CUSTOMER RESOURCES
Child Care
A Comprehensive Guide to the Child Care Background Check Process
Background checks are fundamental to creating safe environments in many places—but they reach a new level of importance in industries such as childcare. Parents entrust their children to the care of third-party organizations all the time; it’s a vital service for a functional economy. However, ensuring that only qualified, trusted individuals work with these organizations is just as vital. Good vetting is not optional; it must be a core part of hiring. What do you need to understand about the child care background check process?
There is a broad need across the industry for stronger vetting policies. Major challenges persist in the fight to keep children safe. Organizations that work with children for daycare, foster care, adoption, or kinship caregiving should ensure that their background check protocols are thorough, up-to-date, and compliant with state and federal laws. Non-compliance can mean heavy fines or even the loss of your operating license—to say nothing of the harm that could come to the children under your care. One only needs to look at how the Boy Scouts of America faces fallout from years of sexual assault allegations to see the potential negative outcomes.
Background checks for child care should be looking to identify major red flags that signal a candidate may not be as trustworthy as you need. Selecting candidates that exhibit the right credentials, good judgment, and the temperament to work appropriately with children is vital. By checking someone’s background for past records of criminal behavior or wrongdoing, you contribute to keeping kids safe.
This is a complex subject with many facets to consider. Here’s a comprehensive look at what you need to know.
The Importance of Background Checks for Child Care Providers
What makes background checks in this space so important? The answer isn’t limited to just one reason, but all the reasons ultimately lead to the same conclusion: it’s about safety. Organizations that work with children in any capacity should develop a comprehensive policy because the risk of serious and lasting harm is too great otherwise. Each week, there are unfortunate headlines about children subjected to physical, verbal, mental, and even sexual abuse within organizations where they should experience the highest safety standards.
Background checks can’t predict or prevent future behaviors but are still a barrier. They are a filter that helps to screen out the highest-risk and most unsuitable individuals. Using them, you can satisfy multiple needs:
Protect children. The clear and obvious reason, a good vetting procedure can screen applicants to help keep out those who shouldn’t work with children. For example, you might find past evidence of licensing violations or even violent crimes.
Comply with local, state, and federal laws. Background check requirements vary significantly between locales, but complying with them is always important. Failing to do so can create more than a few headaches for your business—or it could undermine the company entirely.
Create public confidence. Showcasing your effort into building a safe workforce can improve your reputation and foster the impression that you care. Show parents that you’ve invested time into keeping their kids safe, even in areas where you may not face stringent requirements.
Is a child background check required? In many ways, yes. Let’s talk about those requirements next.
Federal Requirements for Child Care Background Checks
The most important regulations to know always come from the federal government—these rules will always be in effect except where state laws go further or are more stringent. While such statutes vary significantly on a state-by-state basis, it is more cut and dried at a higher level. Under federal law, Title IV-E of the Social Security Act requires that states enforce certain background screening provisions for any licensed childcare agency.
While all states must follow these laws, they are also free to create their own requirements that may do more.
For example, in Texas, state legislators passed a law that would unify four of the state’s different abuse registries into one searchable solution. Foster and childcare agencies would face new requirements to run all candidates through this search before hiring.
In Kentucky, childcare workers and even school teachers must obtain letters from the state verifying they are not on any abuse registries. State and national-level background checks have been mandatory in Indiana for nearly a decade. While we can’t detail the individual laws in all 50 states, one thing should be clear: there is some substantial variation in compliance requirements from area to area.
Though you must always abide by the federal requirements, it is vital to research what other obligations you might have under state law. This step is crucial in states that allow certain types of childcare agencies, such as a daycare home, to operate without a specific license. Even without licensing, you may still need to screen and vet anyone working there.
Who Should Have a Background Check?
These laws don’t apply only to the foster system, but to the broader childcare industry as a whole. Aside from any adults living in a care home, the government officially says that the following groups must all go through the background check process:
All child care agency staff with no exceptions. Everyone from custodians, bus drivers, teachers, and even the agency director must have a compliant, up-to-date background check.
Any adult volunteers who will be with children unsupervised.
Any other adults providing services on campus on a part-time basis, such as art instruction or physical education.
At first glance, it might seem extreme to create such a huge network of vetted individuals around what could be a small agency serving only a few dozen families. However, far from being extreme, these efforts are prudent. There are important reasons to ensure that everyone living or working around children has undergone thorough screening. Why?
It takes only one opportunity for a normal daycare day to become a nightmare for parents and their children. No one should be above the process, no matter how high or low-ranking they may be. Bad actors look for crimes of opportunity, while even those without long-held malicious intentions can reach a point where they break the rules. Real harm can occur in these situations.
Again, while vetting does not guarantee that someone will never misbehave in the future, it does ensure you can weed out individuals who represent the highest level of risk. Just because someone lost their license in one state for child abuse does not mean they will cease trying to enter the industry in another state. To protect children, everyone and anyone involved in their care should undergo an in-depth child care criminal background check.
Types of Background Checks for Child Care
Background check requirements can vary somewhat from organization to organization. What steps are necessary to procure the appropriate background check services for different types of organizations? There are many similarities between each, but there are some important differences, too. Here’s a quick look at what to know about screening in major childcare organizations.
Background Checks for Foster Care
Out of every industry and sector that uses background checks, there may be none more important than foster care. It is not just the immediate safety of displaced or even orphaned children that’s at stake, but the entire rest of their lives, too. Abuse in the foster system has been a major problem for decades. Its effects can impact children far into adulthood, perpetuate cycles of abuse, and even lead to higher incarceration rates. Screening potential foster parents carefully is not about ticking boxes but protecting our future. That is why the process here is so thorough and far-reaching.
Here’s an overview:
All licensed agencies must conduct criminal history checks, “including fingerprint-based checks of national crime information databases,” as part of the pre-approval process for foster or adoptive parents. The government has clarified this means using the FBI fingerprint background check.
Agencies must check state registries for records of child abuse and neglect for prospective foster or adoptive parents and for any other adults living in the child’s foster home or adoptive home. You must also consult the state’s sex offender registry.
Agencies must extend their abuse and sex offender registry checks to include any other states where a prospective parent (or any other adult living in the prospective foster or adoptive home) has lived within the past five years.
Agencies must vet any relatives, godparents, or family friends assuming kinship guardianship, and any other adults living in kinship guardian homes.
Those applying to be an adoptive parent will also need extensive vetting along the way.
Background Checks for Youth Sports Organizations
Youth sports groups offer children a way to be physically active, socialize with their peers, and hone new skills and physical fitness. Many non-school organizations exist across many sports disciplines to provide children with local options to learn and compete against one another. Unfortunately, these organizations have often attracted bad actors because they heavily rely on adult volunteers.
There are currently no federal laws that apply directly to youth sports groups. In fact, very few states currently regulate the issue at all. As of 2023, less than a dozen states have a statutorily-defined requirement to use background checks in youth organizations. The states that do require them include:
Alabama
California
Connecticut
Florida
Massachusetts
Mississippi
Nevada
New Hampshire
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Despite lax regulation, it is hard to overstate the importance of background checks at youth sports organizations. Youth groups often choose to implement a background check policy even without state directives to do so, but oversight is not always excellent. At a highly local level, decisions about hiring or allowing volunteers might not factor background checks into the picture. Parents should carefully evaluate and inquire about the policies used by a group before enrolling their children.
Related Post: What Not to Do With Kid’s Sports Background Screening
Background Checks for Daycare Providers
As mentioned earlier, any agency that goes through the process for child care licensing must have a background check policy that fully complies with federal and state laws. All individuals working in the organization who may have access to children must undergo a rigorous, multi-step background check.
What does a daycare background check include? In general, they will involve:
Criminal background checks.
Sex offender and child abuse registry checks.
License verification (where applicable), and more.
To be thorough, you must check not only records and registries in your state of license, but in every state the applicant has lived for the last five years. Because there is no central repository of all criminal or abuse records, you must check each state individually to be thorough and diligent.
Some states allow for some forms of unlicensed child care. As a best practice, these groups should strongly consider following the federal mandates. Fostering a safe environment could depend on it
Background Checks for Child Protection Caseworkers
Just as the federal government makes certain kinds of child care funding contingent on states deploying robust background check policies, the same goes for caseworkers in state employment. These individuals are those who visit homes, interact with children, make foster care placement choices, and more. These workers are subject to the same kind of scrutiny as other childcare workers—criminal record checks, educational verification, and more.
Since these workers typically fall under a state’s social services umbrella, there is not much to differentiate these checks from a typical background check for foster care. Since caseworkers will have access to children that may be unsupervised, it is vital to screen them very thoroughly for any potential red flags.
What is Included in a Child Care Background Check?
Ensuring the safety of children with background checks requires understanding what to include. With similar procedures to follow for many industries, it’s clear that the ability to source information promptly and appropriately is essential. Otherwise, you can experience bottlenecks and delays that could lead to critical staffing shortages. What types of checks should you incorporate into a vetting process for workers at your agency or organization? Here are the major categories to know.
State and national criminal records
Criminal records play a vital role in determining suitability. The wrong types of records can mean an immediate disqualification from the hiring process. Because of the relationship to safety that good hiring has in this space, there are fewer exceptions for “second chance” considerations. Checking these records is a requirement in basically every state.
You must consult state records of criminal behavior, including county-level court records and state police repositories. Although there is no national database of every criminal record, fingerprint-based background checks with the FBI can return information about crimes reported to the federal government by states. You can cover as much ground as possible by searching both kinds of records.
National Sex Offender Registry
Operated by the Department of Justice, the National Sex Offender Public Website collects state registry data and provides a searchable resource for locating sex offender records nationwide. This database endeavors to be as thorough and up-to-date as possible, and it is usually required to run all applicants through this database before hiring.
Since updates may not always occur immediately, it is still a good idea to consult the sex offender and abuse registries for your own state. This database does not include specific child neglect and abuse records, which you can usually find as a state resource instead. By searching this database, you can develop confidence that an applicant has no prior sex crimes on their record.
Drug testing
Keeping illicit substance users away from children is an agreed-upon best practice. Using drug tests is a typical part of the hiring process, and childcare jobs are no different. Be aware of any statutes in your area that may require drug tests for childcare workers, or laws which may restrict what you can screen for, such as cannabis usage. A positive drug test could indicate that someone does not have the judgment necessary to work safely or effectively with children. As with criminal records, you should periodically re-test or re-check employees to ensure continued compliance.
Financial/credit history
A credit check is usually not required in this industry, though some states may require self-reporting of financial information for prospective foster parents. Regulations vary substantially on this issue. Some states may require you to submit a credit check during foster training. For childcare workers in places such as daycare, however, a credit check will usually not reveal relevant information; thus, most employers do not use them.
References from previous employers/institutions
Understanding someone’s character is vital when it comes to working with children. You should always seek to verify an applicant’s experience and track record beyond what’s available in public records. Following up with prior employers to learn more about a candidate—and to confirm they have the experience they claim—is an essential part of the vetting process. For example, verifying the safety of summer camps for kids should involve confirming that counselors have the appropriate experience and temperament to work with children.
Without this step, you could miss vital information, even when most employers hesitate to discuss past workers. If someone were fired for a cause, such as abusing a child in their care, you would want to learn about that from a registry or an employer.
FAQs
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There is no firm answer to this question, as turnaround times on officially-required background checks can vary substantially from state to state. Some states, such as Florida, claim to provide a 3-5 day turnaround for their child care clearinghouse searches. Other organizations state that final determinations may take weeks or even several months before fully clearing someone for work.
Some states allow workers who’ve begun the background check process to begin working before a final determination. In other states, hiring delays and background check backlogs for childcare workers remain common, keeping people out of work for sometimes weeks at a time.
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The federal government defines the specific checks that states should use when crafting their foster care and kinship guardian programs. Most typically, you should expect to encounter the following if you intend to try to enter the foster care system:
Criminal background checks at the state level alongside fingerprint-based checks of the FBI’s national criminal database.
Checking state-maintained child neglect and child abuse registries.
Checking these registries and records in all states of residence for the prior five years.
State and national sex offender registry checks.
Records of domestic violence.
Adult and juvenile court records.
For full information on the requirements as they currently exist, visit the government’s Child Welfare Information Gateway for the most up-to-date regulations.
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Effectively vetting candidates requires gathering numerous documents. First and foremost, agencies and organizations should follow the guidelines established by the Fair Credit Reporting Act for gathering consent and providing disclosure of rights. With these authorizations, you must also obtain documents that include the following:
Identifying information, including name, birthday, and Social Security number.
A valid photo ID that matches other supplied information.
Fingerprints for submission to state police and the FBI.
Information about any prior criminal convictions, except minor traffic citations. Childcare workers are usually exempt from “ban the box” laws.
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Yes, childcare background checks are usually a legal requirement. The federal government provides guidelines to the states and funds childcare services for states that comply with these guidelines. All states have complied with this directive and created statutes for vetting childcare workers. Employers should carefully review their own state’s guidelines to understand how to be compliant and effective.
Conclusion
Child care, foster care, youth sports and more—many vital services supporting children require responsible adults to be at the helm. Not just a matter of regulatory compliance but of safeguarding the future, better screening and tougher standards help to keep kids safe. Getting started with positioning your organization for better safety begins right here.
At backgroundchecks.com, we provide a variety of background check services, ranging from criminal history checks to sex offender registry searches. We can help agencies comply with the background check requirements that help keep minors safe during adoption, foster care, and other childcare situations. Contact us today to begin.
Additional Resources
Are Universities Doing Enough When it Comes to Background Checks
Ever since the Penn State and Syracuse scandals came to light, colleges and universities across the country have been asked if they are doing enough when it comes to background checking their staff. One of these universities, Indiana State University, is really asking themselves that question as over the past two months three ISU employees have been arrested. Though the university states that all employees went through a background check and that the arrests are not related to their policy, there appear to be several employees who have been hired that have backgrounds that are less than desirable.
The current policy at ISU states that all new employees of the university are put through background checks including student employees who have access to sensitive information. However, these background checks are only done when an employee is hired and never again. In the case of ISU, they would benefit from hiring a third part background check company like backgroundchecks.com that would be able to offer specific products to enhance the way they are checking their existing employees. Products like their Ongoing Criminal Monitoring service can be added to traditional background checks to monitor for the occurance of new criminal records. ISU would be notified of any new criminal record that appeared for an employee's name.
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.indianastatesman.com/news/background-checks-can-isu-do-more-1.2776783#.Tzj5CFFAXK4
Chicago Daycare Hires Sex Offender Even When They Knew His Background
A registered sex offender has been working at a Chicago area day care without the knowledge of parents, the community or other employees. Eric Ellis, the employee in question, was hired by the day care through a temp agency. Though Ellis worked in the kitchen and had no access to children, as soon as the management found out about the history of Ellis, they immediately removed him from the property.
Ellis states that both the day care center and the temp agency knew of this background as he informed them both. The day care, on the other hand, states that they only hire temps when regular employees are sick. They rely on the temporary agency to do the background checks on these employees. The day care does not do the background checks on temporary employees themselves, though they do background checks on permanent employees.
Parents had mixed thoughts about Ellis being inadvertently hired by the day care center. Some were understandably upset and are considering removing their children. Others, though happy that Ellis was quickly found, believe it was an honest mistake and do not hold the day care responsible. Both sides believe that the day care needs to re-evaluate the way they get employees, even those through background checks. Though the day care relies on the temporary agency to perform the background checks, they may consider taking a closer look at the results.
It is true that the temporary agency does background checks, but the day care did not take on the responsibility to actually look at the results of the background checks in question. It may be difficult to place blame in this situation as some would say the temporary agency is at fault for not informing the day care center of Ellis’ background and others would say the day care is to blame as they did not take the responsibility to check the background of Ellis themselves. Both agencies should likely re-evaluate their practice in this situation.
There are many third party companies like backgroundchecks.com who perform background checks instantly and have products like a US Offender OneSEARCH that can search through records in seconds. It contains records from all 50 states and US territories like Puerto Rico, Washington DC and Guam. If the day care in question had considered an option such as this, it is very possible that this entire situation could have been avoided.
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.
Schools Move to Require Background Checks for Volunteers
In a move that follows many other schools, the Parsippany, NJ Board of Education has made the decision to consider performing background checks on volunteers who have the chance to work closely with children. New Jersey recently made it law to require all members of the Board of Education to undergo background checks and it seems as if the momentum is continuing down the line to include volunteers. The volunteers who would be covered under this requirement would be both those who work in the classroom as well as those who work in after school activities like sports coaches.
Though many are supportive of these changes, others have concerns like cost. The cost of these background checks would have to come out of the schools budget. Another consideration is parents not wanting to go through the hassle of getting a background check done. Some feel that it could deter parents from interacting with students in school which is needed for not only support of the school, but for building relationships.
Should the school decide to go through with this, companies like backgroundchecks.com are able to provide services for full background checks and can also offer products like US Offender OneSEARCH which can search offender databases all over the US.
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://parsippany.patch.com/articles/boe-again-takes-on-issue-of-background-checks
Should Door-to-Door Salesmen Under Go Background Checks? Some Say Yes
The city of Huntsville, AL has a proposal on the table that would require door-to-door salesmen to undergo a background check and have to carry a city ID if they want to legally sell their wares. The goal of this move is to not only keep residents of Huntsville safe, but to also weed out anyone who may be selling illegally or selling unsafe products door-to-door.
It is important to note that these background checks would only be required for those who are commercial sales people and professional fundraisers. The background checks would not be required of school children, girl scouts, political candidates, and charitable or religious groups. The proposed legislation in the city would look at the criminal background of each door-to-door salesperson and make a determination based on their background if they will be given an ID card from the city of Huntsville. This ID card would need to be worn continuously and shown when the salesperson approached a home. There would also be a provision added which would make it illegal for them to approach a home with a “No Solicitation” sign. Violators could be subject to a fine of up to $500 and/or spend up to six months in jail.
Should this legislation pass, it seems that those who are ex-convicts or who are paroled would be unable to participate in this program. Even certain misdemeanor crimes would be considered disqualifying events.
The city of Huntsville says they simply want to keep their residents safe, and this is one way that they can go about it. Should a sales person who previously received a city ID card be convicted of a crime, they would immediately lose their ID card and be unable to keep selling in the city limits.
Companies like backgroundchecks.com can be useful to cities like Huntsville who may be considering a move such as this. Not only can backgroundchecks.com perform these checks, they can offer products like Ongoing Criminal Monitoring that would let the city know, immediately, if one of these sales people were indicted or convicted of a crime. This would help the city keep track of who is out on their streets and interacting with their residents.
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://blog.al.com/breaking/2012/01/huntsville_considering_backgro.html
Taxi Drivers to Go Through Background Checks to Ensure Public Safety
A bill has been introduced that will ensure taxi drivers in certain areas are subject to background checks before renewing their licenses. there is no law or policy that forces taxi drivers to get their backgrounds scrutinized but if lawmakers have their ways, this will soon change.
Not only will this change of policy protect the public, it will standardize the way cities across the nation hire their cab companies and drivers. The plan is for licensing authorities to make the final call when it comes to granting a license to be a cab driver based on the results of the background check. In many cities, people rely on taxi’s for transportation and when they know the have gone through criminal background checks, they will feel better about taking cabs. Protecting the public is one of the main reasons these checks are being done.
Cities that will bring this policy into their borders can choose to use a third party processor like backgroundchecks.com in order to get the checks done. backgroundchecks.com has products that would be perfect for checking the background of taxi drivers including instant criminal checks and motor vehicle record checks. The information from these types of companies can be to cities and companies who hire taxi drivers.
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 ’ offerings, please visit www.backgroundchecks.com.
Fire Department May Require Background Checks for New Employees and Volunteers
Some cities in the nation are taking steps in order to fully protect citizens. For example, the city of Coatesville, PA is considering putting employees and volunteers from their fire department through full criminal background checks. In Coatesville, there are currently both full time and volunteer firefighters. The new policy, if passed, would only apply to new volunteers and employees, not those who are already serving. One of the main reason the city is considering this change is so full time employees and volunteers will be going through the same process when it comes to background checks.
Though the idea is certainly out there, the city is currently forming an exploratory committee as to decide what will be checked and how extensive these background checks would be. It is important when checking the backgrounds of all employees and volunteers that all of them go through the same process.
The city of Coatesville states that there was no single event that caused this idea to take hold, but there is a history of issues when it comes to the fire department and their lack of background checks. One example is the case of Robert Tracey, who was a volunteer fire fighter. He was serving as the assistant Fire Chief of the city when a series of arsons took place. Tracey was convicted of the arsons. After his arrest it was found that he had a history of arson as well as two counts of writing bad checks and two counts of theft. He had never been subject to a background check until he was arrested. The fire department has never said that this case is the cause of the move towards background checks, they only say they wish to move in a positive direction.
Companies like the Coatesville, PA fire department can continue to move in a positive direction when it comes to background checks by using the services of third party companies like backgroundchecks.com. The company backgroundchecks.com have a lot of different products, like Ongoing Criminal Monitoring which would be a great idea for the fire department since they are only planning on performing background checks on those who are new hires. This would allow the department to be notified if any of their employees or volunteers are indicted or convicted of any crime. Keeping the residents of Coatesville safe from fires is one job of the fire department and now they are also moving towards keeping them safe from criminals.
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://dailylocal.com/articles/2012/02/01/news/doc4f29ce103245e156859826.txt?viewmode=2
Should Poll Workers Get Background Checks
With presidential primaries and caucuses looming in many states, plans for the next election cycle are in full swing. Many polling locations are planned to be in schools and the city of Madison, WI has something to say about that. They want all poll workers, who will work in one of their city schools, to go through a background check before being allowed to work on Election Day.
Currently the city is looking into ways to get the background checks done, as well as the criteria that will be used in order to make a decision on who can work in a school and who cannot. The question has also been raised asking if all poll workers should be subject to a background check or just those working in schools. The city of Madison has over 2000 poll workers and over 200 of them are scheduled to work in schools throughout the city.
At this time, poll workers are not subject to any type of background check, though they are required to take an oath and attend a training course. If the city of Madison is going to get this enacted, they are running out of time. The primary in Wisconsin will take place on February 21 and the next election is April 3.
It is important to note that the school districts plan to begin putting poll workers through background checks is not caused by any specific incident, it is only to get in line with school policies and procedures when it comes to employees and volunteers. Since poll workers will be in the school and will technically have access to children, it is important, according to the school, for these workers to go through the same process. The district also states that putting poll workers through background checks will bring a greater sense of safety in schools as well.
Organizations that are planning on doing large volume background checks may want to consider using a third party background check company like backgroundchecks.com. Not only can backgroundchecks.com perform background checks quickly and easily, they can handle high volume business accounts. In addition to doing traditional background checks, they have several products available that will give companies an even better overview of employees and volunteers. One of these products is called the US Offender OneSEARCH which should always be done when someone will be working around children. Taking care to check the background of anyone who is in contact with children is the safest way to conduct business.
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.
backgroundchecks.com Legislation and Compliance Update: FTC Warning: A Consumer Report is A Consumer Report Even if You Think It’s Not_1229
The Federal Trade Commission warned several mobile app makers that their products may be consumer reports. According to the FTC’s website, these app makers all performed instant database checks into individual’s criminal histories. The FTC noted that this information, if used for employment purposes, is a consumer report. The on an app that it is not for employment purposes. Instead, the FTC said it would look to indications of actual use, such as where the mobile apps were advertised and who was on the app-makers’ customer lists.
This is who use anything other than a regulated consumer reporting agency for their background reports. (whether mobile apps or websites) . The FTC points out that a consumer report is a consumer report, regardless of whether the companies providing or obtaining it think so. The FTC is absolutely correct.
At a minimum, the FTC and plaintiffs’ lawyers would be able to show a violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(f)(2), which prohibits anyone from obtaining a consumer report without having first certified to a consumer reporting agency the purpose for which the report will be used. Most likely, they would also be able to show a violation of:
· 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2), which prohibits anyone from obtaining a consumer report for employment without having first told the subject that that it will obtain a consumer report and having obtained the subject’s authorization;
· 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(3), which requires anyone intending to take adverse action based on a consumer report obtained for employment purposes to give a specific notice before taking that action, and
· 15 U.S.C. § 1681m, which requires anyone who takes adverse action based on a consumer report to give a further notice about the action.
It seems probable that the FTC would show this to be a knowing violation, which would entail . More significantly, plaintiffs’ lawyers would show this to be willful, which means that the employer would be liable for
Using a regulated consumer reporting agency like backgroundchecks.com avoids this particular problem. More importantly, it assures employers that the reports on which they make critical hiring decisions were prepared by a responsible agency using processes designed to produce accurate, complete, up-to-date reports. When another service – whether mobile or web – disclaims the FCRA, that is a sign that the report may be too unreliable to be used for hiring.
Boston Prep School Hired Registered Sex Offender to Work with Children
In Boston, the New England Conservatory has recently been under fire for hiring a registered sex offender and having this man on their staff for ten years. Peter Benjamin, who is a freelance videographer, has worked for the prep school by videotaping numerous concerts, performances and rehearsals involving the children of the school. When he was hired, he was not given a background check.
If Benjamin had been giving a criminal background check prior to being hired, it would have been noted that he had spent five years in prison in the 1990’s after being found guilty of sexually abusing teen boys. Though the school has a policy that prohibits the hiring of convicted sex offenders, Benjamin was able to slip through the cracks. He was hired on a freelance basis by the director of the youth philharmonic orchestra at the school Benjamin Zander. Zander would have been in charge of getting the background check done on Benjamin, something he failed to do. Zander has subsequently been fired recently for failing to ensure Benjamin had gone through a background check even though he know about Benjamin’s background.
What makes this even more troubling is not only was Benjamin not required to go through a background check ten years ago when he first started freelancing with the school, he was not put through a background check in 2010 when the school put in a firm policy about background checks for all of their volunteers, vendors and staff. In fact, besides Zander, school officials only found out about Benjamin’s background through an anonymous tip. Parents and the community, of course, were outraged and the school has received over 6000 letters of protest.
This is a situation that easily could have been avoided by ensuring that Benjamin had gone through a background check before being hired. Companies all over the US are upping the amount of background checks they give and with the help of companies like backgroundchecks.com, they are able to stop potentially dangerous situations before they even have a chance to happen. Though there are no accusations that Benjamin has done anything wrong since working for the school, the chance alone is too much for most people.
backgroundchecks.com has several products, like their US Offender OneSEARCH which could have told the school about Benjamin’s past instantly. Not only could it have given the school information on Massachusetts, it is able to search all fifty states.
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.
Drug Roundup at Elementary School Yields Criminal Janitor with No Background Check
Late last month January, Beaumont Independent School District in Texas performed a routine drug roundup in their schools. Though it is not unusual to find a hit or two in the local high school, it was a surprise when a hit was found at Caldwood Elementary School. It wasn’t a student who had drugs on them, but the janitor, Darrel Patrick Clover Jr. When arrested and booked, it was found that Clover, age 32, has a lengthy criminal background, including six misdemeanor drug charges. He has never undergone a background check and has been employed at the school since 1998.
According to the Beaumont Independent School District, non-certified employees, basically anyone who is not a teacher, who was hired prior to January 1, 2008 was never required to go through a background check. The school district had no idea who was working in the same facilities with students. Even though these employees, including janitors, cafeteria workers and secretaries, do not work directly with students, they still interact with them on a daily basis. Parents question if the school district has the best interest of the students in mind with this policy on background checks. The school has stated that Clover has been suspended and that another policy states that any employee found with drugs will be met with criminal charges.
Clover, who had marijuana on him at the time of the arrest, has not yet been charged, but since he was found with drugs in an area that is certified to be a “drug free zone”, it is likely he will be charged with felony drug possession. This recent even raises the question of why all employees who have access to children in a school has not gone through a background check.
In this day and age, it is extremely easy and affordable for companies to get background checks done on their employees. Companies like backgroundchecks.com offer instant information for many types of records including criminal records by county, state and even on a national level. backgroundchecks.com offers many packages and products that can be beneficial for companies and organizations to look into like their Single State OneSEARCH which will pull information from one state and may include information from such places like the Department of Corrections and county courts.
Choosing a third party to do background checks could have prevented this from happening and would have given the school a better idea of who was interacting with their students.
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.
Should Employees be Responsible for Self-Reporting Crimes?
Some employers, such as the University of Georgia system, are relying on employees to self-report any crimes that they commit while working for them. Unfortunately, as many would expect, this is a flawed system of reporting. Even if an employee of the University of Georgia is arrested, how many of them would actually report that? Surely there may be a few here or there, but overall, a majority would likely not report the incident, which is exactly what happened to Rudo Kieft, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Kieft was arrested on November 30, 2011 for DUI in Athens, GA, but was released soon after the arrest. He missed no work, nor did he report the incident to the University, even though the policy was to do just that. In fact, at this time, the University of Georgia doesn’t even have a policy or any direction on what to do when this situation occurs. In the situation of Kieft, it was simply a fluke situation and not one that was being actively sought. There is no way to tell how many other employees of the University of Georgia may have been arrested or convicted while in their employ, nor any information on what crimes they may have committed.
It is important to mention that the University of Georgia does have a policy to perform background checks on their employees. In fact, a very thorough and complete background check is done upon hiring on each and every employee. However, these background checks are only done when the employee is hired. The employee could work with the University for 15 years, for example, or more, and never have to go through any background check again, which can be dangerous. Periodically running background checks on present employees can help ensure the safety of other employees and will keep the organization a safer place for students and employees alike.
Companies like backgroundchecks.com are able to not only provide extensive and thorough background checks on new and present employees, but they also have a product called Ongoing Criminal Monitoring. This product of backgroundchecks.com is recommended for employers like the University of Georgia who wish to know about arrests made while someone is working for them. The product works by notifying the employer anytime one for their employees are arrested. It can be an extremely important tool for companies to use in order to keep their employees and others safe.
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://redandblack.com/2012/01/26/univ-expects-employees-to-self-report-arrests/
Tennessee employers required to collect documents or use E-Verify database
Tennessee employers are required to demonstrate that they are hiring and maintaining a legal workforce under new requirements that became effective January 1, according to Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Karla Davis.
“This online verification process is designed to be convenient for employers and only takes a few minutes to complete. The department can provide assistance to employers who don’t have Internet access,” said Commissioner Davis.
Signed into law by Governor Bill Haslam on June 7, 2011, the Tennessee Lawful Employment Act (H.B. 1378) requires employers to verify the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees through the online E-Verify program (www.uscis.gov/everify), or requesting all newly hired employees to provide one of the following identity and employment authorization documents as required:
A valid Tennessee driver's license or photo identification
A valid driver's license or photo identification from another state where the license requirements are at least as strict as those in Tennessee
A birth certificate issued by a U.S. state, jurisdiction or territory
A U.S. government issued certified birth certificate
A valid, unexpired U.S. passport
A U.S. certificate of birth abroad
A report of birth abroad or a citizen of the U.S.
A certificate of citizenship
A certificate of naturalization
A U.S. citizen identification card
A lawful permanent resident card
The law also requires employers to obtain and maintain a copy of one of the above-listed identity/employment authorization documents for all non-employees as well. A “non-employee” is defined as any individual, other than an employee, paid directly by the employer in exchange for the individual’s or services.
The employment verification provisions referenced above will be phased in as follows:
All state and local government agencies must and participate in E-Verify or request and maintain an identity/employment authorization document from a newly hired employee or non-employee no later than January 1, 2012
All private employers with 500 or more employees must and participate in E-Verify or request and maintain an identity/employment authorization document from a newly hired employee or non-employee no later than January 1, 2012
All private employers with 200 to 499 employees must and participate in E-Verify or request and maintain an identity/employment authorization document from a newly hired employee or non-employee no later than July 1, 2012
All private employers with six to 199 employees must register and utilize E-Verify or request and maintain an identity/employment authorization document from a newly hired employee or non-employee no later than July 1, 2013
The Tennessee Department of Labor has authority to impose penalties for non-compliance. For a first violation, $500 for each employee or non-employee not verified; for a second violation, $1,000 for each employee or non-employee not verified; and $2,500 for a third violation.
The private employer must submit evidence of compliance within 60 days of the final order. If the employer fails to submit such documentation, then the commissioner has the authority to suspend the private employer's license until the employer remedies the violation.
Any lawful resident of Tennessee or any employee of a federal agency may file a complaint alleging a violation of the employment verification provisions of the Act. If there is satisfactory evidence of a violation, the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development will conduct an investigation.
As the Olympics Approach, Torchbearers Undergo Extensive Background Checks
In a background check attempt of international proportions, the International Olympic Committee and the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games has decided to run background checks on the over 8000 participants who will be carrying torches for relay celebrating the upcoming 2012 Olympic games in London.
The torch bearers will be highly visible during the games and from all over the world as a way to promote solidarity and peace. Like going through a background check for employment purposes, each torch bearer will go through the verification of past employment, education and reference interviews. Since these volunteers will be interacting with hundreds or even thousands of others throughout the games, officials feel this is the best way to ensure safety.
Employers in the US certainly have the same idea when it comes to keeping their employees, clients and guests safe. In fact, in 2012 statistics already show that companies are expected to use more background checks than ever before. With the economy slowly improving, third party background check providers like backgroundchecks.com will certainly be busy in the upcoming months and years as this hiring practice finds its place in modern business. Specific products like the US OneSEARCH offer the perfect solution for companies who perform background checks.
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.
