Pre Employment Screening Articles

If a vehicle you didn’t know pulled up on your street and a child walked over to it, would you be concerned?

What if the vehicle was an ice cream truck?

Nancy Tritschler of Affton had that question put to her as she watched her grandchildren play at Francis Park in south St. Louis. She said she’d be in favor of cities requiring criminal background checks of the drivers of these trucks.After all, Tritschler said, she has worked as a tutor in St. Louis County schools and for a foster care agency. Both required her to have a criminal background check.

“I think they should,” she said. “I don’t know why anybody would object to it.”

David Tieman of south St. Louis does not object. He began working three months ago as an ice cream truck driver for Frosty Treats. He also has three children.

“We are so involved with children,” Tieman said. “Parents just send their kids out because they have so much trust that we’re OK. It’s highly imperative that we are checked out to make sure we are safe to some degree.”

Tieman’s route runs through Webster Groves and surrounding municipalities.

Webster Groves requires drivers of those trucks to get solicitor’s licenses. The license is good for six months, and a background check must be done before the license is issued, said Susan Plager, customer service supervisor for Webster Groves.

The requirements for criminal background checks for these drivers vary from place to place. University City requires them. Richmond Heights and Maplewood do not.

Crestwood and Sunset Hills do not require them, but officials in both municipalities said they currently have no one licensed to operate ice cream trucks within their limits.

Fenton limits ice cream trucks to commercial and industrial areas. Mayor Dennis Hancock said this is due to concerns about noise and street safety more than anything else.

In the unincorporated areas of the county, people who apply for street vendor licenses must submit to a criminal background check, said Martina Linck of the county Department of Revenue.

The city of St. Louis recently enacted an ordinance requiring criminal background checks for any person seeking a new business license for a business that will in any way deal with children. The city would deny issuing the license for a variety of previous criminal convictions.

Greg Sloan, manager of Frosty Treats, 4230 N. Broadway in St. Louis, said the business requires background checks for its drivers, even if the municipality where they work does not require them.

“We do a background check for criminal and sex offenders on every single person before they get in our trucks,” Sloan said. “Along with the driving test, that’s a pretty big thing for us.

“It doesn’t need to be a law for us. We just want to make sure we have the right people out there.”

Sloan said the requirement is listed on a form prospective employees must sign before they get a job interview. Some people see the requirement and simply leave.

Background checks have been an employment requirement for years at Frosty Treats - even before they became a big issue, Sloan said.

“I couldn’t imagine not doing that now,” he said. “Twenty years ago you didn’t think of these things. Now I couldn’t imagine not doing them.”

Jim McMillen, who operates Happy Time Ice Cream Trucks in North County, said he doesn’t have any employees, so he doesn’t require background checks. He and his wife have two trucks.

“If I were a big enough company, I would require it,” McMillen said. “If we were hiring drivers, we would insist on a background check.”

By: Shawn Clubb

Source: http://kirkwoodwebsterjournal.stltoday.com/articles/2008/06/24/news/sj2tn20080624-0625web-icecream0.ii1.txt

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BY BILL McKELWAY

Henrico County police are investigating the former office manager of a church in relation to missing funds. The ex-employee was convicted of embezzlement less than five years ago.

A spokesman for Shady Grove United Methodist Church in western Henrico confirms that the church has turned over information about missing funds to police and that church member Lisa H. Pauley, 48, left her position as office manager in February.

Church spokesman Jackson E. Reasor said the sum involved does not exceed $5,000. Pauley has repaid the lost funds, Reasor said.

He acknowledged that a background check of Pauley was not done.

“It’s our usual policy to do a police background check, but in this case the person had been at the job for several months and was a member of the church for some time,” he said. “Everything seemed to be going well.”

Court records show that Pauley plead guilty in December 2003 to embezzling funds from Summit Realty Group in Henrico and was given a four-year suspended sentence. She was ordered to pay restitution of $4,900.

She was placed on supervised probation for 10 years and ordered to abstain from drugs or narcotics not prescribed by a physician.

Reason said Pauley did not have access to funds associated directly with the church. Instead, he said, Pauley helped oversee a popular arts program in which participants paid fees. She had control over checks paid to workers and teachers.

On the church’s Web site, Pauley is described as having “extensive experience in the areas of church administration, financial advisement and staff management.” She is described as a graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan College who “brings top-notch expertise in accounting and communications.”

Pauley could not be reached for comment.

Source: http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-06-02-0207.html

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