear it up if the individual is telling the truth."
The company's Vice President of Regulatory Compliance said Brown's issue was unfortunately delayed because of the process the company has in place to ensure someone wasn't trying to steal his identity.
Brown told reporters he was thankful that the company fixed the problem, but he believes all companies that run background checks should use more identifying information when conducting their background searches, especially when a common name like Brown or Smith is involved.
"There has got to be a better way for a private company like that to retrieve information about somebody," Brown said. "I think in a situation like this, if I provide a potential employer with my social security number and they want to do a background check, then the social security number should be used so there is no mistake."
Brown said he also wonders how many people have been denied a job due to false information in a background check.
"There has to be a better way to go about all of this," he said.