3 Myths About Employing People With Criminal Histories
June 1, 2011
Stephanie R. Thomas, hosts “The Proactive Employer Podcast“, which is a weekly broadcast dedicated to EEO compliance and employment litigation risk management.
Last week she reported on the myths about employing people with criminal histories.
Here’s a recap of the podcast:
Each year, more than 700,000 people are released from federal and state prisons, and another 9 million cycle through local jails. Federal agencies are funding reentry efforts in communities all around the country, and the Obama administration is working across agencies to coordinate and advance efforts through the Federal Reentry Council.
Part of the reentry process is finding employment.
In this installment of The Proactive Employer Podcast, Stephanie talks about what the Federal Reentry Council is doing to assist with employment efforts. She talks about three common myths regarding employment of individuals with criminal backgrounds and she also covers common questions regarding employee background screening.
THE MYTHS
MYTH #1 : People with criminal records are automatically barred from employment.
- FACT: An arrest or conviction record will NOT automatically bar individuals from employment.
- Get the Myth Buster fact sheet (PDF).
MYTH #2: Businesses and employers have no way to protect themselves from potential property and monetary losses should an individual they hire prove to be dishonest.
- FACT: Through the Federal Bonding Program (FBP), funded and administered by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), fidelity insurance bonds are available to indemnify employers for loss of money or property sustained through the dishonest acts of their employees (i.e., theft, forgery, larceny, and embezzlement).
- Get the Myth Buster fact sheet (PDF).
MYTH #3: The Federal Government’s hiring policies prohibit employment of people with criminal records.
- FACT: The Federal Government does not have a policy that precludes employment of people with criminal records from all positions.
- Get the Myth Buster fact sheet (PDF).
Need help in sorting out the facts from myths about employee background checks? Give us a call at 1-800-809-2419. We’d love to hear from you.
Over 100 Employee Background Screening Resources
June 7, 2010
How A Woman Falsified Her Nursing Credentials For 18 Years
November 4, 2009
This is a fascinating and also sad story of how a woman stole, lied and cheated her way through life.
Source: TheTelegraph.com
For years, she kept ahead of her lies, moving from state to state with false credentials that showed her to be a nurse. This week, the law caught up with Catherine Marie Connor.
The Grafton woman was sentenced Wednesday to a year and a day in federal prison in a wire fraud case in which she followed a trail of deceit to secure a nursing license and nursing or related jobs in multiple states.
Connor, 55, was sentenced this week in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
She pleaded guilty in July for a case that developed over a period of years, beginning in 1991 and ending in March 2009, court records state, during which time she made some $625,013.07.
A crucial element of the case was the woman’s background, dating to 1984 when, as Catherine Smith living in Virginia, she was sentenced to a two-year term on two felony counts of credit card theft and two felony counts of forgery, the indictment states.
Read more on How A Woman Falsified Her Nursing Credentials For 18 Years
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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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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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- Connect on LinkedIn
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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.
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.
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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.
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Top 10 Articles On Employee Screening
August 28, 2009
Since we’ve had an increase in readers to our employee screening blog, I thought it would be a good idea to make the new folks aware of our most viewed articles.
Here they are:
Want to learn more about employee background screening?
Dangers Of Using Social Networks On The Job Hunt In Australia
July 22, 2009
NEWS.com.au (Australia) reports about the Dangers of using social networks on the job hunt.
Employers using social networks to gather information on job candidates could be breaking the law.
Social networks have become hot recruitment tools but Harmers Workplace Lawyers warn that using such sources to gather personal information to screen would-be employees carries a number of legal risks.
Harmers senior associate Bronwyn Maynard says many employers and recruiters are not aware of their obligations under the existing Privacy Act let alone the “General Protections” section of the Fair Work Act that came into force on July 1, 2009.
Under the Privacy Act employers and recruiters must:
- Inform a candidate that they have collected personal information about them.
- Explain the purpose of gathering the information.
- Tell the candidate who else will see the information.
Luckily for recruiters and hiring managers, most candidates don’t realise that under privacy legislation they are entitled to see notes made about them during the recruitment screening process.
“The Privacy Act also dictates that companies must only collect personal information that is necessary for their business,” explains Ms Maynard.
Candidates can apply directly to employers and recruitment consultants to see the notes made and information gathered about them during a recruitment campaign. A candidate can request that inaccurate information be corrected. If the candidate considers the information irrelevant he or she can then make a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner.
Ms Maynard said while there is no set timeframe, to expect a reply within 30 days would be a reasonable.
Read more about the Dangers of using social networks on the job hunt.
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