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Legal Compliance

What Employers Need to Know About Conducting Criminal Background Checks in Massachusetts

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Littler Mendelson, the nation’s largest employment and labor law firm, has an important update for Massachusetts employers conducting background checks:

Massachusetts Employers Face New Obligations When Conducting Background Checks Involving Criminal History Records

Effective May 4, 2012, the Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) Reform Act (the Act), which was enacted in August 2010 with the controversial “ban the box” legislation, will significantly change the way employers access, use, and maintain information obtained through the Commonwealth’s CORI system. The Act will allow all employers access to a new online records system, but also imposes obligations on employers that acquire criminal history information from private sources, such as consumer reporting agencies (background report vendors such as FYI Screening). Employers should review their hiring and background check policies now to determine whether any updates are necessary.

Related article:

2010 CORI Reform Explained: How the law is changing, and when. (pdf)

Photo credit: Zoom Zoom

EEOC Examines Arrest and Conviction Records as a Hiring Barrier

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On July 26, 2011 the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) held a public meeting to discuss the employment barriers faced by individuals with arrest and conviction records.

A recap of the meeting can be found here.

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3 Myths About Employing People With Criminal Histories

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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.

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.

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.

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