Are organisations allowed to screen me?

In short: Yes, organisations may run background checks, but only with your consent and only when the check is relevant to the role. For some sectors (healthcare, finance, government) screening is legally required.

When screening is allowed

Under the GDPR and Dutch employment law, an organisation may run a background check when:

• You have given informed consent in advance
• The check is relevant to the role (e.g. a credit check for a finance position, not for a warehouse role)
• The data collected is proportionate to what the role requires

You always know in advance which checks are being run, what data will be collected, and what the organisation will see. You consent to each check individually.

When screening is mandatory

In certain sectors, the law requires screening for specific roles:

• Healthcare: many roles need a VOG (Dutch certificate of good conduct)
• Childcare and education: VOG required for anyone working with children
• Financial services: PEPs and criminal record screening typically required by DNB / AFM regulations
• Government: VOG often required, sometimes a stricter security clearance
• Aviation: background screening required for airside access

In these cases, the organisation has a legal obligation to check, though they still need your consent to actually run the check.

What organisations cannot do

Some boundaries are absolute:

• They cannot screen you without your consent. Running checks behind your back is illegal.
• They cannot check things irrelevant to the role. A credit check on someone applying to be a graphic designer is not proportionate.
• They cannot discriminate based on race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, or political beliefs. The GDPR prohibits this and the screening process is designed to prevent it.
• They cannot share your results with anyone outside the hiring decision.

If you feel you have been screened unfairly, or screened on information that should not be relevant, you have routes to complain, to the organisation, to us, or to the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens).

You can refuse

You can refuse to consent to a screening. The organisation may decide not to proceed with your application as a result, but the choice is yours. You will never be screened against your will.