Author Archives: Criminal Background Check

Expungement a Step toward Re-Employment

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Along with ban-the-box legislation that removed the check box asking if the applicant has a criminal record, expungement of a criminal record is the best way to achieve gainful employment. If a person has a criminal record on file but has satisfied all the court ordered requirements and sentence they may be eligible for expungement of their criminal record. Some general conditions for expungement eligibility are, the seriousness of the offense, satisfactory completion of the terms of previous sentences, the number of past incidents on file, completion of all probation requirements, satisfying a certain waiting period between incident and expungement, and there cannot be any incidents that interfere or intersect with the criminal record in question and there cannot be ongoing or pending criminal investigations. Currently only a United States Judge can grant an expungement. For a person that has only committed one crime and has paid their dues for it, filing for an expungement of their criminal record is the best course of action they can take to assist with re-employment. When a criminal background record is expunged it is as if the person never committed the crime as the criminal offense is either sealed or destroyed thus not visible to the law. Once the record is expunged the person can say that they have no criminal history if asked by an employer. When a criminal background check is placed on this person after the record is expunged it should come back clean, stating No Criminal Records Found. To read more about this subject read recent CriminalBackgroundRecords.com  Press Release

Protecting At-Risk Populations Including Those Hit by Catastrophes

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Across the country new laws are being examined to help protect at-risk populations such as the elderly, children and the disabled. It has now been extended to include those that have suffered from a catastrophic lose due to acts of nature or those that have suffered from enormous financial loss. These people often become in contact with emergency responders that often include volunteer help. These responders may not have had a criminal background check performed on them and could pose a risk to these vulnerable disaster victims. From caregivers to coaches to emergency responders a thorough background screening process can significantly help in protecting at-risk populations. A vigorous background screening policy for employment screening and volunteer screening is the core of risk mitigation and goes a long way at protecting those that are unable to protect themselves. To read more about this subject read recent press release found at: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2015-2-19-A-Diversity-of-Risk-Mitigation-in-Protecting-At-Risk-Populations.html

Ban-The-Box is Prompting Employers to Review Employment Screening Policies

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The Ban-the-Box initiative is showing a trend across the nation as more cities and States add such legislation forcing employers in those jurisdictions to review their employment screening policies. As Ban-the-Box laws get passed employers who have to abide by these new laws cannot immediately disqualify a job candidate due to checking off the box that asks if the applicant has a criminal record or not. Instead employers need to wait until at least an interview with the applicant has taken place and cannot run criminal background checks on the job applicant until after that interview or before hiring if the candidate was in fact otherwise qualified for the job.

Ban-the-Box has become a catalyst for employment screening policy revisions across the country. It is important for employers to understand these laws so their employment screening policies and procedures are compliant with new laws governing the use of background checks in the hiring process. Employers should partner with a professional third party background screening company to help them become and remain compliant in a rapidly changing employment screening environment. To read more about this subject read recent press release found at: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2015-1-15-To-Expand-Background-Checks-or-Not-to-Expand-Background-Checks.html

 

Caregiver Background Checks to Protect the Elderly

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With a large part of the population getting older, caring for the elderly is a booming industry. However, whenever you leave people unsupervised with at risk populations like the elderly there leaves room for malfeasance and abuse. Before hiring a caregiver to protect a loved one it is important that they undergo a thorough caregiver background check that includes a criminal background check, sex offender registry search and reference checks like education and employment verification. Understanding a caregivers past can shed light on their character and whether or not they have a propensity for crime including abuse and neglect.

An aging population means home health aides and caregivers are in high demand. Which makes it even more important to properly vet these people prior to letting them into the homes of the elderly unsupervised. With such high demand the temptation to forgo a background check by a home health agency is strong in order to have enough staff to meet current and ongoing demands. However, it is wise to conduct a thorough caregiver background check prior to sending them out to spend unsupervised time with the elderly. To learn more about caregiver background checks and why they should go through a thorough background screening process read recent press release found at: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2014-12-20-Caregivers-for-the-Elderly-A-Difficult-Challenge.html

 

Seasonal Hiring and Background Screening

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The amount of seasonal employees hired in the USA more than doubled from 325,000 in 2008 to 786,000 in 2013. It is important that employers hiring part time help run criminal background checks on them as well as other background checks. Pre-Employment screening should include a social security number trace, criminal background check, sex offender registry search and an employment verification (when applicable). Employers also need to be aware of changing laws in regards to the proper use of background checks in the hiring process. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) keeps litigating companies that have hiring practices inconsistent with the law. Some employers may not feel the need to perform employment screening on seasonal employees but that may be a mistake. The cost of running a thorough background check on seasonal workers is insignificant compared to the risk involved with unscreened workers representing your company or organization. To learn more about seasonal background checks and why seasonal help should go through a proper employment screening process as like with full time employees read recent press release found at: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2014-11-14-Seasonal-Hiring-and-Background-Screening.html

Why Perform Volunteer Background Checks

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In many volunteer positions across the country it doesn’t make sense to run criminal background checks on some of these types of volunteers. Where it does make sense is for volunteer positions where time is spent with at-risk populations like children and the elderly. Across the country more and more organizations are requiring criminal background checks including sex offender checks on volunteers. This is most prevalent within the education sector where school districts are adopting background screening policies for volunteers even if they are parents to children in the school.

The current debate going on within the K-12 education system is that schools already have enough difficulty getting parents to volunteer for much needed help already. The fear is that with mandated volunteer background checks less and less parents will be willing to participate at all and therefore will not volunteer for much needed positions. Making these types of volunteers go through a criminal background check can be viewed as intrusive and information required to run the background check is private and sensitive. However, the current trend in the country is to implement an employment screening system for volunteer checks most especially for those volunteers that will have access to children, the disabled or the elderly. To learn more about volunteer background checks and why should background screening be conducted on volunteers read recent press release found at: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2104-10-21-Volunteer-Checks-A-Critical-Tool-in-All-Areas-of-Volunteering.html

 

Laws Changing on Use of Criminal History Reports

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All across the country lawmakers are changing laws pertaining to the use of criminal history reports in the employment screening process. Recently the city of Portland Oregon enacted ban-the-box laws for employers making them remove questions concerning criminal history from their initial job applications. It is important that employers keep current with new laws governing the use of criminal background checks in the hiring process. A good way to stay ahead is to partner with a third party background screening company who is well versed in the laws pertaining to the use of criminal history reports in the employment screening process. As more city and State governments enact ban-the-box laws the employers within those jurisdictions need to adhere to these new laws and understand how it affects their hiring process. Employers need to understand when they are allowed to run a criminal background check in the hiring process and when they are not allowed to. Most new ban-the-box related legislation forbid the asking of criminal history at the initial application process and typically allow for a background check after an interview when the job applicant has qualified for the job in question. To learn more about ban-the-box legislation and when criminal history checks are allowed in the employment screening process read recent press release found at: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2014-9-11-Criminal-History-A-Public-Document.html

 

Employer Beware of Diploma Mills

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With the high costs and long time commitment of getting a respectable bachelor’s degree many people are taking shortcuts by using Diploma Mills to get quick and cheap degrees.  The problem is that these unaccredited institutes of higher learning are just in the business of making quick money and not adequately providing the education expected in a bachelor’s degree.  Throughout the USA employers are catching on to these false degrees from diploma mills and are starting to conduct education verifications prior to hiring to make sure the job candidate has a reputable degree.  An education verification can be conducted through a third party background screening company like CriminalBackgroundRecords.com and verifies an applicant’s school, dates of attendance and degree or certificate earned, and if asked for will also get the GPA.   To learn more about education verifications and the risks of diploma mills to employer’s read recent press release found at: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2014-8-22-Diploma-Mills-The-Scourge-of-Employers-and-Education-Verification.html

What Reports are allowed for Employment Screening?

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With an evolving landscape into the proper use of background checks in the employment screening process, it is wise to work with a third party background screening company to help businesses and organizations stay compliant with current law. Looking at background reports from a criminal background check may not be allowed prior to making a hiring offer. Additionally it is important to know which criminal offenses may or may not be used to disqualify an individual from gainful employment. As local and State laws differ from one area in the USA to another it is important to know the laws in your jurisdiction as they apply to the proper use of background checks in the employment screening process. To learn more about the evolving landscape of background checks read recent press release found at: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2014-7-25-The-Evolving-Landscape-of-Background-Checks.html

 

EEOC and FTC Joint Guidance Highlights

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The newly released guidance by both the EEOC and FTC wanted to make it clear to employers what they are serious about and what they will enforce. The joint guidance has four separate parts: 1.) What employers need to know, 2.) Before you get background information, 3.) Using background information and 4.) Disposing of background information. The most important part is when and how background checks like criminal background checks can be used in the hiring and post-hire process as well as the rights of an individual during this process. The joint guidance wants to make sure that the underlying commitment of employers is both equality and to prevent discrimination. They want employers to eliminate the potential for disparate impact a situation that can occur even if the employment screening process is non-discriminatory but the outcome of the candidates accepted is disproportionally slanted towards one grouping of people or protected class. To learn more about recent EEOC and FTC Joint Guidance read recent press release found at: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2014-6-9-Highlights-of-the-Joint-Guidance-from-the-EEOC-FTC.html