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Misdemeanors
Misdemeanors and Background Checks: What You Need to Know
Misdemeanors and Background Checks: What You Need to Know
Employers conduct criminal history checks to identify candidates whose criminal pasts might affect their ability to perform in the vacant role in a safe, responsible, trustworthy, and effective fashion. In certain situations, a criminal conviction might stand out as a red flag that fundamentally shifts how a hiring manager thinks of their candidate. For example, if a candidate has been convicted of multiple violent felonies, the employer may hesitate to hire that person, knowing they may pose a risk to customers, clients, or fellow employees.
However, in the vast majority of cases, the criminal convictions from a person’s past that stand out the most as red flags or risk indicators are felonies. As a result, less severe violations of the law, including misdemeanors, end up being a point of confusion for employers and job seekers alike. Employers often wonder whether a misdemeanor offense can reasonably be grounds to disqualify an applicant from job consideration. Meanwhile, job seekers may be curious to know whether their minor crimes from years prior will be a significant obstacle to employment.
On this page, we explore the nexus of misdemeanors and background checks to help both employers and job seekers navigate the many complicated questions that can arise from that collision.
What Is a Misdemeanor?
In the United States, common law recognizes two main classes of crimes: felonies and misdemeanors.
What is the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony?
Felonies are more serious criminal convictions, while misdemeanors are less severe criminal offenses that violate state or federal law. Typically, the easiest way to draw a line between these two types of criminal activity is to consider the sentencing. In most felonies, a sentence of one year or more of prison time is authorized. The justification is that felony crimes – a category that includes murder, rape, burglary, kidnapping, arson, grand theft auto, fraud, embezzlement, and racketeering – are grave offenses that cause significant injury to victims. As a result, these crimes carry significantly heavier punishments than misdemeanor crimes. Note that felony convictions may sometimes result in sentences of less than a year in prison, depending on the judge’s discretion and limits set by statute.
Misdemeanors are the less severe form of criminal activity. A misdemeanor usually carries a maximum sentence of less than a year in prison. In most cases, prison time won’t even be a factor. Instead, most misdemeanors are punished with less severe sentences, such as fines, probation, or minimal jail time in county jails rather than state prison. Examples of misdemeanor crimes include petty theft, simple assault and battery, shoplifting, trespassing, disorderly conduct, and minor drug offenses. Typically, the legal system treats misdemeanors as serious violations of law, but not so serious that the perpetrator deserves to have their life severely upended by the punishment.
Civil Infractions
While felonies and misdemeanors are the two common law violations in the U.S., there is another type of legal violation that everyone should know about: the civil infraction. A civil infraction is technically not a criminal conviction and is therefore not a part of your criminal record. The most common example is a standard traffic ticket. If you’ve ever been fined for speeding or running a stop sign, you have technically been cited for violating the law. However, that violation of the law is not considered serious enough to be a misdemeanor. Unlike felonies and misdemeanors, infractions will not appear as part of a criminal background check report.
What Are Different Classifications of Misdemeanors?
While the most notable way of describing a misdemeanor is as a crime less severe than a felony, that doesn’t mean that every misdemeanor is the same. On the contrary, misdemeanors – similar to felonies – are divided into different classifications depending on the severity of the crime.
Different states have diverse rules about how they break down their misdemeanor classifications. Some jurisdictions have a system where misdemeanors are divided into Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, or Class 4. Other states use a lettered system, where the classifications are Class A, Class B, Class C, and Class D. Ultimately, whether your jurisdiction uses numbers or letters doesn’t matter much. Class 1 and Class A misdemeanors are more serious than Class 2 or Class B, and so on.
In some jurisdictions, there may not be a numbered or lettered system. Those jurisdictions usually refer to more severe misdemeanor offenses as “gross misdemeanors.” Ultimately, this distinction is no different than a Class A or Class 1 misdemeanor. These distinctions mean more or less the same in that they denote the seriousness of the crime.
How do law enforcement in different jurisdictions judge the severity of a misdemeanor to determine its class or to decide whether it is a “gross misdemeanor”? Usually, there are several factors that authorities consider when assessing the severity of a misdemeanor. These variables include:
The extent of the damages. For misdemeanors like theft or shoplifting, the dollar value of the damages will be one of the crucial aspects that authorities and prosecutors consider when deciding the classification for the misdemeanor. In some cases, crimes with particularly high levels of damages –monetary or otherwise – may even be upgraded to felony status. For instance, petty larceny is a misdemeanor and refers to a relatively minor instance of theft, while grand larceny (a more severe crime of theft) is considered a felony. The core difference is the dollar value of the goods stolen.
Who the victim is. Assault and battery is often a misdemeanor. However, note that this crime can be treated as being more “severe” – and can even be bumped up to a felony – depending on who the victim is. Specifically, if the victim is a minor, an older adult, a mentally disabled person, or a law enforcement officer, authorities escalate the crime to a felony.
The behavior of the defendant. The defendant's conduct at the time of the crime can also impact the classification it meets as a misdemeanor and whether authorities consider upgrading the criminal charge to a felony. Again, a valid example is an assault. If the defendant merely throws a single punch, they are more likely to face a simple assault charge, which is a misdemeanor. If the defendant repeatedly hits the victim with evident intent to cause serious bodily injury – or if the defendant attacks with a weapon – law enforcement will likely categorize the assault differently. These more serious forms of violence are typically tagged as aggravated assault, which is a felony offense.
The presence of prior offenses. The last factor that may impact the classification of a misdemeanor is the defendant’s existing criminal record. One useful example to look at is DUIs and background checks. Specifically, will a DUI show on a criminal background check? Someone caught driving under the influence for the first time will usually be charged with a misdemeanor, provided their actions didn’t result in the injury or death of another. However, a defendant charged with their second or third instance of DUI will likely face felony charges. Similarly, other repeat offenses may result in prosecutors upgrading a charge from a lower-class misdemeanor to a Class A or Class B crime or even elevating the charge to felony status.
Employers should pay attention to misdemeanor classes on a background check, as higher-class misdemeanors are generally considered more reasonable grounds for adverse hiring decisions.
Driving record-related misdemeanors
“Do traffic tickets show on criminal background checks?” This question is one of the most common refrains for American job seekers. In this section, we will explore the topic of traffic tickets and background checks.
In most cases, traffic violations fall under the civil infractions category rather than misdemeanors or felonies. If you’ve ever wondered why the speeding ticket you got for driving five miles per hour over the speed limit has never come up on a pre-employment criminal history search, it’s because that speeding ticket is classified as an infraction and is therefore not a part of your criminal record. An employer can still find this information if they conduct a driving history check on you, but those checks return a different set of information than criminal background checks.
However, that’s not to say every traffic violation is an infraction. The higher the severity of a driving offense, the more likely it is to elevate to the criminal activity level. Precisely how law enforcement treats different types of traffic violations can vary from state to state. However, driving offenses that may be considered misdemeanors or even felonies include DUIs, operating while intoxicated (OWI), reckless driving citations, hit and runs, drag racing, leaving the scene of an accident, driving with a suspended license, and failing to yield for an emergency vehicle.
DUIs and Speeding Tickets
One of the confusing aspects of driving history in the context of criminal history is that, in some situations, the same basic type of driving offense may be considered an infraction, a misdemeanor, or a felony, depending on a few different variables. A DUI or OWI, for instance, may be treated as an infraction or a misdemeanor on the first offense, depending on factors like the extent of the driver’s intoxication. Repeat DUI or OWI offenses are more likely to scale up to a misdemeanor (if not a felony). At the same time, DUIs or OWIs that result in the serious bodily injury or death of a victim are considered serious felonies.
Similarly, speeding tickets can run quite the range of classification depending on the extent and severity of the speeding. Speeding tickets are among the most common types of traffic violations. They also don’t typically come with particularly severe consequences. Driving a little over the speeding limit will usually net you no more than a speeding ticket and a manageable fine. But speeding can escalate into a misdemeanor or even a felony if the driver is going much faster than the posted speed limit if the driver is speeding while also committing an OWI or DUI, if the driver is engaging in road racing, or if the driver is attempting to flee a police officer. In each of these situations, a police officer may issue a ticket for a different offense – such as reckless driving – rather than merely citing the motorist for driving above the speed limit. These more severe infractions will typically show up on a criminal background check.
Pending Charges
In most cases, a criminal background check will show pending criminal charges. If someone has been charged with a crime, whether a misdemeanor or a felony, that charge is technically a part of the criminal record. Therefore, if an employer runs a background search in the correct jurisdiction – such as in the county where the candidate is facing criminal charges – those charges will appear on the background check report.
Different employers will likely have different viewpoints about handling pending criminal charges on a background check report. On the one hand, employers do have a right to know whether one of their top applicants is currently being charged with a misdemeanor or a felony. Just like some types of convictions can be relevant to the job, a serious criminal charge may rightfully give a hiring manager pause about extending a job offer to a candidate.
On the other hand, criminal charges are not proof that a person has been convicted of a crime. The court may ultimately acquit a candidate currently facing criminal charges, or law enforcement will dismiss charges after a full investigation. As a result, employers making decisions solely based on criminal charges risk disqualifying good candidates prematurely.
The good news is that a background check report should outline the status of each charge. These details ensure that employers recognize the difference between a conviction and a pending charge. In most cases, employers will give less weight to charges than confirmed convictions.
How Does Each Charge Influence Background Checks?
Criminal history reports prepared by qualified background check providers are detailed documents containing information about candidates and their criminal records. Said another way, a criminal background check report is not merely a bulleted list of the crimes for which a person has been convicted. Instead, a background check report should include the following information about each criminal record:
Jurisdiction where the record is located
Case number
Defendant
Charge
Filing date
Degree of offense, for instance, a misdemeanor
Disposition
Disposition date
Sentence
If the crime is a misdemeanor, the criminal record report should include details about the class of conviction the defendant was given. If the candidate committed a traffic violation that rises above the level of civil infraction, that conviction should be listed among other (if any) criminal history information in that person’s background. And if the charge is pending, that distinction should be delineated in the background check report.
Do note that, at backgroundchecks.com, we do not provide arrest records as part of our criminal record reports. While some background check providers do include this information in the background report, the truth is that there is an ongoing debate in the background check world about whether employers should be allowed to consider arrests as a matter of the hiring process. Some states have laws that significantly restrict (if not outright prohibit) employers from using arrest records to make employment decisions.
The argument is that arrest records themselves are not proof that a person was, in fact, guilty of committing a crime. Furthermore, minorities that face disproportionate arrest rates are unfairly impacted by policies that allow employers to deny employment based on nothing more than an arrest.
At backgroundchecks.com, we have decided that excluding arrest records from our reports is an important step we can take to help our customers comply with all relevant background check laws. Most employers don’t realize fully that their state may have a ban on considering arrest records for employment purposes. By excluding this information from all our checks, we avoid the confusion of state-to-state variations in rules and keep our clients compliant with those laws where relevant.
Can misdemeanors be expunged?
Expungement is the process of removing a criminal conviction from the public record. This option is available to individual criminal offenders based on various criteria. The idea is to provide a pathway toward rehabilitation for people who have demonstrated exemplary behavior and whose criminal records remain a barrier to entry for everything from housing to employment.
One of the criteria that courts deliberate during an expungement application is the severity of the criminal conviction in question. The most severe crimes, including violent offenses or sex crimes, are typically not eligible for expungement. More minor offenses, however, including most misdemeanors, may very well be expunged.
There are other criteria that courts will consider beyond the straightforward content of the conviction. For instance, in weighing whether to grant expungement, a judge will usually look at the time that has elapsed since the conviction and the offender’s behavior in the intervening years. Convictions that occurred more recently or were followed by a string of repeat offenses are a less compelling argument for expungement than a person who has a single conviction from ten years ago and no criminal activity to speak of since.
In some instances, states have also activated automatic expungement processes to push the cause of criminal justice forward. One trend, for example, is that some states that have legalized recreational marijuana use have also activated procedures for automatically expunging old marijuana possession convictions. The argument in favor of clean slate laws is that, since these “crimes” would not be crimes under current law, they should be wiped from criminal records. These practices are known as “clean slate laws” and have generated considerable debate. Learn more about the debate over clean slate laws by reading our blog on the subject.
Wondering whether you can expunge your criminal record?
Use our expungement tool to find the answer.
Ban the box Considerations
With any type of criminal history, whether a misdemeanor or a felony, employers and job seekers should be aware of the implications of so-called “ban the box” legislation.
Ban the box is perhaps the most impactful trend to impact the background check industry in the past 20 years. Part of a broader “Fair Chance” hiring movement, ban the box is a type of legislation that requires employers to remove the “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?” question and tick box from their job applications. Proponents of this type of law argue that asking this type of yes-or-no criminal history question (“the box”) up front leads to employment discrimination against anyone with a criminal record, as it does not allow those individuals to showcase their skills or qualifications. Instead, by being forced to answer this question at the outset of the hiring process, candidates can lose ground in a hiring manager’s estimation before the interview process even starts.
Advocates for the ban-the-box policy say it helps provide a fairer and more reasonable chance for ex-offenders to compete for (and sometimes even win) jobs. In turn, ban the box can help reduce recidivism, as it provides better access to gainful employment for individuals previously convicted of criminal activity.
Ban the box laws vary considerably from place to place. Some are state laws, while others are ordinances or policies enforced by local governments. Some only apply to jobs in the public sector, while others extend to private employers. Some merely ban questions about criminal history on the job application. In contrast, others delay any criminal record inquiries (including, crucially, background checks) until after a conditional job offer has been made. Employers are advised to review the laws in the places where they do business (including their cities, counties, and states) and to consult their attorneys to ensure compliance.
One factor that isn’t variable across ban the box policies is the severity of the crime. These policies apply equally to misdemeanors and felonies. Someone who has been convicted of a serious violent crime has the same protection and opportunity under ban the box as someone with a Class 4 misdemeanor. This protection does not mean employers are obligated to hire people with criminal histories. On the contrary, an employer still has the right to conduct a background check (providing they do so in compliance with the timeline in the ban the box law) and can disqualify candidates based on relevant criminal history information. Ban the box simply means the employer must wait to make those criminal record inquiries, which proponents of the legislation argue gives ex-offenders more opportunity to prove their fitness for the job at hand.
Similarly, job seekers should know their rights under ban the box laws. Knowledge of any relevant ban the box legislation when applying for a position can help you navigate the job application process. If laws in your area prohibit employers from asking about criminal history information on the job application or in an interview, the employer cannot ask you to provide this information without violating a law. Again, these protections apply whether you have been convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony.
What Employers Need to Know
In general, misdemeanors are considered a less justifiable reason to disqualify a candidate from job consideration than felonies. Misdemeanors that are expressly relevant to the duties of the job at hand can and should still be weighed seriously. However, because misdemeanors are less serious than felonies – and because there is currently such a substantial push for criminal justice reform and giving ex-convicts a second chance – employers should tread carefully when thinking about retracting a job offer based on a misdemeanor offense. All the variables discussed on this page – including the class of the misdemeanor, whether the crime was driving-related, the possibility of expungement, and ban the box – should be considered as part of this process.
Background Screening FAQs
Read on for answers to many of the most frequently asked questions about vetting employees with help from background screening companies.
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The idea of “passing” a background check is a bit of a fallacy, as each employer has different criteria for what type of criminal record should be grounds for job disqualification. A misdemeanor will show up on your criminal background check unless you have successfully petitioned to have that conviction expunged. However, employers are also more likely to take a chance on a candidate with a misdemeanor conviction than they are on someone who has been convicted of a felony.
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Yes, misdemeanors and felonies are considered criminal activity and will appear as part of a criminal background check.
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Yes. Disorderly conduct is usually charged as a misdemeanor, though it may be elevated to a felony, such as if a person falsely shouts “fire” in a crowded place. Misdemeanors and felonies both come up on criminal background checks.
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Traffic violations are one of the most confusing parts of the background check equation for employers and job seekers alike. “Will my speeding ticket show up on a background check?” is a common question. Most traffic offenses, including the majority of typical moving violations, are classified as civil infractions and don’t come up on criminal background checks. However, there are cases where more severe traffic violations elevate beyond civil infractions and become misdemeanors or even felonies, such as repeat DUI offenses. Employers can also run driving history checks, which will show civil infractions and other details of the candidate’s driving record. Note that these checks are typically only used when the employer is filling a job involving driving.
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There is no easy one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Often, employers are willing to take a chance on candidates with a misdemeanor conviction, especially if the conviction in question is not specifically relevant to the job at hand. In some cases, a misdemeanor may still be a barrier to employment – such as a shoplifting conviction for a job seeker trying to get a job in retail.
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There are several reasons why a criminal conviction might not appear on your background check report. If you have successfully petitioned to have the conviction expunged from your record, it should no longer appear on any criminal background check. Alternatively, if the background check explores a specific geography different from where you were tried and convicted of a crime, those checks won’t show the conviction in question.
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Expungement is, by definition, the total erasure of a criminal conviction, which means an expunged crime shouldn’t show up on any background check – including an FBI check. However, a sealed record may be a different story. Sealed records are no longer part of the public record and are therefore not accessible or reportable for the average background check provider. However, law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, can still access and utilize sealed records.
Additional Resources
Crossing Guards Will Be Subject to Background Checks
In an effort to keep their kids safe, the Lyndhurst township in New Jersey is creating a new ordinance that would require crossing guards to have background checks before being hired or reappointed. Crossing guards there are already required to give notice of any criminal convictions, but there were no procedures in place to confirm whether or not their records were clean. The township also plans to stop the accrual of sick days and the clothing allowances crossing guards previously enjoyed. They decided to review their current position after budget concerns became an issue and before state mandates force them to make similar changes. And Mayor Richard Dilascio says it’s simply, “a safety issue.”
Crossing guards there are required to be moral and upstanding citizens of New Jersey that do not have any criminal convictions showing moral turpitude. The background checks will be just one more step to confirm that their guards are actually held to the high standards they have set. With 37 different crossing guards having daily access to kids, Traffic Officer Nick Coviello believes it’s an obvious move, saying, "The reason is they are working with children. It's common sense to me."
The ordinance will prevent those with criminal histories “involving danger to a person, against family, children or incompetents…arson, burglary, theft, controlled dangerous substances offenses and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, offenses against public administration, perjury and other falsification in official matters, obstructing governmental operations, misconduct in office and/or abuse of office.” These are all crimes the township has defined as involving moral turpitude. Any current crossing guards who are found to have any of these offenses on their record will not be reinstated in the coming year.
This employment process of verifying information provided by applicant is getting more and more common these days. Any organization who employs people who will work with children might want to consider following in New Jersey’s footsteps. They can partner with backgroundchecks.com, which would give them access to multi-jurisdictional database searches covering over 355 million records from over 600 sources. This information comes from national databases like US OneSEARCH, which checks records in all 50 states, and US AliasSEARCH, which even checks records under alternate names. When it comes to the safety of our children, we really can’t be too careful, and submitting employees to background checks is just one more way to keep our children safe.
backgroundchecks.com - a founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) and cofounder of the Expungement Clearinghouse - 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.
Dayton Making One Hundred Percent of City Positions Background Check Required
Instead of waiting for changes to state or federal laws, Dayton, Ohio is taking a more blanketed approach to their hiring practices now. Although they are only required to have about 70% of their city employees background checked before hiring, they have decided to make all positions require that level of vetting. They are hoping this will alleviate concerns regarding fairness when to it comes to their policy on hiring felons. No potential employee will be hired if they have a felony conviction on their record. As of now, there are three positions which have not been background checked. These positions include the waste collector, administrative typists, and a mechanic. Once their new policy is officially in effect, these two will be held to the same scrutiny as all other positions.
Nonprofit agencies are asking for a different policy change though. They would like to see felons get a fair shot at city jobs. In fact, PowerNet and LEAD, two agencies concerned with justice in hiring, especially when it comes to former convicts, would like all potential hires to get through the first round of interviews without even having to check the felon box. This way, if they make it to the next round after they’ve proven they are qualified for the position, only then would their criminal history come in to question. Of course, the city’s current policy on not hiring ex-felons would then have to be changed to allow certain people to be hired if their felony is not related to the position they apply for.
Maurice Evans, secretary and chief examiner for the Civil Service, said they do not know how many ex-felons currently work for the city. He is sure that there are none working in the departments of police, fire, law, airport, water, and sewer though, because those positions have always included background checks. Many companies are upping their background check requirements due to the rise in crime and the potential negligent hiring suits they might incur if a crime is committed by a previous offender on their watch and while on company business. This is causing nonprofit agencies like LEAD though to speak out on behalf of criminals who they feel have paid their dues. The EEOC is also weighing in the matter. Whatever policies and laws change in the future, currently, it is more than acceptable for organizations to hire companies like backgroundchecks.com to carry out checks on potential hires. This gives them access to products like US OneSEARCH and US AliasSEARCH enabling them to find out if their applicants have criminal convictions on their records.
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.
Legislation and Compliance Update: EEOC Issues Guidance on Employers' Use of Criminal History in Employment Decisions
The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission has issued new enforcement guidance on employers' use of criminal history in employment decisions. The Commission adopted the new guidance by a vote of 4 to 1 on April 25. The new guidance and related documents are available on the EEOC's website at:
Industry and legal commentary on the new guidance has generally found that the guidance does not prohibit employers use of criminal history and does not pose severe barriers. Thus far, commentary notes that employers will need to review their policies and processes and raises concerns about potential conflicts between state laws and the EEOC guidance. These commentaries include:
· Commentary from a Human Resources Executive;
· Detailed Commentary from Seyfarth Shaw;
· Society for Human Resource Management Regulatory Alert, and
· Commentary from the Society for Human Resource Management.
Exchange Students will not be Protected from Criminal Host Families
The US State Department was at first entertaining the idea of requiring host families to undergo background checks in order to protect students, but they have recently decided not to continue with those plans. Due to budget restraints, the State Department feels it would be too much of an undertaking for states to put host families through checks. It’s already difficult to find enough families willing to host the 30,000 high school exchange students visiting our country each year. Adding the background check requirement would likely limit them even more. Unfortunately though, dozens of cases of abuse, including sexual abuse, have been reported in host family situations.
Some districts do require a local or state background check, but none require a national check and so miss many crimes committed by hosts who have fled their original states. One sponsor, in fact, was discovered to have a murder conviction on their record. Many of the organizations who carry out the process of finding host families were found to be in noncompliance, having not gone through the proper procedures like checking references and normally did not offer checks through reputable companies like backgroundchecks.com.
It seems school districts and these organizations both should be concerned with checking databases like US Offender OneSEARCH to make sure a potential host is not a registered offender anywhere in the nation, or even US OneSEARCH which checks for criminal convictions records in multiple jurisdictions across all 50 states. Although budget concerns are a big priority right now, there are affordable alternative for traditional background checks that can uncover criminal records fast and easy. It would be sad to think that the biggest impression our country leaves on a foreign exchange student might be such a terrible one because we chose not to take any steps to protect them.
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.
Veterinary clinic Employee with history of drug-related criminal convictions scammed customers to support drug habit_12416
After the suspicious death of his dog, an Akron man decided to look into his vet’s credentials and found that she had none. After further investigation authorities, it was found that she had been posing as a vet at the C&D Animal Hospital for about a year. During that time, she accepted only cash from customers and then did not give real care to their pets. Instead, she used the money to feed her drug habit. It turns out she had several previous drug-related convictions on her record as well. Other employees were often on assignment for short periods at the hospital and so didn’t notice that Brandi Tomko was a fake. Instead, when they stopped getting paid for their time there, they simply stopped accepting hours there. After the deaths and mistreatment of several animals, she is now facing charges, including animal cruelty and without a license.
Because veterinarians work with animals and not humans, some may not go through background checks upon hiring. Of course, they do have to meet rigorous medical standards, but since Tomko successfully faked her certification, nobody thought to look any further. By working with a background check company like backgroundchecks.com, institutions like C&D Animal Hospital can get access to products like Education Verification and Professional License Verification to ensure their vets are truly qualified for that career. And they could opt to have prospective and current employees screened for drug use. The owners of the pets who suffered at the hands of an unlicensed will certainly hope that this will be the case from now on.
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.
City Garbage Truck Driver with Criminal History Caught Stealing City Time
At a time when cities across the country are low on funds, they can’t afford to have any employee shirking responsibilities, let alone using city time and resources to take care of their own personal business. In Albuquerque, New Mexico though, a city garbage truck driver was caught doing just that. While on the clock, it was found that he was running a tire recycling business out of the city’s truck. At certain points along his garbage pick-up route, shop owners would dump tires, and the city employee, Rick Koppos, would charge a fee to pick them up. Upon investigating his activities, which later led to conviction, they found Koppos had a previous felony conviction on his record for the embezzlement of over $14,000 from a former employer. It turns out, Koppos was hired before the city’s background check process was put in place for new hires, so nobody found out about his criminal history.
Although the current city administration claims to believe strongly in using background checks for some new hires, they do not plan to check current employees who have been with the city since before those requirements were put in place, because it would be “difficult.” In fact, many of their positions still do not require a background check of any kind. Instead, these checks are carried out on a case-by-case basis. They didn’t explain the rationale for which employees would receive background checks and who wouldn’t. This means there may be other criminals in their employment who will also slip under the radar and who could potentially be committing crimes that cost the city money.
The background check process does not have to be “difficult” though. There are many reputable background check companies who offer cost-effective packages that are both instant and easy to carry out. By using an instant product like US OneSEARCH for instance, the city could search 400 million criminal records across all 50 states with a single search. With nothing more than a name social security number and a date of birth, they could search US AliasSEARCH, giving them quick and easy access to criminal records that may be harder to find due to name changes. By partnering with an experienced company like backgroundchecks.com, city organizations could work with professionals to tailor an affordable package that isn’t too “difficult” to carry out on all employees, whether current or newly hired.
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.
Once Prison Guards are in, Their Corruption Goes Unchecked
When we think of prisons, we often think of all the corrupt convicts living behind bars. According to the LA Times though, corruption is also on the rise among prison guards. An FBI sting resulted in the conviction of three Sheriff’s guards and the firing of one. It also led to video-taped confessions and prisoners informing of other possible corruption. While most cases of this sort have been found in California prisons, the problem isn’t limited to that state. In fact, arrests of Federal Prison Guards increased nationwide by 90%. Although not all of these ended in convictions, the prevalence does lead officials to believe that the number of guards they have discovered smuggling drugs and other contraband into prisons is just the tip of the iceberg.
In order to become a prison guard, applicants must go through rigorous background checks. They are subjected to criminal background checks, credit checks, and character investigations. So why aren’t these catching the corruption before they enter the force? Most of these guards have clean records leading up to their application. Once inside prison walls though, they are influenced by the manipulation and money of the inmates. Some say that poor salaries and a bad economy puts financial strain on prison guards, and this leads them to be more likely to get involved in criminal activities.
While the investigation of potential guards seems extensive at first, some background checks can be misleading in scope. Unless an organization is using the right sources, they could miss past crimes altogether. For instance, if they use a County Criminal search, they would find crimes committed in the selected counties where the person lived in the last seven years. If the person committed any crimes in other counties or states, they might miss those, unless the search was complemented with a national focused multi-jurisdictional search like the USOneSEARCH from backgroundchecks.com.
Additionally, by only checking their employees when they first apply, prisons miss noticing any corruption that follows after the hire date. By running regular background checks throughout the term of employment, they could find red flags for criminal behavior they could then keep an eye on. Also, by offering guidance when problem signs start showing up, they could actually prevent corruption before it starts.
By teaming up with companies like backgroundchecks.com, prisons would have access to one of the largest databases in terms of criminal conviction sources, helping them to quickly implement a monitoring program. Using the Ongoing Criminal Monitoring product, backgroundchecks.com can alert them to any new records they discover for an employee.. We have a dedicated data acquisition team constantly working to keep our databases current so that our information is as accurate as possible. As one of the leading background check companies in the nation, backgroundchecks.com may be a valuable partner for prisons to have on their side.
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.
: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jail-contraband-smuggle-20111002,0,4648531.story
Employee Fraud Becomes an Added Concern for Today’s Small Businesses
As if the slow economy wasn’t already enough for small business to deal with, they now have to keep a closer watch over their employees. According to the Wall Street Journal, employee theft, fraud, and other crimes are rising among small businesses. They attribute this to the struggling economy, saying that when employees struggle, they turn to their workplace for fast cash.
One business owner in particular, owner of Page and Palette Inc., found that vendors would no longer extend her credit for books her struggling store was running low on. At first, she assumed it was because of the economy. Months later, she found that her bookkeeper had been using company money to pay for their personal spending. After $150,000 in discovered losses, the employee was charged with 25 counts of forgery. If this kind of activity goes unnoticed long enough, employers like this either have to shut down their businesses or reduce their workforce. Ultimately, this hurts the business and all of its employees.
Many employees who give in to this kind of temptation have done it in the past. While some employers do require background checks to prevent hiring criminals, small businesses don’t tend to spend money in this regard. They might find however that by investing in comprehensive criminal background checks, they could save more by not losing as much to criminals they’ve unknowingly hired.
Small businesses already using background checks, but who have missed criminal activity among their employees could find it surprising that their current checks only use one database or do not seek crimes committed out of state. By expanding procedures to include affordable products that have national focus like backgroundchecks.com's US OneSEARCH, they can prevent hiring employees convicted of crimes like fraud and theft whether in or out of the state. They might also consider including US AliasSEARCH in case a potential hire has changed names.
Small businesses would be wise to partner with comprehensive background check companies like backgroundchecks.com for employement background screening. As a leader in the criminal data aggregation industry, we have over 12 years of experience bringing together the information businesses need and currently offer instant database searches providing you access to over 300 million records from more than 600 sources. Although we do serve Fortune 500 firms, we certainly can create flexible plans for small business budgets too, offering a variety of packages that allow any company to hire only the kind of employees that will help their business grow.
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.
The Backgrounds of 40,000 Teachers in Kansas are Still Unknown_12328
When you entrust your child into the hands of educators, you probably assume those employees are upstanding citizens without criminal histories. If your child goes to school in Kansas though, you could be wrong. Although high standards for education and background checking has been initiated for teachers in most states these days as a result of No Child Left Behind, teachers who were already in the education industry were grandfathered into the system with the earlier, less strict requirements. That means they have not undergone any kind of background investigation to make sure they haven’t committed any crimes, including crimes against children.
The Topeka Capital Journal reports that approximately 40,000 teachers in Kansas have not been checked. Due to increasing sex abuse crimes in schools, parents and state education board members are concerned about this number. The Director of Teacher Education and Licensure is pushing for the fingerprinting of all teachers. Additionally, she would like to see teachers getting background checks every time their teaching license is renewed, which is every five years. Some are unhappy about the proposal, claiming it to be an invasion of privacy, but because it deals with the safety of children, it’s likely to pass.
While fingerprinting might be a good first step, it doesn’t necessarily catch potential all threats. Most people are fingerprinted when they are arrested, and the FBI database then relies on the court to provide updates as the case moves forward. But those updates are not guaranteed, and neither is the timing of those updates leaving questions about conviction or dismissal status. Organizations like schools, that have such important jobs, should make sure they’re using criminal databases that are extensive and constantly updated and can automatically be monitored for updates. After all, if catching criminals before they affect children in schools is really a priority, why wait to check backgrounds every five years, when Ongoing Criminal Monitoring can be performed by background check companies who could then alert them immediately of any criminal activity among their teachers?
backgroundchecks.com has access to more than 355 million records across 600 criminal conviction sources, including sex offender registries. We also employ a skilled data acquisition team that keeps our records up to date to ensure the highest accuracy possible. With experience and resources like this, backgroundchecks.com could help schools keep an eye on their teachers, which could alleviate the fears of parents and State Education Board members.
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.
: http://cjonline.com/news/2011-04-13/criminal-teachers-focus-initiative
