ChoicePoint Closes Dallas Office, Lays Off 55 Employment Pre-Screeners

Maybe business is bad for ChoicePoint because more companies are relaxing their once-strict pre-employment screening policies. Even the FBI has loosened its necktie concerning prior marijuana usage of applicants, part of a campaign to hire hundreds of agents.

Or perhaps it’s due to ChoicePoint’s announcement last week of a 6.6% drop in second-quarter profits.

Either way, 55 ChoicePoint pre-employment background screeners are out of a job, now that the company has decided to close the Dallas employment screening location.

The company says the background screening work will be consolidated into other facilities around the country.

Its other Dallas location, which performs background checks on people seeking to rent apartments, will remain operational.

The Atlanta-based company — which provides background checks, pre-employment drug screening, and insurance fraud information — employs approximately 5,500 people in nearly 60 locations.

Last week, the company reported that for the three months ending June 30, it earned $32.57 million compared to $34.86 million for the same period a year earlier.