The Christmas season is fast approaching and malls are beginning to hire seasonal workers; including Santa and his Elves. While some malls are taking the cautious approach by hiring Santa from companies who specialize in Santa placement, others are hiring off the street. Although Santa placement companies do exist, they are not the norm. These companies claim and probably do conduct detailed background investigations and drug tests on each of their Santas. What about the mall that you take your children to? Was Santa hired through a reputable company or does he fall into one of the more likely categories: a volunteer, a hire off the street or a friend of a mall employee who “does this type of work for fun around the holidays”. How can you be certain that the man your children are sitting on isn’t a criminal, or worse, a violent child predator? Although it would be difficult to obtain Santas name and run your own background check on him, you can contact the mall to see where Santa came from and if he was pre-screened for the job.
Hopefully, Santa was hired by the mall and run through a rigorous background investigation and drug panel. Despite this, thousands of unscreened Santas will be working at malls near you.
