Schools both Public and Private Should Use Criminal Background Checks as Part of a Thorough Pre-Employment Background Screening Policy. Recently in New Hampshire a substitute teacher was charged with felony sexual assault on an underage student and then was found to have a prior felony conviction. This incident could have been avoided had the school performed a thorough and complete background check prior to hiring. Anyone working or volunteering at a school that has contact to children must be thoroughly vetted prior to allowing such contact. Performing an in-depth criminal background check as part of the employment screening process is certainly necessary for people interacting with at risk populations like students/children. A quality criminal background check could provide previous malfeasance and uncover past convictions that would disqualify such a candidate from employment at a public or private school. To learn more about recent headlines concerning schools and their background screening policies read recent press release found at: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2014-5-22-Schools-Remain-Critical-Environments-for-Thorough-and-Complete-Background-Screening.html

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was written and enacted into law to promote the accuracy, fairness and privacy of information in the files of consumer reporting agencies. The FCRA makes it very clear to employers what is expected of them in regards to information gained for the purposes of employment screening. Among these is the mandate to get written permission from the potential job applicant prior to pulling criminal background checks on them. Employers are also required to give an adverse action notice and summary of rights as outlined by the FCRA if records were found that may adversely affect them. Although criminal records are classified as public records and are available to anyone through the courts, when used as part of an employment screening process have to adhere to the FCRA. To read more about this subject read recent press release found at: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2014-3-17-Consumers-Rights-with-Background-Screening.html

The Governor of California signed into law the new legislation regarding ban-the-box. The bill bans government employers from asking job applicants about their criminal history until later in the hiring process.  Minnesota just recently expanded its existing law regarding the use of criminal background checks in the employment screening process into law to now also cover private employers like Minneapolis based Target Corporation.  In light of this new law Target announced that they will remove questions about criminal history from job applications all over the country.  Additionally New Jersey is looking into enacting similar legislation but has been confronted with opposition from the State Chamber of Commerce.  One thing is clear the ban-the-box initiative isn’t going away, on the contrary is has gained significant momentum and looks to be on the current agenda for more US States.  To read more about this subject read recent press release found at: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2013-11-15-Ban-The-Box-Comes-to-California.html

The EEOC just recently filed suit against two big firms because of their use of criminal history checks in their employment screening program. Criminal background checks are used by 69% of US Employers within their pre-employment and employment screening process. The EEOC guidelines are causing a lot of ripples in the employment screening arena. Some employers are clearly not discriminating candidates based on any of the protected classes listed under federal law; however, even non-purposely disproportionate results can lead to a law suit as the EEOC just made clear. It is a good time for employers to work with third party background screening companies to review their current employment screening policies and make any necessary updates to it to protect themselves from employment related law suits. It is especially important to review the use of criminal background checks in the hiring process. To read more about this subject read recent press release found at: http://www.criminalbackgroundrecords.com/news/2013-8-8-Employers-Review-Background-Screening-Policies.html