[philiphodgen]

I can tell you (because I am in the process of writing an employee manual and hiring procedures) that the three critical factors are: will this person have access to a customer's name, date of birth, and Social Security Number?

If so, a credit check is warranted for the potential employee.

There are other factors as well. But for lower level positions, access to information (legitimately or otherwise) is the key factor.

I am not telling you this is the law. I am not telling you this is the right thing to do. I am telling you this as someone who has had an employee embezzle from our company and who is working with an experienced HR consultant and a labor lawyer to put the right structure in place -- for all of the usual reasons.