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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 They say change breeds opportunity. For a good example, consider the opportunities brought on by a change in the federal government form that companies must fill out when they hire a new employee.    As of December 2007, all U.S. companies have to use an updated version of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 to prove a new employee is in the country legally and eligible to work.

    Along with other changes, the revised form can now be completed and stored electronically—and that’s where the opportunity kicks in.

    Since the beginning of 2008, at least eight vendors have begun selling Web-based paperless I-9 compliance services, which they maintain can help companies fill out and store the forms more accurately, efficiently and safely than they could by themselves.

    In addition to helping with I-9 forms, some of the vendors can also submit information to the government on behalf of customers participating in E-Verify, a separate voluntary federal program that allows companies to instantly match new employees’ documentation against databases at the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security to confirm they’re cleared to work. Some states, notably Arizona, also have made the use of E-Verify mandatory for some employers.

    In the short time Web-based I-9 compliance services have been out, vendors claim to have signed up companies of all sizes in all types of industries. An estimated 56,000 U.S. companies have signed up for E-Verify. Another 1,000 are joining each week, according to Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security,

    Vendors that are marketing I-9 compliance software include established background checking and hiring management firms. They also include a smattering of startups, including Form I-9 Compliance, I9Advantage, Verified Person and Verify I-9.

    There’s so much competition that vendors are reluctant to share details about customers they’ve signed or what they charge. However, industry sources say standard rates run $5 to $10 a form, though volume discounts are common.

    Most I-9 compliance software is sold as a Web-based application, so a company doesn’t install anything on its own computer servers, but just logs on to a Web site to fill out forms and access stored information. Vendors keep records on servers at their own data centers, using multiple layers of encryption and security technology so clients’ data isn’t hacked into or stolen.

    Getting paperwork finished quickly and accurately and storing it safely are important because Citizenship and Immigration Services gives companies three days from an employee’s hire date to complete an I-9 form and requires them to store records for three years after someone is hired or a year after they leave, whichever is longer.

    Fines for companies that fail government employment eligibility audits are steep—up to $1,000 per form.

    That’s the main reason a company should use an outside party: If an issue comes up, someone else handles it, says Dave Dickerson, president of Accurate Background in Lake Forest, California. “In an extreme case, there could be 57 steps involved,” including checking documents with the multiple federal agencies, Dickerson says. “The employer doesn’t want to become an I-9 specialist. It’s easier to outsource it.”

    Another selling point: Some software can be integrated into a company’s HR software. To differentiate themselves from competitors, some vendors paired up with partner companies that Citizenship and Immigration Services has approved as E-Verify designated agents.

   The background check company’s I-9 service can be integrated into a client’s applicant tracking or HR IT systems.     

    The service can help large companies that previously had to depend on branch office employees to get I-9 forms filled out for new hires, says Chas Patterson, a Form I-9 Compliance vice president. “You have people at a store whose job is retail, not HR,” Patterson says. “This application makes it so you don’t have to be an expert. It removes the worry.”

    Sales pitches aside, it is possible for even large companies to handle I-9 forms on their own, says Grace Hoppin, an immigration attorney with Jackson-Hertogs in San Francisco. In early April, Hoppin helped with an I-9 compliance training workshop at a client with more than 5,000 employees, “and they still do paper copies,” she says.

    Also, it might not make sense to invest in I-9 software if the federal government changes employment verification requirements again, a distinct possibility in light of pending immigration reform bills, Hoppin says.

    Some of those bills call for electronic verification of all employees, not just new hires, and different forms of electronic verification have been proposed, Hoppin says.

    In the end, a company’s main concern should be doing everything possible to check out potential employees, especially if companies are in food service, construction, manufacturing or other industries that have had chronic issues with unauthorized workers, Hoppin says.

    In those cases, companies need to have rigorous processes to show they’re complying with the law. If that means using an outside service, “that could be a really convenient tool to show they’re doing everything they can, that they’re checking people out,” she says.

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 By: Michelle V. Rafter

School coaches, from the football field to the debate club podium, would be subjected to criminal background checks under a bill passed by the Legislature and headed to Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

The coaches would face the same background checks as classroom teachers throughout Minnesota. All licensed teachers undergo criminal background checks, but only some school districts also require the checks before a coach is hired.

“This is a consistent policy throughout the state,” said Rep. Karla Bigham, DFL-Cottage Grove, the House sponsor of the measure, which passed 112 to 15. It passed the Senate 64 to 0 earlier this week. Approval came on a compromise version of the bill worked out after slightly different versions passed earlier in each house.

As part of the compromise, volunteers such as occasional tutors or parents who might read to a class will not be required to undergo checks.

The measure was prompted by several incidents in which non-faculty members were involved in inappropriate situations. But Bigham said it also grew out of the increased use of unpaid volunteers and non-faculty members to assist in many functions at schools.

Despite the overwhelming vote, opponents suggested the requirement would put an undue burden on some school districts and discourage qualified people from participating.

Pawlenty said Thursday that he supports the measure.

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By: Mark Brunswick

Since this is a “101″ series, I thought we should discuss one of the most basic requirements of the screening process: the Applicant Release. This should never be taken for granted because it is perhaps the most serious standard set forth in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).Employment background checks must be authorized in writing by the applicant before a company can proceed (at least when the check is being conducted by a CRA [background screening company]). Failure to get the applicant’s permission before the check is conducted can get an organization in serious hot water.

At a minimum the authorization will inform the applicant that you reserve the right to conduct a background check, define the scope of the search and inform them of who will be conducting the background. In the case of California, Oklahoma and Minnesota applicants the release will include a check box that applicants can check if they want a free copy of their report. {Side note: many organizations that are screening applicants outside of these states forget that even though the other states do not mandate a check box, that the applicant still has a right to request a free copy of the report}. For New York applicants, the release simply advises that they have a right to inspect the report. Those who screen on a nationwide basis, fear not. All of these notifications can be included on one page of an FCRA compliant release form.

Employers should also know that unless your state specifically prohibits it, language can be worked into the release that allows you to re-screen the applicant throughout the tenure of their employment.

Once the release is executed, you can execute the search. Remember to keep the release on file. Accounts of how long vary and you should consult your attorneys about this.

 By: Nick Fishman

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Employees who apply for jobs at Marshall University or Marshall Community and Technical College must now undergo background checks.

The Board of Governors passed the background check provision, Policy No. HR-14, during its Oct. 16 meeting, marking the first time the university has required background checks campuswide, the policy said.

“We hope, though, that departments have been performing these checks for a while because it’s a sound hiring practice,” Jim Stephens, human resources director, said.

Stephens sent an e-mail to the university faculty listserv Jan. 31 stating the new policy affects all faculty and staff hired on or after Nov. 1, the policy’s effective date.

Current faculty and staff who apply for new positions will be exempt from a background check as well, Stephens said.
Some positions will require more than the basic checks, however.

New employees in upper administrative positions must also undergo a credit history check under the policy, and new full-time healthcare and research employees must also undergo a “healthcare sanctions check.”

The healthcare sanctions check will look for people whom state licensing boards and others have “determined to be fraudulent in their field,” as stated in the policy.

The policy requires background checks to be conducted and completed prior to beginning work, but the president of the employee’s respective institution can grant a deadline waiver to allow employment to begin on time.

However, the background check must still be completed, Stephens said.

Any information found in the background checks, including criminal history, has been deemed confidential and will be released “only in a matter consistent with applicable law,” the policy said.

The Human Resources Web site’s Feb. 1 recruiting bulletin indicates no background check is required for two posted jobs at the Marshall University Research Corporation.

MURC has shown interest in partnering with Marshall and 12 other institutions across the state in implementing the background check program.

However, MURC management must give its approval first due to its officially separate status from the university, Stephens said.

Other exemptions noted in the policy include adjunct faculty, student employees in general and applicants who underwent a university background check within the past 12 months.

Student employees required to undergo background checks include those applying for health and research positions, as well as those who must regularly interact with minors, as stated in the policy.

Nearly every new employee who has undergone a background check under the new policy has passed so far, Stephens said.

Marshall’s Human Resources and hiring departments will control the progress of the background checks in house.

They plan on using third party vendors to aid in conducting the checks, Stephens said.

The policy states new full-time employees will undergo verification of the last 10 years of employment.

There will be verification of all postsecondary education credentials listed on any correspondence.

Those employees will also undergo criminal background checks in all places they have lived in the past 10 years, as well as a sex and violent offender registry check in all locations they have ever lived.

Part-time hires will undergo only the criminal history and sex and violent offender registry checks, according to the policy.

By: Deven Swartz

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There are few things more precious than time. For someone to offer their time in the name of charity, it becomes a gift with a lasting impact.

As many volunteers have found out over the years, giving of their free time comes with a hitch that was likely unexpected when they volunteered with all the best of intentions. A police criminal background check has become something of a routine - a safeguard which aims at protecting the most vulnerable in society.

The need for police checks is unquestionable: the process is a relatively unobtrusive means of verifying someone’s good record if they’re going to be dealing with children or other vulnerable people in a position of trust. From hockey coaches and babysitters to volunteers in homes for the aged and counsellors, there is a need and subsequently a demand on police, for a process to have a check system in place.

Over the years, the requirement has become a regular process for people who donate their time to different causes in the city: stop in the police station with a letter of reference, fill out a few forms and wait a week to pick up the completed, authenticated document. But for police, what began as a few checks per week has quickly snowballed into around 3,000 per year, forcing the law enforcement agency to significantly change its approach for 2008: a requirement that volunteers attend the police station on one of four days throughout the year to receive a no-cost, same-day check or pay a $20 fee otherwise.

It may, at first glance, have the appearance of a cost-cutting measure by the department, but taking a step back may help to put the scenario into perspective. For instance, there were now a number of services, many specialized, that are provided by the city police department on a regular basis that weren’t part of the force’s mandate just two decades ago - from handling Freedom of Information requests and conducting RIDE checks to the canine unit and tactical squad, the list goes on.

Consequently, police have to find the most efficient method to administer the most vital programs, which is always done under the watchful eye of a thrifty city council. “We’ve been doing criminal records checks for years, but it’s just been the last five years where it’s really had a huge increase and we had to do something,” said Sgt. Beth Harder, adding the change “isn’t carved in stone” and police are considering extending the expiry date of the criminal checks from three months to six to further accommodate volunteers.

“We’re just trying to find a more efficient way of doing it,” she said.

Last Saturday’s inaugural volunteer day - which was deemed an overwhelming success - was organized in time to cater to those volunteering in upcoming seasons for spring and summer recreational sports such as soccer, indoor hockey and baseball.

(The event was also being used as a springboard to showcase the service, with a number of specialized units setting up displays, tours of the Children’s Safety Village.)

There was a small group of people working in the not-for-profit sector who expressed concerns regarding the change, but the policy could be changed in the coming months to better suit organizations. Police are making a sincere attempt to best accommodate the bulk of background check requests by streamlining the process. And, it’s a time-consuming procedure shouldered by police, and subsequently paid for by the taxpayer.

So it’s in good faith they make an attempt to better serve the public, and in the process make the work more streamlined internally, and we applaud that.

And while they’re not the final answer in vigilance against predatory practices by people who gain and subsequently abuse our trust, these checks are good and necessary, no matter the inconvenience for a Saturday afternoon.

Source: http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=849331

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About 1 million educators and school staff across the state will get to know their fingerprint a little better this year thanks to a Senate bill enacted in June.The bill requires teachers, support staff and even some volunteers working at Texas public and charter schools to submit their fingerprints for a national criminal history check.

“With this system, we’ll not only know about their past history, we’ll get an immediate notification if any new offenses occur,” said Debbie Ratcliffe, communications director for the Texas Education Agency.

Starting this year and continuing through Sept. 1, 2011, the Texas Education Agency will randomly select districts to be fingerprinted.

Southeast Texas school districts will not know when their turn comes until about three weeks before the fingerprinting equipment arrives, Ratcliffe said. This element of surprise is designed to catch anyone who would try to dodge the background check.

The fingerprinting is nothing new for educators certified since late 2003, but it will affect those certified before that time including support staff such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers and custodians.

The fingerprinting will allow districts to conduct national background checks as opposed to state criminal background checks alone, according to information provided by the Texas Education Agency.

The bill immediately targets anyone with a criminal record that includes homicide, kidnapping, sexual or assault-related offenses, among other crimes. These individuals will be immediately fired or, if applicants, unable to be hired.

Also, a registered sex offender or an offender whose victim was under the age of 18 or a student at the time of the crime cannot be hired or, if already employed, will be fired.

These standards set by the Texas Education Code offer guidance for serious offenses, but the gray area comes when an offense does not fall under crimes listed in the code.

At that point it will go beyond TEA authority, so local officials will make the call, Ratcliffe said.
“I think the hard calls are going to involve the offenses which occurred decades ago,” she said.

Ratcliffe said the process will be monitored closely at Austin Independent School District, the first district to be fingerprinted, in order to work out any kinks in the system before moving on to the other 1200 districts and charter schools in the state.

By: Emily Guevara 

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No business is immune, including yours. But you can try to see that it doesn’t happen at your company by following these tips from Virginia certified public accountants:

Rotate your personnel. At regular or periodic intervals, perhaps every six months depending upon the nature of the business, switch the people who handle the money, suggested Richmond CPA Andrew Lakoff.

The person could be an accounting clerk, somebody in the back office who normally handles customer payments. She could be switched with someone who handles customer collections or someone from a different department of the company.

The benefits are twofold, Lakoff said: It’s a way of cross- training employees to work in different areas of the company, and it provides a fresh pair of eyes to see what the previous person has been doing.

Just don’t have the same person always doing the same function if you’re fraud-conscious, Lakoff advised.

Say a bookkeeper is employed for 20 years in the same spot with nobody going behind him checking his work. Then he goes out on sick leave and all kinds of irregularities are discovered. He may have been stealing for years.

Break up accounting duties. Do you depend on one person to open mail, process payments, make bank deposits, pay invoices, handle petty cash and reconcile bank statements?

If you have adequate staff, it may be better to divide those responsibilities, the Virginia Society of CPAs said. That way, no one person controls all of your financial activity.

Turn on your software program’s audit trail. Intuit’s QuickBooks and other accounting software has the feature, Lakoff said. It tracks all activity, including when bookkeeping entries are altered or deleted. It provides the user’s name, date and time of changes.

Say an entry for $1,000 was changed to $100. An audit trail will show who made the change and when.

Some software can be set up to automatically send reports to the owners’ computer, a good feature because running a business is immensely time-consuming. Audit trails are useless if no one reviews them.

Have bank statements mailed to your home or a post office box. That way, you get to review them before your bookkeeper does.

Look out for checks written to suppliers or others whom you don’t know, or those made out to a third party but endorsed by someone in your company. Also look for missing checks.

Say a check is made out to “Office Supply Inc.,” said CPA firm owner Sharon Hart of Barcalow & Hart PLLC in Glen Allen. But the signature on the back is that of an employee in your company. That’s who got the money. There’s something kaflooey going on.

Question gaps in check numbers. Are 10 checks missing? Are checks voided? Some people void checks in the accounting system, then falsify them for fraudulent use, Hart said.

Arrange for surprise audits. Bring in a CPA once a year at different times to conduct a surprise audit of your company’s financial records. Knowing one may occur at any time can be a deterrent.

Screen potential hires thoroughly. Check past employment, personal and professional references and criminal records. Ask your trade association or a fellow entrepreneur for the name of a reputable service, or search online using the keywords “criminal background checks [your] county.”

Create a no-tolerance culture. Communicate to every worker what sort of activities constitute fraud and what will happen to those committing it. Consider setting up a third-party hot line for workers to report suspicious activity.

Watch for other red flags. Among them: You ask to see certain reports, but your finance person fumbles around and can’t seem to come up with them. Or, one person does everything from billing to collections to disbursements, but no one is overseeing the activity.

“The owner’s involvement is critical,” Hart said. “It really makes a difference.”

© (C) 2007 Richmond Times-Dispatch. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved

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 Who’s been naughty and is likely to end up with a stocking full of coal?It might just be Santa Claus or Kris Kringle.

Public records show that nationally, someone named Santa Claus has been convicted at least a dozen times during the past decade.

Mr. Claus’ indiscretions include a 1996 arrest for driving while intoxicated in Jefferson County, Texas.

And Mr. Kringle has a lengthy criminal record in Oregon.

Even the Christmas crew appears to have had some troubles: Rudolph Reindeer violated a restraining order in 2004.

But don’t plug the chimney and forgo the cookies and milk just yet.

Skilled backgrounders know that you can’t just put someone on the naughty list based on a name. Many people have the same name, but other information would distinguish them – such as their date of birth or home address.

Unless Santa has a summer home in Beaumont, it’s unlikely the Texas drunken driver with the same name is the Santa Claus. None had an address at the actual North Pole, according to public records. But several residents of North Pole, Alaska, have criminal records.

And yes, in Virginia there is a Santa Claus. In fact, there are at least four – two of whom are women. But no public records showed criminal records for those Clauses.

Birth dates also can distinguish individuals in background checks. All of the Clauses and Kringles with criminal records were born in the 1900s. It has been published widely that the Santa Claus was around before that.

While this topic may seem like a frivolous excuse for a writer to combine public records and the holiday season, it’s not all fun and games.

Backgrounding Santa is not unusual. Companies frequently run background checks on the individuals they hire to stand in for the famous North Pole gift-giver, particularly in cases where they interact with children.

Police in some areas of England this year asked organizations that employ “Father Christmas, elves and other festive characters” to run background checks, according to British news reports.

The same techniques I used to check on Mr. Claus can be used to check up on other people in your life.

If your search turns up no records, you’re not necessarily in the clear; the records are incomplete because the agency relies on whatever information the counties provide. According to DPS, for example, Dallas County reported 78 percent of its 2004 criminal conviction records to the state, which is a marked improvement from just a few years ago. Denton County did better by reporting 82 percent of its records.

 Source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-citwatch_12pro.ART.State.Edition1.369feeb.html

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