Since the Penn State coach scandal, there has been a rush nationwide to reform and re-evaluate the way schools are conducting background checks on all of their employees. The truth is, some schools and schools districts just do not do complete background checks on those who are employed with them including teachers, administrators, support staff and of course, coaches. Those school districts that do run background checks on their employees do not run a complete national criminal background check, or only do local state checks. This is likely not enough to get a complete understanding of someone’s criminal background.

It is extremely important for parents to know that their children are safe at school and that the people who are overseeing them have been properly screened to ensure they do not have any serious criminal felonies in their backgrounds including assault, sexual crimes, or any other crimes that would disqualify a person from working with or supervising children. Limiting a search to the school’s state may not be enough to show school official and parents the full picture when it comes to employees of the school district in question.

Opponents of these re-evaluated background check policies say that it is important to note that even if a school employee goes through and passes a police criminal background check, this does not mean they have a clean record or that they are necessarily a good person. Proponents of the new policies on background checks state that this is true, but the odds of a person committing a crime against children with no criminal background are lower.

The question will always be asked if a background check could have prevented harm to a child any time one of these crimes are committed. Hiring companies like backgroundchecks.com can make it easier for school officials to run extensive background checks on their employees and take the steps needed to protect children in their schools from criminals. Products like Ongoing Criminal Monitoring can even  let school officials know if current employees are involved in new criminal activity during their tenure at the school after they pass their first pre-employment background check.

 About backgroundchecks.com

backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services.  Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.

Source - http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/wellesley/2011/12/wellesley_school_committee_pro.html

In a move that has been met with some controversy, the state of Pennsylvania recently put a law into effect that now makes it mandatory for all employees of private, public and vocational schools to undergo a criminal background check. Though this is definitely something that most parents will cheer on, unfortunately it could mean the termination for some teachers, aides and administrators who may currently be employed by the schools.

The new law will be retroactive, meaning all current employees in Pennsylvania schools will be subject to a state criminal records search which will go back several years and will also provide the schools with a notification within 72 hours of any criminal behavior being done by any of their current employees. The law additionally will ban individuals who have been convicted of certain crimes, like kidnapping, stalking and assault for their lifetime from being employed by any school in Pennsylvania.

Though this law will certainly be challenged by some, it definitely brings the fact to the fore front that having felony background checks done on those who are around children on a daily basis is extremely important. In recent times, especially after the coaching scandals of late, background checks are becoming mandatory all over the country.

About backgroundchecks.com

backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services.  Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.

It is a tough time to be looking for a job, but it can be even tougher when you have all of the experience, a perfect resume and you are still getting passed over for the jobs.  There could be a reason you are getting passed by...it could be your background. Before an employee will hire you, many will do personal background checks on your criminal record. Additionally, they may be pulling information on your driving record through a motor vehicle report.  If they see any of this information as negatively impacting the job, they may pass you by and choose another candidate.

If you have the opportunity to, you may want to run a background check on yourself so you will know what the employer is seeing. If you are not truthfully revealing all criminal information about your past when asked, no matter how insignificant it may seem to you, you will surely be looked over when a company sees information that is inconsistent with the information you have provided.  It is certainly possible that some things from your past are showing up on these background records and are making you look bad. For example, you may have a reckless driving conviction from five years ago. Though this might seem insignificant, a potential employer might judge otherwise and shy away.

It is important if you see any negative information on your personal criminal background check that you take steps to take care of them, especially if you were not aware that this information existed. It is also important that, in the mean time, you add this information to your job application when asked. It is best for an employer to know about this past information up front instead of seeing it on a background check. If they find out that way, they will certainly see you as dishonest.

Even if you think that you don’t have anything necessarily “bad” in your background, it is certainly possible that your information could be mixed up with someone else, especially if you have a common name.  If this is the case, when an employer looks for your background information, they might actually see someone else’s information that may be associated with your name.

About backgroundchecks.com -

backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services.  Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.

Plaintiff's law firms are suing large employers for technical violations of the disclosure requirements of the FCRA. At the beginning of the summer, we noted a class action where a plaintiff class asserted that the inclusion of the FCRA disclosure in the job application entitled the class to statutory damages of $670,000 to $6,700,000. Shortly after that, we noted a case where a company had settled a claim that the FCRA disclosure was invalid because it was not separate for $1,200,000.

We now see that a plaintiff's firm has filed class action cases against a major pizza chain and a major bank. In the pizza chain case, the plaintiff alleges that the disclosure is invalid because the disclosure form included a release of liability. In the bank case, the plaintiff alleges that the bank included its FCRA disclosure in a document covering all of the terms and conditions of employment and which contained a release of liability, instead of having the disclosure in a separate document, as the FCRA requires.

This type of claim appears to be the plaintiffs firms' favorite type of claim right now, because it is simple to prove and opens up the possibility of statutory damages ($100 to $1,000 per defective disclosure), uncapped punitive damages, and attorney's fees.

Employers should immediately review their disclosure and authorization documents and, if unsure about their compliance, put the disclosure in a separate document. Employers should ensure that their FCRA disclosures do not include a release of liability. Even if employers are certain that their forms comply with the FCRA, putting the disclosure in a separate document makes the employer a more difficult target for a class action. The evolving best practice is therefore to separate the disclosure from everything else.

In the past month, there have been several instances of coaches being accused of sexually explicit crimes against the children they are supposed to be teaching and encouraging. What this has done is caused a huge increase in the amount of criminal record checks being done on those men and women who work so closely with our children. As an employer of these coaches, or anyone for that matter, the importance of looking at employee backgrounds can make a big impact on how your organization is seen by the public and can prevent others from getting hurt.

Choosing to hire a company to perform background checks for your organization will not only make you a more responsible organization, it will help protect you from these types of scandals that may come your way. When you are proactive about things like checking the personal criminal records of your potential employees, you will not only have a staff that you can feel comfortable with, you can very possibly prevent instances like those that have happened at Penn State and Syracuse in recent weeks. Even if you do not specifically deal with coaches, there are very extraordinary benefits to having a company provide background check policy in place for both your employees and contractors.

When you look at these cases in more detail, it is very clear that had thorough background checks been performed, things could have turned out differently. The backlash against Penn State and Syracuse could certainly have been prevented. The frightening fact remains that these instances happen more often than any of us care to know. These recent cases were only brought to the forefront due to the notoriety of the accused.

Before hiring coaches or volunteer, you have every right to require a background check on them and companies like backgroundchecks.com can provide a multitude of products to help you find the information you are seeking before allowing strangers to be in close contact with children. One of these products is the US Offender OneSEARCH which will search the offender registries in 49 US states, which include sex offenses. Though it is true that not every person who has the potential to commit crimes such as these has been previouslyconvicted of such crimes, taking the proactive approach of running the checks before allowing volunteers or employees to be around children will, at the very least, protect the integrity of your company and add to the steps you have taken to prevent situations like this from happening in the future.

About backgroundchecks.com

Backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services.  Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.

When a child is enrolled in a Head Start program one assumes that the employees at those facilities will be upstanding citizens with no criminal records of any kind. After an audit done by the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, it was found that in Head Start facilities throughout the state, employees were not subject to the background checks that should be given to any person working with children. In fact, it was found that many employees had never had a complete background check and those who did have background checks performed were never screened again.

That lack of screening can be particularly dangerous as during this audit it was found that 21 out of a random group of 162 Head Start employees had no background check done at all. It certainly makes one wonder how many people with a potentially dangerous criminal background are around the vulnerable populations such as children and the elderly.

Using background check services provided by companies like backgroundchecks.com you are able to reduce the risk that people with for example violent pasts are watching and caring for children. There is no doubt when background checks are performed at hire and repeated over the years that children are safer in the hands of others that caer for them. 

Source: http://www.ajc.com/news/head-start-audit-finds-1259346.html

About backgroundchecks.com

Backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) - serves thousands of customers nationwide, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies by providing comprehensive screening services.  Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with an Eastern Operations Center in Chapin, S.C., backgroundchecks.com is home to one of the largest online criminal conviction databases in the industry. For more information about backgroundchecks’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.

Effective January 1, 2012, employers must provide consumers with the web address of the screening company used to conduct the background check. This amendment to California Civil Code 1786 was signed by the governor in September 2010.

This amendment is in addition to current California law requiring employers to provide extensive consumer notification before a background check is conducted by an outside screening company. Consumer notifications must:

• State the purpose of the report.
• Give the name, address, and telephone number of the screening company.
• Include a summary of consumer rights to see and copy any report about the subject of the report.
• Include a box to check allowing the consumer to request a copy of the report.

Clients should immediately check their background screening notices to applicants and employees against our current Disclosure and Authorization Notice sample and make the necessary changes in order to comply with the amendment to California Civil Code 1786.

backgroundchecks.com customer can find the Disclosure and Authorization Notice sample in the Compliance section of your account. For more information on how this update may affect your screening program and how backgroundchecks.com can help, please contact customer service.

backgroundchecks.com has been awarded a spot on the Inc. 5000 as one of America’s fastest growing private companies for the second consecutive year. The Inc. 5000 is an exclusive listing of the fastest growing private companies in America published by Inc. Magazine.  In order to be awarded a spot on the fifth annual Inc. 5000, companies must have been founded and generating revenue since June 2007 and must have experienced significant growth between 2007 and 2010 - through the recession that began late in 2007.

"Now, more than ever, we depend on Inc. 500|5000 companies to spur innovation, provide jobs, and drive the economy forward.  Growth companies, not large corporations, are where the action is," says Inc. magazine Editor Jane Berentson.

"Simply put, now is the time for innovation and improvements," said Craig Kessler, president of backgroundchecks.com.  "While innovation is nothing without a quality product behind it, we’ve found that clients have come to expect innovation and the provider that doesn’t innovate is one that falls behind."

By attuning themselves to the needs of the marketplace and by recognizing the importance of user experience, backgroundchecks.com has been able to match their improvements to what is needed, dedicating most of 2011 to improving system usability and expanding their service offerings to include services such as international criminal history searches, verification screening, drug screening and grading. 

One key in improving system usability was placing a concerted focus on backgroundchecks.com’s VendorSAFE platform.  From streamlining order flows to adding intuitive technology and increasing overall system flexibility, they have focused on making VendorSAFE a best-in-breed screening platform.  VendorSAFE provides a fast, effective and easy way for companies to implement a responsible screening program without incurring a cost for screening their contractors or vendors. With the rollout of these initiatives companies of all sizes can rely on backgroundchecks.com as their one-stop-shop screening provider.

Good morning folks! Today we turn from the different types of criminal history searches that backgroundchecks.com performs to education and employment verifications – two of the most common services we provide.

In addition to being two of the most common services we provide, employment and education verifications are probably also the most clear cut: In an employment verification, a backgroundchecks.com worker will attempt to verify facts including dates of employment, title and compensation. In an education verification, the worker attempts to verify facts including dates attended, GPA and highest degree earned.

Typically this happens in one of two ways: We will either pull the information from a centralized system where the institution (previous employer or school) houses it or we will use our resources to determine the appropriate number to call and we will personally call the institution to verify the information. When a backgroundchecks.com employee calls the institution, we can either utilize our standard questions to get the answers you need or we can follow a script that you provide.

So what more is there to explain? Well, like everything else in life, there are always exceptions to the rule-and it’s in these exceptions that backgroundchecks.com shows our worth. It’s a fact of life that businesses close up shop every year – and though less frequent, schools do too. When someone is claiming to have worked at a business or received a degree from a school that no longer exists, it can be difficult to verify.

When this happens, backgroundchecks.com takes extra steps to authenticate the information. For instance, when trying to verify employment at a business that no longer exists, backgroundchecks.com can access and utilize tax documents or pay stubs if the client allows. Similarly, backgroundchecks.com will take unusual steps to verify education for closed institutions, going so far as to contact the Secretary of Education or Department of Education.

The California Senate has passed, and the governor is expected to sign, AB 22 limiting the use of consumer credit reports for applicant screening and other employment purposes.

Like most bills restricting the use of credit reports in employment decisions, AB 22 includes categorical exemptions, allowing employers to obtain credit reports in situations including the following:

1.     A managerial position.

2.     A position in the state Department of Justice.

3.     That of a sworn peace officer or other law enforcement position.

4.     A position for which the information contained in the report is required  by law

5.     A position that involves regular access, for any purpose other than the routine solicitation and processing of credit card applications in a retail establishment, to all of the following types of information of any one person:

A.    Bank or credit card account information.  

B.    Social security number.  

C.    Date of birth.  

6.     A position in which the person is, or would be, any of the following:

A.    A named signatory on the bank or credit card account of the employer.

B.    Authorized to transfer money on behalf of the employer.

C.    Authorized to enter into financial contracts on behalf of the employer.  

7.     A position that involves access to confidential or proprietary information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, process or trade secret that (i) derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who may obtain economic value from the disclosure or use of the information, and (ii) is the subject of an effort that is reasonable under the circumstances to maintain secrecy of the information.

8.     A position that involves regular access to cash totaling ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or more of the employer, a customer, or client, during the workday.

Before requesting a credit report in any of these situations, the employer must provide the applicant or employee a notice that:

a.     says that the employer will use the report;

b.     identifies the source of the report;

c.     identifies the specific basis listed above that allows the credit report; and

d.     allows the applicant or employee to request a free copy of the report from the employer by checking a box.

If the employee checks the box, the employer must request a copy for the applicant or employee at the same time as the employer requests the report. The employer may not charge the applicant or employee for the copy.

The law does not apply to any position with a financial institution subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

Assuming that the governor signs the bill into law, it will go into effect on January 1.

Clients should immediately plan on how to change their background screening notices to applicants and employees.

The bill is currently being proof read and edited, however for the most current version, please visit http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/asm/ab_0001-0050/ab_22_bill_20110901_amended_sen_v96.html.