How to Verify Your Cleaning Company Actually Screens Its Employees

Cleaning crews have after-hours access to your entire facility. Sensitive equipment, confidential files, personal belongings at desks. Most cleaning companies tell prospects they screen everyone. Here’s what that actually means, what it often doesn’t cover, and how to verify the answer.

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What a real background check includes

A county-level records search is the minimum and frequently the only thing a quick check covers. It misses crimes committed in other jurisdictions, pending charges, and records that haven’t been processed into county systems yet.

A thorough pre-employment screen for someone with building access should include:

• National criminal history (not just the county where the applicant lives)
• Social Security number verification and identity trace
• Employment history verification (reference checks, not just employment dates)
• E-Verify, which goes past the Form I-9 every U.S. employer already has to complete for every hire
• Sex offender registry check, especially for accounts that include residential buildings

For medical facilities, schools, or buildings with sensitive data, the client usually sets a higher bar in the contract: federal database checks, drug screening, and continued monitoring after hire. None of that is required by statute for a cleaning vendor, so it exists only if your agreement says it does. Put it in the agreement.

Ask any cleaning company: what database does your screening partner use, and does it cover national records? If they don’t know their screening partner by name, that’s your answer.

Database coverage is hard for you to verify. The paperwork is not. A background check bought from a screening company is a consumer report under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Before pulling it, the employer has to tell the applicant in writing that a report may be used for employment decisions and get written permission. Before rejecting anyone over what the report says, the employer has to hand over a copy of the report and a copy of “A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.” Ask to see those forms. An employer running real checks has them on file.

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Oregon’s ban the box law and what it means for you

Oregon law (ORS 659A.360) bars an employer from requiring an applicant to disclose a criminal conviction on the application form or at any point before the initial interview. The conditional-offer version of that rule applies under the state statute only where no interview is conducted at all. Portland goes further. City Code 23.10.030 bars an employer with 6 or more employees from accessing criminal history until after a conditional offer, for any position performed a majority of the time inside Portland. So a cleaning company hiring in Portland runs the criminal check after the offer, not before.

What happens next matters. The state statute is a timing rule, and it says plainly that nothing in it stops an employer from considering conviction history in a hiring decision. Portland City Code 23.10.030 D is where the weighing requirement lives, and it applies when an employer is deciding whether to pull a conditional offer: the nature and gravity of the offense, the time elapsed since it happened, and the nature of the work. The same code bars an employer from holding an arrest that produced no conviction, or a conviction that was voided or expunged, against an applicant.

Screening every hire is lawful and common. What a Portland employer cannot do is pull the record before the offer, or hold an arrest with no conviction against an applicant. Ask a cleaning company how it handles both. The answer you want is specific: “We run the check after a conditional offer, and we weigh any record against the role.”

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The subcontractor question

Many cleaning companies use subcontractors rather than direct-hire staff. That’s a common model in this industry, including at smaller and regional operations. It’s not inherently a problem. What matters is what the company actually requires of those subcontractors before they enter your building.

An employer’s background check program covers their own employees by default. For subcontractors, coverage depends entirely on what the cleaning company requires of them. Some companies require documented screening before assigning a sub to any account. Others don’t ask.

When a cleaning company says “we screen everyone,” get specific: does that include subcontractors? What documentation do they require, and can you see it?

Ask directly: who is actually cleaning my building, and what’s the screening requirement for everyone entering my space?

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How bonding connects to screening

A surety bond is often mentioned alongside background checks, but it serves a different function. A bond compensates clients when a screened employee still commits theft or fraud. It’s the financial backstop for when the screening doesn’t catch everything.

A bond doesn’t substitute for screening. It pays out after a loss. It does not prevent one. Ask whether the bond is blanket or per employee, and who the loss payee is.

When a cleaning company says they’re “insured and bonded,” verify both separately. The COI covers liability (property damage, accidents). The bond covers employee dishonesty. Ask for documentation on both.

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Three questions to ask before signing

1. Who is your screening partner, and what does their check cover? A company with a real process names their provider (Checkr, Sterling, HireRight or similar) and can describe what the check includes. Generic answers like “we use a background check company” aren’t sufficient.

2. Who are the people cleaning my building, and what’s the screening requirement for each of them? Whether a company uses direct employees or subcontractors, get specifics on how everyone entering your building is vetted.

3. Can you provide documentation? A legitimate employer can provide a summary of their screening policy in writing. They can also confirm whether you’d be added as an additional insured on their policy and whether bond documentation is available on request.

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How RKA Cleaning handles this

Ask us directly about our screening and vetting process for everyone who enters your space. We’ll walk you through it. If your lease, insurance, or compliance program requires documentation, tell us what it has to cover and we’ll confirm in writing what we can provide before the first visit.

We serve commercial accounts across Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Lake Oswego, Tigard, Gresham, Happy Valley, and Vancouver, WA. Request a quote or call (971) 600-0752.