Sex Offenders

Best Employee Screening Articles For October & November 2009

December 2, 2009 By Chris Miller

In case you missed any of our employee screening articles for October and November, here’s a quick recap of our most popular:

Smart, Compliant Hiring Decisions Made Easy

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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Florida Lawmakers Pledge Changes To Their Background Screening Program

October 5, 2009 By Chris Miller

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.”

Best Employee Screening Articles For August & September 2009

October 1, 2009 By Chris Miller

In case you missed any of our employee screening articles for August and September, here’s a quick recap of our most popular:

Smart, Compliant Hiring Decisions Made Easy

FYI Screening, Inc. is a leading provider of on-demand, easy to use employee screening solutions.

Subscribe to our blog to stay informed
Follow on Twitter
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Photo credit: net_efekt

Sex Offenders In Ohio

September 25, 2009 By Chris Miller

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

New Employee Screening Trend -Second Chance For Ex-Offenders

June 17, 2009 By Chris Miller

There is a growing trend in employment screening that places more responsibility on employers to analyze a past criminal record to determine whether there is a business justification not to hire a person.

From The Columbus Dispatch:

Schools Could Hire Former Criminals

Custodians, bus drivers, secretaries and cafeteria workers could work in schools even with a past drug or theft conviction under a new rule being considered by the State Board of Education.

Committing a sex crime, kidnapping and murder still would prevent someone from working in a school. But some people who have committed nonviolent crimes — including robbery, cultivating marijuana or drug trafficking — could show they have been “rehabilitated” under the proposed rule.

The proposal would allow people with those less-serious convictions that occurred well in the past — ranging from five to 20 years, depending on the type of crime — work in a school if they can show evidence that they have walked the straight and narrow since. It would apply to new applicants and current employees.

Read the article here.