Various employers, especially in government, financial and education industries, require different levels of employment verification for their new staff members. Many organizations require employee criminal background checks, for obvious reasons. An employee criminal background check deters people with criminal backgrounds from applying in the first place, and weeds out those who do. The most obvious employee criminal background checks will reveal whether a person has a history as a sexual abuser, a violent offender or a thief.

An employee criminal background check may also include driving and vehicle records, since most transportation companies want drivers with clean driving records, without histories of accidents or traffic tickets. Another type of common employment verification is a drug test, which is used to investigate corporate ethics and potential employee performance, and to keep workers' compensation premiums down. Aside from employee criminal background checks, companies and other hiring organizations may want to identify potential staff members who have routinely filed discrimination lawsuits in the past.

Employers that work with the government do not like to hire whistleblowers that have a history of filing discrimination suits, for obvious reasons. Employers do have to be careful with what type of employment verification they to for their applicants, though, to avoid unfair hiring practices. There is some information that employers have a right to inquire about, but there is other information that should lawfully be kept private.