Background Checks

Sections:
PeopleTrail™ Account
Running a Background Check
Interpreting Background Check Results


 

PeopleTrail™ Account

Create a PeopleTrail™ account

PeopleTrail™ is an accredited pre-employment, background, and drug screening services provider located in Draper, Utah and is the provider of background checks for ArbiterSports.  To create an account, you will need to do the following:

1. Begin by navigating to the Users tab and Officials sub-tab.  
2. Click on the Background Check link, under the Utilities section located in the top left corner.

3. Click on the link, a window will appear.

4. Click the link to create a PeopleTrail account.  Included is an agreement for service, certification. (Note applicants must be a listed with directory assistance).

5. Fax completed forms to PeopleTrail at [phone]. 

Questions regarding the applications should be directed to PeopleTrail at (801-307-4100) or Toll-Free at 1-866-223-8822.  

6. Once reviewed PeopleTrail will give the user a nine-digit account number to link their ArbiterSports account to the PeopleTrail account.

Set screening filters in PeopleTrail

PeopleTrail can provide a wide variety of customization in setting up your background check. The background checks offered tend to fall into one of two categories:

1. Recommended Search - Verifies the identity of the official using Name, Date of Birth and SSN and allows you to filter out unneeded results.  Results are returned from the National Criminal Database, the 50 State Sex Offender registries, the OFAC Terrorist Watch List database and hundreds of local databases.

2. Customized Search - Customize to meet the needs of the organization, such as county court records, driving records, credit, and financial reports, etc.

Link ArbiterSports account to the PeopleTrail account

Upon obtaining the PeopleTrail account number, the ArbiterSports account and PeopleTrail account can be linked. Follow the steps below to link the accounts.
 

1. Click on the Users tab. You should automatically be directed to the Officials sub-tab.
2. Click on the Background Check link under Utilities on the left side.

3. The following window will pop up to link your PeopleTrail account.
4. Enter the provided nine-digit PeopleTrail account number and click save. A notification will appear acknowledging that the account was saved successfully.

5. At this point, your ArbiterSports account and PeopleTrail accounts are linked.

 Registration

1. To create a registration where the required consent where be located, click on the Eligbility tab.
2. Click on the Registration sub-tab.
3. Click on the + sign on the left-hand side

 

4. Next you will put in the Registration Type (Officials, Coaches OR Schools), Give it a Name, Set Dates, and then the School year

 

5. Upon creating the Registration, you will see a few questions at the bottom which you will need to check off if you want the following: 

 If you check off REQUIRE BACKGROUND CHECK CONSENT, you will need to view the Consent Terms and sign

6. After clicking Create you will be prompted to select the sport(s) you would like to support with your registration (the sports populating vary between associations)

 

7. Next you will begin your Set up for the registration
8. When you have finished setting up this Registration by applying all applicable questions, fees and personal information you would like, you will then select Publish on the top right-hand side

Running a Background Check

As you are looking to find officials that need to have their background check run or need to have their background check results addressed, user filters can be of great assistance.  On the "Users" tab and "Officials" sub-tab, you can click on the "Create" button to create a new filter.


 On the next page, you can give this filter a name and base that filter on "Eligibility Period" to utilize your newly setup eligibility or also it can be set up based on "Background Check Status."  Using these options, you will be able to easily identify those that are eligible, those that are not, those that need to have their background checks run, those that need to be reviewed, and those that are currently in the review process with ease.

1. To begin running a background check, you will need to use filters to select the officials for which you would like to run a background check.  The officials that appear after selecting the filter (not the ones that are checked) will be those that have their background check run.  After selecting the officials, click on the Background Check utility and a summary of the background check that is about to be run appears
2. On this summary, you will find the following pieces of information:

• Date- This is the current date that the background checks are being requested.
• Selected Officials- This is the total count of the number of officials that are being considered for a background check.  This number is determined by the filter selected.
• Excluded Officials- In this section, each of the reasons why an official could be excluded from a background check is listed along with the number of officials that fall into each category.  A "View" option off to the right also allows the user to click and see who the specific officials are that will be excluded.  As is listed, the following must be true of the official to be able to have a background check run for them:

1) The official must have their Date of Birth (DOB) registered in the ArbiterSports system.
2) The official must have a valid Social Security Number (SSN) in the ArbiterSports system.
3) The official must not be under the age of 18 (a juvenile).  If a background check is requested for a minor, the background check will always return as passed.  It is not legal to run a check on a minor.  It should be noted, however, that the expiration of this background check will automatically be set for their 18th birthday.
4) The official must be marked as an active official in the account
5) The official must have given consent for the background check.  This is done through the registration that was setup prior.
6) The official must not have a recently run (previous) background check.

• Total number of officials being sent to PeopleTrail- This is the final number of officials that will have their background check run by PeopleTrail.
• Background Check Depth- Only officials that have no "Hits" or have been reviewed are eligible for an 18-month background check as their second background check.  Otherwise, select a full background check to be run.
• Background Check Expiration-  This is how long the background check will be considered acceptable.  It should be noted that this is capped at 3 years, regardless of the date that is chosen.
• Agreement- The admin of the account must agree before the background check requests will be sent to PeopleTrail.

3. After the chosen officials have been reviewed, you can send the request for the background checks by clicking the "Send" button.  At this point, you must wait for a response from PeopleTrail in your ArbiterSports account.

Interpreting Background Check Results

Upon completion of a background check, a small square will appear to the right of the official.  This small square will be one of numerous colors and patterns with each color and pattern representing something different.

Blue = Background Check Pending
Green = No Hit = Background Check Cleared
Yellow = Hit = Action Needed (Pre-Adverse or Adverse Letter to be sent) - The official will need to contact PeopleTrail to handle the issue. Once the issue has been cleared up, the assigner can change the status of the background check to green
Yellow/Red = Pre-Adverse letter has been sent
Red = Adverse Finding = Background Check Didn’t Clear (Declined) - Assigner can review the background check to determine if a pre-adverse or adverse letter should be sent.  It should be noted that if an account adverses (declines) an official, that official can no longer be active in that account.
Black = API Service Error - This indicates that there is an issue with the product and it will need to be investigated further by ArbiterSports.  If this occurs in your account, please contact our Customer Success Team at [e-mail]

Now, each of the squares displaying the state of the official's background check is also interactive.  By clicking on the colored square, the administrator can see the name of the official, when the background check was sent, the status, and the Background Check Report (With the proper permissions).  It should be noted that privacy regarding these reports is held in the highest regard and is only viewable for the official, PeopleTrail, and the Administrator of the group.  It should also be noted that all decisions made regarding eligibility of an official are made by the administrator of the group, not ArbiterSports or PeopleTrail.

You will notice that for a background check that returns with a "Hit," you will be given an option of sending a Pre-Adverse Letter.  This letter is a notification to the official of the report, letting them know that a decision will be made based on the report contents.  Additionally, the letter contains PeopleTrail's information for any questions or disputes and a link to the report. 

Once a report has been reviewed, the administrator is given the option of immediately sending an Adverse Letter, scheduling one to go out later (can be setup to go out 3 days after the pre-adverse letter), or to cancel the Adverse Letter based on the findings.  The Adverse Letter provides the Group's, official's, and PeopleTrail's information.  It also notifies the official that the group cannot grant them eligibility based on the mutually agreed upon background check.

If the official would like to dispute the findings, the official can obtain a free copy of the background check with proper identification from PeopleTrail.  The information found in the report can be disputed with PeopleTrail within 60 days of receiving the Adverse Letter.

Finally, it should be noted that when the user is working with PeopleTrail, it is beneficial to approach them with the email address, phone number and postal code of the official in question.  Providing this information can greatly assist in their efforts to help you.  Also, if at any time old/no longer valid background check results need to be removed from the ArbiterSports system, this is handled by the ArbiterSports System Maintenance team and involves a fee of $50.00.