In a country where many people want to be their own boss and with companies finding it more expensive to hire full-time employees and rising health care costs the Gig economy has become a huge phenomenon filled with short term deals and freelance work.

The Gig Economy is defined by Wikipedia as a labor market characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs.  The gig economy as labelled is a relative new phenomenon in the economy insomuch that so many companies work under this business model.

From the Guardian (Dec. 06, 18):

The “gig” economy was supposed to be an opportunity for entrepreneurs to be their own boss. Everyone from Uber to Postmates, Lyft, Airbnb, Turo and Parklee have all sold themselves as platforms for freelancers and would-be entrepreneurs to work for themselves.  _{theguardian.com/business/2018/dec/06/is-the-gig-economy-what-it-has-been-cracked-up-to-be}

Criminal Background Screening in the gig economy remains a critical concern, just as it would for traditional employment.  Even though these workers are basically self-employed as contractors they still interact with the companies customers and a bad experience with a freelancer and a customer could severely damage the company.

There is a legal difference between someone being an employee and someone being an independent contractor.  Many of the platforms used in the gig economy such as Uber, Lyft, and Postmates may push for the label of independent contractor as the laws governing that title can be less stringent than “employee”. Nonetheless, background screening remains a critical tool in risk mitigation within these types of enterprises.

In the gig economy criminal history records are occasionally used as part of a complete background check but the rules governing this use is not well defined and, subsequently, results can be confusing for employers and can even lead to lawsuits.

In the end the utilization of background checks are all about risk mitigation, and criminal history is an important part of that mitigation.  Criminal history information can be integral to the entrepreneur’s working part-time and even independently from their employer’s company that pays them because in some cases a criminal history report can be predictive of future behavior and although these independent contractors are not officially employees of the companies they work for they surely can be a huge risk to the company if something bad happens between them and a customer.

To read more about this subject read recent press release: Criminal Records and Background Checks in the Gig Economy

Summer vacation for kids across the country will come to an end and that means back to school.  Once school begins so does after school programs like sports, theatre and other extra curricula activities.  This is why it should be paramount that all volunteers involved with after school activities undergo a thorough and vigorous background screening including a comprehensive criminal background check.

It is believed that if all potential coaches, instructors, and related volunteers are aware of a pending background check as part of becoming an employee or volunteer that the actual background check itself will act as a barrier to entry for potential predators and malfeasant individuals.  They may think twice or forgo completely their application for a full-time, part-time or volunteer position if they know that a comprehensive background check will be performed on them.

These positions even including volunteer positions have a history of people committing crimes on children.

In Carmel, Indiana a volunteer swim coach was recently arrested for Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.  FOX59 from Indianapolis covered the story:

“An assistant swim coach at Carmel High School faces federal charges after prosecutors say he had sex with one of his athletes.

… is charged with sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography. U.S. Marshals took him into custody Tuesday. A detention hearing was set for July 10.”  ^{fox59.com/2018/07/05/carmel-assistant-swim-coach-accused-of-having-sex-with-student-athlete-faces-federal-charges/}

Any after school program or activity that allows for interaction with children, an at-risk-population, must ensure that all the adults involved whether employees or volunteers undergo a proper vetting process including thorough background checks that query the national sex offender registry and criminal court conviction records.

If all such employees and volunteers that have unsupervised time with children underwent a full and comprehensive background check this could greatly reduce the chances of recidivism and may assist in protecting this at-risk segment of the US population.

To read more about this subject read recent press release found here: Volunteers Should Always Pass a Vigorous Background Check; Opines CriminalBackgroundRecords.com

Laws governing the use of public records such as criminal background records continue to be enacted across the country.  Starting January 1st 2018 the new California Fair Chance Act goes into effect which will ban employers in the state from asking job applicants about their criminal history before making a conditional offer of employment or inquiring about a job applicant’s salary history.

Of the recent changes to law in California the elimination of the question regarding criminal history from the application as well as inquiry about salary history are significant.  These two changes alone should alert hiring managers and HR departments to review all existing pre-employment background screening policies in order to ensure compliance with all existing and upcoming law.  This should cause employers in other States to also review their employment screening policies and procedures to get a jump on almost inevitable changes to employment screening laws in their respective jurisdictions.

The California Fair Chance Act is a significant change from previous ban-the-box laws.

From the San Francisco Chronicle (Dec. 27, 18):

Experts say the most significant new law is AB2008, the California Fair Chance Act. It prohibits public- and private-sector employers with five or more employees from seeking information about a prospective worker’s criminal history in job applications or interviews or running a criminal background check until a “conditional offer of employment” has been made. The goal is to reduce recidivism by preventing employers from rejecting ex-offenders out of hand.

The act goes further than California’s existing “ban-the-box” law, which prevents employers from asking applicants about arrest records that did not result in a conviction, juvenile offenses, expunged convictions and non-felony marijuana-possession convictions more than 2 years old. The existing law also prohibits state and local government agencies (but not companies or federal agencies) from asking applicants about criminal convictions until the agency determined that the applicant meets minimum employment qualifications. sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/New-state-workplace-laws-will-help-ex-cons-12458131.php

California being the most populous State in the Union brings even greater significance to these recent changes in law surrounding the employment arena and makes an enormous difference to how employers are allowed to go about the hiring process.  Being a progressive State, California is seeking to reduce recidivism by giving past criminal offenders a fair chance at gaining employment hoping that by being employed will lessen the possibility of past offenders from committing another crime.  Also by not allowing employers to ask job applicants for their previous salaries or wages on the application form should result in an increased opportunity for new employees to get a higher income offer than if they told the employer what they had made in the past.

To read more about this subject read recent press release found here: New Laws in 2018 Remind Business to Review Pre-Employment Background Screening Policies

With an aging populous caregivers become critical to daily life in the USA.  This at-risk group is often under the care of in-home caregivers or staff at an assisted living home or nursing home.  Due to the vulnerability of the elderly it is imperative that caregivers given access to them go through a vigorous background screening process before being allowed unsupervised time with them.  This includes a professional criminal background check, reference check, SSN Trace, license verification and in-person interview.

Understanding the details of an individual’s past provides insight into their potential future.  A background check is designed to mitigate risk.  Most companies perform an employment background check on potential hires that make it past the application phase of the hiring process.  However, some States and Jurisdictions in the USA have laws in place that prohibit asking the job applicant whether or not they have a criminal record on the application form.  In these instances an employer can only perform a background check after an initial offer of employment is made.

The issue with hiring caregivers is that in many circumstances it is the family that hires the caregiver for an elderly person in the family.  Due to a lack of knowledge regarding how to hire someone the family may forgo the background check process entirely and hire someone that may have a criminal past and/or may pose a risk to their loved one.  That is why even if the family hires the caregiver they should still use a third party background screening company to help them properly vet the caregiver before giving them access to the home and to the vulnerable.

To read more about this subject read recent press release found here: Caregiver Background Checks

As the population continues to age in the USA the need for caregivers increases, however the continuing articles in the news show abuse in many forms to this at-risk population.  It is imperative that the US community come together in defense of the elderly in this critical time of widespread abuse from malfeasant individuals.  Taking care of and defending at-risk populations is a serious problem in this modern society and that is why thorough criminal background checks are crucial tools that must be used during the vetting process of any caregiver, especial those with access to the home and those who have unsupervised time with this vulnerable part of the population.
Background checks are generally based on public records and references and, subsequently provide an immediate and unique snapshot of an individual’s past.  When it comes to the background screening of caregivers a criminal history check must include a sex offender registry check and query from the American Most Wanted Lists.
Challenges continue to exist for at-risk populations, specifically the elderly and young children, and examples continue to appear on the headlines almost daily.

A recent investigation in New York State revealed that several employees of a nursing facility had been convicted of felonies prior to being hired to work with the elderly.

An expert commented on the situation on August 4, 2017 in a WKBW report (WKBW.com; Aug 04, 17):

“Nurses, and especially people working in nursing home facilities, are working with some of the most vulnerable of our population,” … “We’re talking about elderly people, people with dementia, people with memory issues, people who are most susceptible to economic crimes and to physical abuse, and people who cannot necessarily speak up for themselves because they’re in this vulnerable position in a nursing home.”  wkbw.com/longform/7-eyewitness-news-investigates-criminal-caregivers

At this critical time in the evolution of the USA It is imperative that hiring managers for caregiver facilities work with a professional employment screening company to ensure compliance with existing laws and to guarantee the background reports are current and accurate.  Even families that hire caregivers on their own should also utilize a professional background screening company to thoroughly vet any new potential caregiver before giving them access to their elder family member.

To read more about this subject read recent press release found here: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2017-08-09-Caregiver-Background-Checks-Remain-Critical-in-the-Care-of-At-Risk-Populations.html

Pre-employment background screening incorporates criminal background checks into its process but Ban-the-Box legislation is changing the legal landscape.  Originally thought to help level the playing field for applicants looking for work ban-the-box has recently met criticism.

With the simple goal of eliminating the question of criminal history on job applications ban-the-box legislation has swept across the nation.  Proponents of this movement believe that this one question severely limits the fair and equal opportunity of all job candidates.  Currently the USA has the highest incarceration rates in the world, and more needs to be done to reintegrate past offenders into free society and eliminating the question of past criminal history it is believed would be a big step in achieving that end.

It is widely believed that recidivism is more likely if a previous offender is released back into society and cannot get a job.  Certain States and jurisdictions have their own laws that can limit how far back an employer can look into the past of an applicant’s criminal history.  This would definitely help applicants that have been out of prison for over 7 years or that have criminal background records over a certain time frame, but it wouldn’t help people that have just been released from prison or recently accumulated a criminal record that did not require prison time.  However, even with ban-the-box legislation the outcome in at least one study showed that employers may discriminate based on race when they can’t ask if the applicant has a criminal history.

Recent studies indicate that ban-the-box legislation may not be helping when it comes to race as a proxy for criminal history.

From the Nation Law Review (NatLawReview.com, Sep 09, 16):

New research by Amanda Agan, a Princeton economist, and Sonja Starr, a legal scholar at the University of Michigan, suggests that, at least in some cases, “ban the box” rules may result in the use of race as a proxy for criminal history. This may increase racial disparity in hiring– even in the absence of criminal histories. (1)

Troubling conclusions came from this research.

The racial gap in callbacks before the ban the box laws was 7% at companies that asked applicants about criminal history. After the laws were enacted, it went up to 45%, suggesting that black applicants were presumed to have a criminal past if the prospective employer was not permitted to inquire. (2)

Although this recent study shows clearly that in this area ban-the-box was not helping minorities and in fact making it even more difficult for them to obtain gainful employment.  At this time more studies are needed and the concerted goal of the EEOC, HUD and FCRA are determined to make it easier for past offenders to get employed and become productive citizens.  Also with the highest incarceration rates in the world it is imperative that we reevaluate past offenses especially those that were non-violent and help these people get their criminal records expunged and enter the employment market with a clean slate.

To read more about this subject read recent press release found here: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2016-10-05-Criminal-Records-and-Ban-the-Box-a-Continuing-Struggle.html

Its graduation season and the economy has been showing signs of slowing down making competition for jobs even harder.  Some job candidates may think it worth lying on their resume to make them look more appealing to employers.  Stretching the truth is one thing but flat out lying about a degree earned or achievement received is a bad idea.

From money.cnn.com (May 06, 16):

… concerns are rising that the U.S. economy is losing momentum. Growth is off to a slow start in 2016. Experts anticipate a spring bounce, but the sluggish April jobs report suggests that pop is either delayed or not going to be that strong. (1)

The temptation to lie or stretch the truth in order to get that dream job or that position that would be a great place to start a career can be very high most especially in a tough economy.  These job candidates that think telling lies on a resume won’t hurt them or ever be discovered are certainly not knowledgeable about the employment screening industry.  The fact is that most employer’s higher third party background screening companies to perform background checks on their potential hires.  These employment background checks typically include criminal background checks, education verification, previous employment verification (if applicable), personal and professional references and a social security number search with address history trace.  These background checks would weed out almost any lye on a resume and the truth would be discovered.

If a potential employer finds out that a job applicant lied on their resume it usually means immediate disqualification for the candidate.  In the end it just isn’t worth lying on a resume, it usually does not pay off.  Even if the employer fails to perform the necessary background checks before hiring and actually hires a job applicant with a false resume, then many times in the future it will be discovered that the new hire did in fact lie on their resume.  At this point the company would usually fire the employee for falsifying their resume and once fired for this reason it would make it even more difficult for this person to find another job after that incident.
To read more about this subject read recent press release found at: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2016-05-18-Lying-on-Resumes.html

Most companies, organizations and people understand the need for background screening including criminal background checks for tenant and employment screening purposes.  However an often overlooked area is contractor screening, most importantly in-home contractor screening.  Recent news shows the need for thorough background screening on in-home contractors.  Recently a couple hired a moving company in New Brunswick that advertised they have a policy that they run background checks on their employees.  However they ended up hiring someone with a criminal record to help do the job.  The result was theft as the couple noticed some of their best jewelry missing.

This incident and many more highlight the need to properly background check contractors especially in-home contractors that may have unsupervised access to the home.  Theft can be a big issue but there are other possibilities far worse that could endanger family members in the home while the contractor is there.  One of them is sexual assault which also emphasizes the need for a national sex offender search as part of the vetting process.  A 50-State sex offender registry search is normally included as part of a criminal background check.

A third party background screening company can assist in this process by providing background reports like criminal background reports on any contractor being given access to the home.  Additionally it is a wise move to first find out if the contractor is properly licensed before letting them in the home which if they are takes away some of the risk.  A license is critical because it helps protect both parties if something goes wrong in the process.

It is now clear that the safest practice/policy for ensuring any contractor entering the home is not a threat is to first fully vet and background check the contractor.  This procedure is one of the most important steps a person, family or entity can take in order to protect person, family, organization and property/possessions.

To read more about this subject read recent press release found here.