Sex Offender Safety Tips
October 29, 2009
It’s that time of year again and I thought it would be helpful to share this important information about sex offenders:
Sex Offenders and Halloween Safety Tips
Sex Offenders and Halloween Safety Tips- Part 2
Related Posts From FYI Screening:
- Do You Have a Sex Offender Working For You?
- Sex Offenders In Ohio
- Does Your Company Do Employment Background Checks On Outside Vendors?
Photo credit: euart
Florida Lawmakers Pledge Changes To Their Background Screening Program
October 5, 2009
Last week we reported about Florida’s Flawed Background Screening System and now Florida lawmakers are talking about making changes to the state system.
Laxness, Loopholes In Background Checks Of Child And Elder Care Workers
Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel
Florida legislators pledged to overhaul state law to require that caregivers for children and the elderly undergo background checks before they begin work and to close loopholes that have let thousands of felons get jobs in day care and nursing homes.
The proposed reforms come after a Sun Sentinel investigative series last week identified disturbing flaws in the background screening system that allow people to work with Florida’s most vulnerable residents before the caregivers have been vetted.
Even people with criminal pasts can qualify for jobs as caregivers by obtaining an exemption. Thousands have sought and won official permission to work despite having records for crimes including rape, child abuse and murder, the newspaper found.
“What you have discovered is something the Legislature needs to get more serious about and get on top of immediately,” state Rep. Ari Porth, D-Coral Springs, told the Sun Sentinel. A state prosecutor, Porth is drafting legislation to require pre-employment checks and put restrictions on who can get exemptions.
George Sheldon, secretary of Florida’s Department of Children & Families, called reforming the system “a legislative priority for a number of agencies.”
“It just makes sense that the public is assured that those people who are dealing with the most vulnerable have been closely screened,” Sheldon said.
As a result of the Sun Sentinel investigation, Sheldon wrote a four-page letter Thursday to state legislators outlining his plan for a “faster, more efficient system to protect our vulnerable citizens.”
Read more here.
FYI Screening offers a wide array of customized background screening solutions to meet any need. Human Resources and Loss Prevention Professionals in numerous industries worldwide trust FYI’s screening solutions every day to make smarter, safer and more cost effective hiring decisions.
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Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36703550@N00/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
Best Employee Screening Articles For August & September 2009
October 1, 2009
In case you missed any of our employee screening articles for August and September, here’s a quick recap of our most popular:
- Recruiters Are Checking You Out On Facebook
- Top 10 Articles On Employee Screening
- The Secret of Successful Hiring
- Truth and Lies On Resumes
- More Background Checks
- Sex Offenders In Ohio
- Florida’s Flawed Background Screening System
- The Pros & Cons of Googling Candidates
Smart, Compliant Hiring Decisions Made Easy
FYI Screening, Inc. is a leading provider of on-demand, easy to use employee screening solutions.
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- Follow on Twitter
- Connect on LinkedIn
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The Pros & Cons of Googling Candidates
September 28, 2009
Kris Dunn, an outspoken HR Pro who blogs over at the hrcapitalist.com offers his take on using social media for employee screening.
Googling Candidates: The Trenches Say You Can’t Afford NOT To….
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Florida’s Flawed Background Screening System
September 28, 2009
Is your loved one in the care of a convicted felon? A six-month investigation by the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel into Florida’s background screening system found disturbing flaws that allow those with criminal records - offenses include child abuse, assault and murder - to work in day care centers, assisted living facilities and homes for the elderly and disabled. Employees are routinely hired before background checks are made. Even when criminal offenses are discovered, caregivers can still work with little more than a promise not to break the law again. Children and defenseless adults have been harmed and exploited while in the care of people with criminal pasts, their trust betrayed by a system that fails to protect them.
Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel and Orlando Sentinel
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Chris Miller is known for his expertise in employee screening and background investigations. His company, FYI Screening, Inc. helps employers improve the efficiency of their employee screening programs, minimize risk and hire smarter. He’s a licensed Private Investigator with over 30 years of experience in employment screening, retail loss prevention, corporate security and background investigations. For more information call 1-800-809-2419 or visit us online at fyiscreening.com.
Sex Offenders In Ohio
September 25, 2009
Congratulations to Ohio for being the first state in the country to reach “substantial implementation” of the provisions of a federal law cracking down on sex offenders (FYI Screening, Inc. is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.)
The state is largely in compliance with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, which is part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, according to Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on July 27, 2006.
The legislation organizes sex offenders into three tiers:
- Tier 3 offenders (the most serious tier) must update their whereabouts every three months with lifetime registration requirements.
- Tier 2 offenders must update their whereabouts every six months with 25 years of registration
- Tier 1 offenders (which includes minors as young as 14 years of age) must update their whereabouts every year with 15 years of registration.
Failure to register and update information is a felony under the law. It also created a national sex offender registry and instructs each state and territory to apply identical criteria for posting offender data on the Internet (i.e., offender’s name, address, date of birth, place of employment, photograph, etc.)
States, tribes and territories must “substantially implement” the sex-offender law by July 26, 2010, or face a 10 percent reduction in federal Byrne Justice Assistance Grant funding.
Source: The Columbus Dispatch
Related Posts From FYI Screening:
- Sex Offenders and Halloween Safety Tips
- Sex Offenders and Halloween Safety Tips- Part 2
- Do You Have a Sex Offender Working For You?
More Background Checks
September 25, 2009
It’s not everyday that I see a headline like this in our local newspaper, The Columbus Dispatch.
Last night the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities voted to require background checks every three years on all their employees. Previously, background checks were conducted upon hiring and the county relied on the honor system for employees to report any offense after that.
This is a good reminder that your organization should have a Post-Hire Screening Program in place.
A Post-Hire Screening Program (also called recurring screening) is considered a best practice for employers. It ensures a safe workplace and helps reduce the risk of a negligent retention lawsuit. Conducting checks on all new hires is essential. Keep in mind, that a lot can happen in the years after a new hire comes aboard. Companies should consider protecting themselves with periodic post-hire criminal checks and drug screening.
Related Posts From FYI Screening:
- The Importance Of Post-Hire Background Checks
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Judge Rejects Bid to Delay E-Verify Mandate
September 8, 2009
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Agencies across the federal government Tuesday will start ordering contractors to use an electronic immigration system to verify the legal status of their roughly 3.8 million workers, barring an emergency stay from a federal appeals court in Virginia.
The sweeping new mandate, crafted by the Bush White House but being implemented by the Obama administration, represents a significant expansion for the so-called E-Verify system, which government officials and independent experts expect to become mandatory for all private employers nationwide in the future.
About 169,000 federal contractors and subcontractors will eventually be covered by the program taking effect Tuesday.
U.S. District Court Judge Alexander Williams, Jr., of Maryland, rejected an 11th-hour-effort late Friday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups to delay the mandate while a federal appeal is pending.
The rest of the story is here.
Read Porter Wright’s Employer Law Report - E-Verify: What Does This Mean For My Company?
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Truth and Lies On Resumes
September 3, 2009
Katie Couric reports on Andrea Stanfield, a woman who not only lied on her resume and was making over $100,000, she wrote a book about it, called “Phony! How I Faked My Way Through Life.”
“When we started working on a story about resume fraud and whether more people were lying on their resumes now because the job market is so tight, our biggest challenge was finding someone who would admit he or she lied on their resume. No easy task.
Andrea Stanfield said it’s not like she sat down and formulated a plan to lie. Locked in a battle for custody of her young daughter, she was desperate for a well-paying job but every position said “bachelor’s degree required, bachelor’s degree required,” she repeated during an interview outside her St. Petersburg, Florida home. So the Ohio native added “B.A. Business Administration/Akron University” to her resume when she only had a high school diploma. The college is actually called the University of Akron.
Ultimately, when her boss was accused of embezzling millions from the company and an investigation was likely, she quit because she feared she might get caught and could no longer handle living the lie. Her husband at the time was shocked by the revelation, she says, and their marriage, this her second, quickly came to an end. ”
A simple background check could have prevented all this.
Andrea has plenty of advice for anyone who might consider lying to get a job in the tight labor market: “Don’t do it.”
Read the entire story “Faking Your Resume” here.
Related Posts From FYI Screening:
- 4 Common Lies Told By Job Candidates
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The Secret of Successful Hiring
August 29, 2009
Two ways to hire (and a wrong way)
“The wrong way first: interview someone for an hour. If you like them, have them interview three or four other people in your organization for an hour each.
You’ve invested five hours of your team’s time, but really you only were looking for approval, because you’d already decided you liked the person enough to work with them for years.
All the evidence we’ve seen shows that this is a lousy predictor of future performance. And, let’s tell the truth… if the first three people love the guy, are you really going to let the fourth, junior person veto him? Or is it just an annoying courtesy?”
That is the wrong way to hire.
Read Seth’s advice on the right ways to hire here.
