Recently, I have been applying to jobs, and have come across quite a few that require a criminal background check. On the consent form for the check, they ask you if you have gone by any other names in your life, including nicknames and aliases. I always check no, because I do not feel comfortable revealing that information to someone, especially someone who I do not know on a personal level and am not close with. It occurred to me, though, that the name change might show up on the background check anyway, which is concerning in two ways. First, the fact that I "lied" on the consent form (which, IMO, is a white lie since I did not change my name to escape my criminal past or anything; they do a background check when you submit your application to change your name for just that reason). The second reason is the simple fact that some random person has access to that information, which completely ruins any expectation to privacy I might have in terms of being transgender. This is clearly an issue most of us would find to be uncomfortable and damaging.

Does anyone have any insight on this issue? Would the potential employer get a hold of the fact that I have had a name change in the past for reasons other than marriage? Is there any safeguard against this? For the record, I am in Ontario, Canada. When submitting a name change here, the government does a background check, and also checks into your credit history in order to make sure you are not changing your name to escape the law or creditors. Therefore, I see no reason why a potential employer needs that information. I would be okay with the law enforcement agency performing the check to have access to that, since they have no real influence on my current life as it is. But a potential employer can obviously be skewed by such information.

I don't know that I would worry about it on a routine criminal background check. Try  not putting anything down for the first one and see what happens.

Many years ago a company I was working for was going to take on Defence contracts and all the engineering staff had to get a DND security clearance which included the same question. I did not want  to blow my stealth but also knew the check would be very thorough so I put down "Information available to authorized investigator only." (Think "witness protection".) I WAS contacted by a senior RCMP officer, explained the situation, and the investigation was done with a great deal of discretion to protect my privacy. The proper name and gender were used for every contact according to the appropriate time period and nobody was any the wiser. I got my security clearance. Our RCMP can be the soul of discretion!

Quote from: peky on June 09, 2013, 06:06:10 AM
Name changes, gender marker changes, divorce, etc, etc, are all "public records" as such they will appear on a back ground check....a lie =and there are not "white lies" for them- is a lie and it will disqualify you...

I will follow Northern Jane's strategy if the issue is so sensitive

In this day and age of electronic databases, a name change will most likely get turned up. Especially if you live in a state that sells access to those records.

Years ago when it was just SS name or gender change there was next to no fear of your past being turned. About the only time would be when under Federal Government scrutiny for a security clearance. At the bottom of that 20+ page form in triplicate was a little something about 20 years in the slammer for lying

I am not sure about this but I think they run background checks with your social security number. If that is true, then it is possible that it will just show up as "no criminal record associated with id" At least that is what I am hoping once I change my name ect.

I always put down my info . It normally doesn't make any difference

How about my suggestion if you do not have any actual criminal history under your former name to put down "none that any records would appear under" or something along those lines? That lets you remain honest without needlessly outing yourself. If you're asked further questions you can say that your name change was due to a change made to your birth certificate (if that is true), and they'll most likely assume you were adopted or something along those lines (although name changes made before a certain age for those kinds of reasons typically don't even need to be put down, this strategy lets you be safe without disclosing sensitive information).

This tactic won't work if you have any history under your former name; if that's the case you probably won't have any choice but to out yourself unless you can get the agency who keeps the criminal records to retroactively change it (and withholding a name change that a record would appear under regardless of the reason for the name change will most likely get you in trouble, since they'd see that as a sign that you're trying to cover up your criminal history).

ETA: I see that you're in Canada, and my advice is geared towards those in the U.S., so what I said may not apply to you.

Quote from: tgchar21 on June 09, 2013, 09:48:20 AM

ETA: I see that you're in Canada, and my advice is geared towards those in the U.S., so what I said may not apply to you.

Ehhh Same with my thoughts on it

Quote from: peky on June 09, 2013, 06:06:10 AM
Name changes, gender marker changes, divorce, etc, etc, are all "public records" as such they will appear on a back ground check....a lie =and there are not "white lies" for them- is a lie and it will disqualify you...

I will follow Northern Jane's strategy if the issue is so sensitive

In the case of changing name for gender reassignment, we are given a form to sign so that our name change is not public record. When I first did it, I didn't really care if it was public record, but now I am glad that I signed that form.

Thanks for the information, everyone! And Northern Jane, I am glad to hear that the RCMP is dependable on such matters

I am sorry if I sound stupid, but what is RCMP

Quote from: misschievous on June 09, 2013, 12:39:25 PM
I am sorry if I sound stupid, but what is RCMP

No, not stupid. It's the Royal Canadian Mounted Police which is our federal police agency here in Canada.

Ahhhh. Like FBI here.

Wizard, some people have tried putting down truncated versions of their old name on forms that request it. If you didn't change your last name but at least one of your other initials is different, this can work. It can also work well if you changed your last name. You can say that the old name was B. L. Smith and leave it at that. Unless the form asks for the FULL old name, you should be fine doing this. Or just put "for authorized investigator only," as Northern Jane suggested. But I wouldn't leave that field blank unless it specifically asks whether you had a name change to avoid criminal charges.

I understand that in the U.S., the agency that does the background check is not allowed to share any of your specific information--only whether you have a criminal record, end of story. I had a background check a few years ago and feared being outed, but it didn't happen. I guess I'm also semi-lucky in that my old middle name is kinda unisex and my old first name is a little exotic--it's a female name now and has become popular of late, but I can plausibly explain it away. But the people with my paperwork are not supposed to share that info anyway.

In addition, if you file an application with a human resources department, those people are not supposed to share your info with bosses or employees.

Quote from: Arch on June 09, 2013, 02:25:53 PM
Wizard, some people have tried putting down truncated versions of their old name on forms that request it. If you didn't change your last name but at least one of your other initials is different, this can work. It can also work well if you changed your last name. You can say that the old name was B. L. Smith and leave it at that. Unless the form asks for the FULL old name, you should be fine doing this. Or just put "for authorized investigator only," as Northern Jane suggested. But I wouldn't leave that field blank unless it specifically asks whether you had a name change to avoid criminal charges.

When I posted a survey poll on changing your last name or not this was a reason I suggested for changing your last name. Someone once suggested the initials trick, and I came up with an even better idea: If you changed your last name at the same time as changing the rest of your name, unless they ask for the full former name, you could try mentioning only the former last name. This idea would especially be a good one for MTFs, since women frequently change their last names due to marriage or divorce (and unlike the initials idea would appear perfectly normal and be less likely to raise eyebrows); even so it would probably still work for an FTM that wanted to try it. (Indeed some forms only have space for that in the applicable section!) A variant of the idea is if your original first name is also a common last name (becoming more common among the younger crowd with all the Madisons, Taylors, Tylers, etc. out there!), put that down alone in the space and they'd probably assume the same as above.

Once again, if there is actually a practical reason for them needing to know your full former name (i.e. records they want to check are under it) you'll probably need to bring the issue up sooner or later or they may suspect you of trying to conceal said records. My suggestions here and in my previous post to this thread are merely ways to "cover" yourself without lying when there is no practical reason in your case to devolve your former name.

Ah, yes, I remember reading a thread or two about this before and thinking, "Next time I'm asked, I'm just putting down my old last name." (I changed my entire name, so this would work for me.) Thanks for reminding me, tgchar21.