Background Check News

Existing laws are in place that governs the way, in which, a criminal history can be used in the hiring process with regards to pre-employment screening.  A recent meeting of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was held in Washington D.C. on July 26, 2011 which may start changes to these very laws.

“On Tuesday, July 26, 2011, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) held a public hearing to investigate employment barriers faced by individuals with arrest and conviction records. The Commission received testimony from the Federal Reentry Council, as well as policy and advocacy groups and members of the general public. Witnesses discussed their experiences regarding best practices of hiring individuals with criminal records, collateral consequences of incarceration/imprisonment, and the confusing and oftentimes contradictory pressures on companies and corporations when using arrest and criminal conviction records to make employment and hiring decisions.”

EEOC.gov

July 26, 2011

With the climate of pre-employment screening ever changing it is important to have a company like Advanced Surveillance Group to be your guide when it comes to understanding the new challenges that may face you and your company when hiring a new employee.  It is important to safeguard your company from improper hiring processes and learn about upcoming changes.  It is our job to be educated and identify issues in our industry before they become an issue for you.

For more details or to discuss pre-employment screening options with one of our highly trained associates feel free to contact us at 888-677-9700.

Effective March 18, 2011, a new system called “E-Verify Self Check System” will become available to job candidates wishing to check their authorization status prior to applying for jobs.  These candidates will now be able to identify errors in the system that was previously only available to employers.  At first this service will only be offered to those candidates with addresses in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Mississippi and Virginia but will soon expand to include all states.

The following was taken directly from the USCIS presentation on E-Verify Self Check which impacts all employers:

Can I use Self Check to verify someone else’s eligibility for employment?

No.  Self Check is intended only for users to verify their own employment eligibility.  Forcing, or encouraging candidates to use this service will result in a violation of the anti-discrimination and other immigration and employment laws.

March 10, 2011

USCIS.gov

Background Check’s on Subcontractor’s Subcontractors

A few months ago we drew attention to the importance of screening not only full-time employees but also your company’s subcontractors.  A Story from Mississippi shows the importance of not only having a policy in place for your subcontractors but also verifying that the subcontractors have a policy for those they contract work out to.

“A 37-year-old man who worked as a janitor at Southaven Elementary has been arrested and charged with sexual battery.  Quincy Latimore was arrested by Southaven police Saturday for the alleged incident that occurred at a home on Tchulahoma in February involving a teenage girl who was under 16 at the time. The alleged victim is a teenage relative.”

“Latimer worked at Southaven Elementary School for 21/2 weeks as an after-hours janitor. He was employed by GBS Cleaning, a subcontractor with the DeSoto County Schools.  Eddie Gossett, owner of GBS Cleaning, said he hired Latimore based on a recommendation from the WIN Job Center in Southaven. He said Latimore no longer works for his company.”

“One of the questions I asked the WIN Job Center when I hired this employee was did he pass a background check, and the answer was ‘yes,’” Gossett said.

Yolanda Jones

December 15, 2010

This story should act as a warning for those employers that simply accept the word of a subcontracting firm when they say that they complete a background investigation on their employees.  If you feel that the subcontractors your company employs may not be facing a comprehensive background investigation feel free to contact our highly trained staff in order to evaluate not only your procedures but those of your subcontractors.

For more details or to discuss pre-employment screening options with one of our highly trained associates feel free to contact us at 888-677-9700.

Do you even know what an I-9 audit is?

Many states are initializing legislature to make the consequences for hiring illegal immigrants more severe.  States like Arizona seem to be getting all of the headlines for their work to reduce the amount of employers hiring illegal immigrants but other states seem to actually be making a difference.

” Only three businesses - all in the Phoenix area - have been prosecuted in the nearly three years since Arizona’s highly publicized employer-sanctions law took effect.

By contrast, South Carolina has cited more than 200 businesses for being out of compliance since that state’s employer-sanctions law went into effect in 2009. South Carolina officials say that their efforts have paid off with far fewer illegal hires.”

D. Brian Blackwell

November 1, 2010

It is vital to your business’s future that you understand those laws that are in place, in your state, that dictate the mandatory hiring practices that are in place.  We understand that some business do not have a human resources department and often times the owner wears many “hats”.  We also understand that larger companies may need an outside firm to manage the pre-employment screening processes to avoid oversight.

For more details on the acceptable practices in your state or to discuss pre-employment screening options with one of our highly trained associates feel free to contact us at 888-677-9700.

“More employers are conducting background checks before hiring during the employment process. A report of a survey of 606 individuals from United States organizations conducted in May 2010, and released by EmployeeScreenIQ, found that 70% of respondents perform background checks for more than 80% of their hires.”

September 29, 2010

Now that background investigations are becoming more and more common in the pre-employment arena, it is important that you understand what you can legally search for.  Records like county criminal searches or employment verifications can be no-brainer decisions.  Should you conduct a credit check?  Is it legal?  These are questions that the investigators at Advanced Surveillance Group know the answer to.  At the end of the day it is your company’s name; that is on the line and wouldn’t you want to be safe in your decisions?

If you would like more information on setting up a background screening package tailored specifically to your business feel free to contact us at 888-677-9700.

Due to frequent changes to the legislation that governs the background check and pre-employment screening it is important that you do not set your policies and forget about them.

” Checking an applicant’s references and background is a crucial step in the hiring process. To do this it is, of course, first necessary to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The FCRA imposes a number of requirements for employers who are investigating applicants for employment through the use of a consumer credit report, a criminal record check or reference checks. The employer must advise an applicant in writing that a background check will be conducted, obtain the applicant’s written authorization to obtain the records, and notify the applicant if a decision not to hire is based on what the check discloses.

A class action lawsuit filed July 20 is yet another indication that employers must proceed with caution in relying on criminal record checks. This case has been filed against First Transit Inc., one of the largest bus companies in the nation. The plaintiff has brought the case on behalf of a nationwide class of blacks and Hispanics whom she alleges the company refused to hire or terminated because of their actual or presumed criminal record, regardless of the nature or age of the offense, or the offense’s relation to the job.”

Bill Clifton

September 15, 2010

No matter the size of your company you can not afford to find yourself facing a similar situation.  Here at ASG we have investigators whose sole responsibility is to stay abreast of the governing case law to allow us to provide the best possible product to our clients.

Back to Basics with Pre-Employment Screening

” We all know that job candidates embellish, enhance, exaggerate - call it what you will - to make their CV and of course themselves, more appealing to hiring managers. There has been a great deal of research into the extent of lying in CVs. Figures run between 53% and 68% with college graduates being the worst at 70%. Many of these “little white lies” were caught by managers, and providing the employee wasn’t a complete disaster on the job, nobody was the wiser.

But, in these tougher times, competition in the job market has driven many candidates to desperate measures. Little white lies have now turned into works of total fiction. Enter CareerExcuse.com. Here is an outfit that will create a complete work history for a job candidate. From their side, they create a “real” company with address, website and free phone number, and “real” mangers and referees. So when an employee calls to verify work history and performance, all checks out and the feedback is glowing! Blown away? It seems unbelievable, but true, try it yourself.”

Rob McKay

September 10, 2010

We all understand that people wishing to be hired for a job are tempted to over exaggerate on their CV’s but is there a way to sift through this information and get a true understanding of the candidate?

With more and more of these companies popping up and offering fraudulent information it is necessary for proper pre-employment screening to be able to decipher between real and fake.  Our pre-employment screeners have the ability to check business listings for such companies and give you the peace of mind when hiring a new employee.

For more details or to discuss pre-employment screening options with one of our highly trained associates feel free to contact us at 888-677-9700.

With many employers turning to pre-employment screening as a valuable tool to learn just a little bit more about those whom they are looking to hire more restrictions seem to be being placed on these procedures.  As of August 10, 2010 Illinois has ended credit checks for pre-employment screening.

“Governor Pat Quinn today signed a bill into law that prohibits Illinois employers from discriminating based on a job seeker or employee’s credit history. The new law will remove a significant barrier to employment for the growing segment of the population whose credit history has been affected by the historic national recession.”

“Pre-employment credit screenings are on the rise throughout the nation. The Society for Human Resources Management recently found that 60 percent of employers run a credit check on at least some applicants. That is an increase from the 42 percent in 2006 and 25 percent in 1998.”

Illinois Government News Network

August 10, 2010

With growing restrictions on pre-employment screening it is vital that you choose a provider that is well versed in the case law on the matter.  Here at ASG we can advise you on the best and most cost effective approach to screening your employees.  If you would like more information on setting up a pre-employment screening package tailored specifically to your business feel free to contact us at 888-677-9700.

“A contract driver for Metro’s transit service for the elderly and disabled was arrested Thursday and charged with sexually assaulting a female bus customer in January in Prince George’s County, about two months after another driver was fired after a similar offense was reported, Metro Transit Police said Friday.”
Ann Scott Tyson ~ Washington Post
July 13, 2010

With companies taking a proactive approach to reducing their overall costs many are turning to subcontractors to fill these vacated roles. Subcontracting work is nothing new, but a new set of challenges comes along with it. Not only do these workers often have access to sensitive company assets but they also represent your company in the public’s eye.

The above cited news article should act as a precaution for all business owners employing subcontractors. This transit company employs 40 percent of their workforce as subcontractors. A background screening system is in place with this company at it may have saved them from the public outcry as well as millions of dollars. To see the full article, click here.

If you would like more information on setting up a background screening package tailored specifically to your business feel free to contact us at 888-677-9700.

In the beginning processes of hiring a new employee, companies base their applicant pool on certain credentials such as experience, education and personality. These are the core principals that are important in candidates however they are not the only thing that are needed to be considered. A major trait that an employer should look into is criminal history but with focuses on other aspects it is easy to see why this may be overlooked. Finding the perfect applicant not only need to possess the correct job requirements but they also need to be someone who is trustworthy and free of criminal records that could reflect poorly on the company.

According to the Wall Street Journal, small businesses are particularly vulnerable to embezzlement and other kinds of employee theft because they lack the checks and balances of big corporations (By: Colleen Debaise 02/07/2010). Conducting a criminal history background investigation on applicants is something that is generally quick, easy and cost effective.

As important and overlooked as this is, spending anywhere from $20.00 to $150.00 will provide you with a comprehensive criminal history check on an applicant to weed them out and save your company in the future.