CUSTOMER RESOURCES
Sexual Misconduct
A Comprehensive Guide to Conducting a Background Check for Sexual Misconduct
Every employer has an ethical obligation to provide a safe and respectful workplace for all employers. There are many definitions of workplace safety. For instance, workplace safety often applies to procedures, policies, and protocols designed to reduce construction site accidents in the construction trades.
However, it is crucial to recognize that workplace safety extends to employment and that all employees deserve an environment where they don't have to fear being harmed by their coworkers.
As such, employers must adopt strategies to avoid hiring people who might pose a to their fellow workers. Most businesses have protocols to minimize the likelihood of these types of bad hires – namely, background checks that look for a history of violence.
In addition, since the start of the #MeToo movement, there has been a growing focus in the employment world on how employers can prevent sexual misconduct in the workplace through employment screening.
From sexual harassment to sexual assault, misconduct in the workplace can cause a long list of negative consequences for a business or organization. For example, a workplace with a sexual misconduct problem will likely face issues with company culture, talent attraction and retention, and overall employer image.
In addition, severe cases of sexual misconduct in the workplace can sometimes result in costly and brand-damaging lawsuits. For example, numerous high-profile companies, including Google, 20th Century Fox, the Ford Motor Company, and Kroger, have faced highly public lawsuits over allegations involving sexual harassment, sex discrimination, or other forms of sexual misconduct.
In response, employers are trying various strategies to reshape their work environments to prevent these types of risks. Some of those tactics focus on internal training and education. Others involve ramping up background checks to stop the behavior before it starts. One method that some employers have adopted or emphasized anew in response to the #MeToo movement is the sex offender background check.
What Employers Need to Know About Sex Offender Background Checks
Every state (plus Washington, D.C.) has a sex offender registry, a database keeping track of those convicted of sexual offenses. The purpose of a sex offender registry is mainly to aid public identification and awareness of sexual predators.
For example, a family with young kids might check a sex offender registry when shopping for a house to ensure they “aren't buying a home that is near where a sex offender lives”. Similarly, sex offender registries help law enforcement keep tabs on offenders and ensure they '“aren't breaking certain rules”, such as living too close to a school. The earliest sex offender registries date back to the 1940s, though the trend 'didn't become commonplace until the 1990s.
A background check for a sex offender is when an employer incorporates sex offender registry searches as part of pre-employment vetting. The idea is not merely to understand whether a candidate has been convicted of a sexual offense – such as rape, child molestation, indecent exposure, possession of child pornography, or criminal sexual conduct.
Usually, these crimes would also be flagged as part of a criminal background check. A sex offender registry check, while undoubtedly helpful in identifying individuals who have committed sexual offenses, also has the added benefit of informing employers whether any candidates are registered sex offenders.
However, what is a sex offender, exactly?
Typically, anyone convicted of a sex crime will be required to register as a sex offender for a certain number of years. While employers can consider sex crimes even after a candidate is no longer a registered sex offender, sex offender status usually comes with extra weight.
For example, employers can face more liability exposure if they hire a registered sex offender than a sex criminal who is no longer required to register. Additionally, some employers – such as schools – are not legally allowed to recruit sex offenders in some parts of the country.
Because of these factors, a sex offender background check is a worthwhile component of pre-employment background screening.
Here are a few additional details about sex offender background checks and how they work:
Level 2 Background Checks
The term Level 2 check will only have meaning for employers in the state of Florida.
While Level 1 and Level 2 are sometimes used in the context of background checks to denote different background check tiers, a Level 2 background check is a specific type of background screening existing as part of Florida's state background check screening system.
In Florida, a Level 1 background check is a name-based background check that searches state criminal history databases, employment history, local county criminal records, and sex offender registries. A Level 2 check adds fingerprint-based searches of records maintained by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI.
In some situations, a Level 2 background check may be required, given the belief that fingerprint background checks are superior to name-based alternatives. However, employers in Florida can take comfort in knowing that either type of check incorporates a sex offender registry search.
While Level 2 background check is most often used only in Florida, note that sex offenders tend to be classified by risk levels. A "risk level 1 sex offender", has been deemed the lowest risk for repeat offending and, therefore, the lowest threat to public safety. Conversely, Level 2 and Level 3 indicate a higher risk for repeat offenses and public safety.
What About Offenders Who Cross State Lines?
One concern around sex offender registries is that they are state-based.
Every state has a sex offender registry, and information from one will not typically carry over to another. As a result, if a sex offender crosses state lines, the new state's sex offender registry check may miss that person's sex offender status.
Technically, sex offenders are required to report any relocations. In Michigan, for instance, a registered sex offender threeplanning to move out of state is required by law "to report to their nearest law enforcement agency three business days before moving to provide their new address."
The Michigan State Police Sex Offender Registry Unit notifies the other state of the ' 'offender's new address. Similarly, Michigan requires that offenders moving to a new country must report that information to their local law enforcement agency ahead of time.
Notably, a sex offender who follows proper protocol to switch their address to a new state will no longer be listed on the original state's sex offender registry. The idea of a sex offender registry is to track current, up-to-date offender locations and details. As such, law enforcement agencies in charge of sex offender registries try to avoid outdated entries of those who no longer reside in their states. The caveat is that some sex offenders may try to avoid detection by leaving their state without notifying anyone, perhaps adopting an alias to obscure their identity.
The good news is that there are ways to detect aliases, past addresses, and active sex offender registry information in other states.
At backgroundchecks.com, we offer alias and address history checks, using a person's Social Security Number to identify details. Employers can then use these details to order background checks in other states or for other names. This strategy helps find sex offender registry listings in other states and widening the scope of a criminal background check.
Tribal Registries
Native American tribes are sovereign nations and therefore have their own systems, records, and databases for many things, including law enforcement. However, that 'doesn't mean tribal records 'can't be utilized by employers.
If you need to search tribal sex offender records, note that the United States Department of Justice provides a Tribe and Territory Sex Offender Registry System (TTSORS) to tribes and territories (such as Puerto Rico and Guam) to assist in creating proper sex offender tracking infrastructure.
While these tribal and territory systems are only fully accessible to tribe and territory agencies responsible for the management and registration of sex offenders”, many tribal nations make these registries available to employers or other users online, free of charge.
Most sex offender registries – including state-run registries – are available online and can be searched by anybody. In addition, most states allow you to search for specific sex offenders by name or to find registered sex offenders living within a specified radius. Often, people use the latter search option to determine whether there are any registered sex offenders living in their neighborhood.
What Shows up on a Sex Offender Background Check?
A sex offender registry will typically include the following information about any given registered offender:
Full name (first, middle, and last).
Sex.
Age and date of birth.
Race.
Identifying characteristics (such as height, weight, eye and hair color, scars, marks, tattoos).
Photo.
Sex offender registration number.
Addresses (including primary home address and work address).
Status notes (including whether the listing is active and whether the offender is compliant with state laws).
Offenses (typically, the sex crime with which they were charged and convicted; conviction state, county, court, and date are also provided).
Aliases.
Vehicles (including make, model, year, license plate number, and color).
Which Offenses Are Included in Registries?
A sex offender registry is mainly intended to act as a public safeguard.
By requiring individuals who commit sex crimes to register and then classifying them based on a risk level assessment, law enforcement creates a system that anyone can use to determine their proximity to and possible risk from sex offenders. So, while a criminal history check will typically tell you whether a person has a sex crime conviction, a sex offender registry can provide more information about the risk that person poses to their neighborhood or community.
Any crime related to sexual activity can require a perpetrator to register as a sex offender. Examples include sexual assault, rape, criminal sexual conduct, child sexual abuse, indecent exposure, solicitation of prostitution, statutory rape, kidnapping of a minor, child pornography, and more.
#MeToo and its Implications
The #MeToo movement has opened up a vital dialogue about sexual politics in the United States and worldwide, including in the workplace. Moreover, the implications of the #MeToo movement for background checks and hiring have been considerable. As a result, employers everywhere are eager to avoid hiring people who might create a culture of sexual harassment (or worse) within their company.
Of course, many of those implications are also entirely unrelated to background checks. For instance, many employers have been getting more proactive about training their employees on matters of sexual harassment in the workplace and on behaviors that can help bring about a safer, more equal environment for all.
In addition, employers these days are less likely to respond to allegations or instances of sexual misconduct with soft punishments. Instead, zero-tolerance policies are increasingly common, resulting in perpetrators being fired immediately over sexual misconduct matters rather than given a “slap on the wrist.".
However, many employers are also trying to adopt better vetting processes in the #MeToo age. From local government to the Air Force, to religious organizations, to sporting organizations, to youth-serving entities like the YMCA or childcare organizations, many stories show the importance of policies that help create environments free from sexual misconduct.
However, sex offender background checks are one piece of that puzzle. More thorough criminal history checks, employment verification checks touching upon why a person left their previous job, and reference checks are all approaches to increasing an employer's likelihood of spotting red flags.
Similarly, some employers may check a person's social media accounts to see how they interact with or talk about people of the opposite sex. The idea is that, even if a person has never been convicted of a crime, there may be behavioral patterns in their past indicating whether they might be a sexual misconduct risk.
Why Do Employers Conduct Sex Offender Background Checks?
As with standard criminal background checks, employers run sex offender background checks for two main reasons:
1) To protect their employees, customers, and clients from potentially dangerous hires.
2) To avoid hiring decisions that may lead to costly legal liability.
Suppose a youth sports nonprofit neglected to run a sex offender background check and hired a coach with a history of child sexual abuse. In that case that organization puts the kids it serves at risk and opens itself up to significant liability for potentially negligent hiring lawsuits.
Sex offender background checks are protection that small business owners, nonprofit leaders, and enterprise CEOs can utilize to help minimize both areas of risk.
Sex Offender Employment Laws
Employers looking to implement sex offender registry checks for all employees will have critical questions about employment law. However, the biggest of those questions is probably the simplest: Can I refuse to hire all sex offenders?
This question is difficult to answer. Were you to ask a similar question about anyone with a criminal history (for example, "Can I refuse to hire anyone with a criminal record?"), the answer would be no.
Typically, when it comes to criminal background checks, employers must look for a direct and relevant connection between a crime and the job at hand when deciding whether there is cause to disqualify a previously convicted applicant. Similarly, most legal experts hold that there must be a connection between the job in question and a ' 'candidate's sex offender status for the employer to deny that person a chance at employment.
Of course, it is essential to note that not all sex offenses are equal. For example, a person can be a sex offender for violent crimes such as rape or child sexual abuse but may also be listed for a non-violent occurrence such as soliciting prostitution. As such, employers should pay attention to the specific crimes requiring a candidate to register as a sex offender.
State Laws
Note that how an employer handles sex offender registry information in a hiring context can and does vary significantly across states.
Some states outright prohibit employers from considering sex offender registry information as part of the hiring process. California is the most common example, as state law does not allow employers to consider sex offender registry data when making employment decisions. The California law protecta offenders from "additional punishment" or retribution once they have already served prison time or otherwise completed their sentencing requirements.
As with other laws that restrict the use of background check information in the hiring process, this law helps prevent people from consistently and repeatedly being punished for a past offense. Criminal justice advocates believe this approach is crucial to allowing ex-offenders to rebuild their lives and compensate for their past misdeeds.
Bottom line, your state may not even allow you to use sex offender registry background checks as part of the hiring process, let alone implement blanket policies barring all sex offenders from your workplace. Therefore, you should check your state's laws, through research or attorney consultation, to ensure you are using background checks in a responsible and legally compliant fashion.
Important Information to Consider
Beyond your state's laws, the most important rule of thumb when considering sex offender registry information in a hiring context is the specific nature of the crime. While ' 'it's easy to assume that all sex offenders pose a risk to your employees or customers, some of these offenders present a higher risk than others.
As with any other type of criminal background check, it's important to look at the actual crime that the person committed, the severity of that crime, how long ago the offense occurred, and the presence of repeat offenses on the person's record.
Finally, look at those details in the context of the vacancy. Is there a direct line between the job and the offense, to the point where hiring that person would predict issues for your business? For instance, you should not hire a child sexual abuser for a job involving working closely with children. At the same time, an employer filling a warehousing job where the candidate will never have any contact with children might not have the same grounds for disqualification.
How Long Does a Sex Offender Background Check Take?
Because most sex offender checks are simple searches of existing online databases, most can deliver information instantaneously.
Links for reference and inspiration
FAQs
-
Employers are not allowed to implement blanket policies that disqualify any sex offender from any employment.
This approach opposes Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance and can be considered discriminatory. As such, it should be possible for a sex offender to "pass a background check, in that employers are expected to look at sex offender information on a case-by-case basis to decide whether or not to disqualify a candidate.
That's not to say any employer is required or obligated to hire someone listed on a sex offender registry, but rather that hiring managers should try to assess the relevance of the ' 'candidate's specific crime to the job at hand when hiring.
Another way for a sex offender to pass" a background check is by evading detection. Fortunately, law enforcement tends to be vigilant about tracking down individuals required to register as sex offenders but doesn't. Failure to register as a sex offender also carries consequences and punishments.
-
Yes, sex offenses will typically show up on background checks.
Since sex offenses are crimes, they will be a part of a person's criminal record, and can also be tracked through sex offender registries, which exist in all 50 states and are used to monitor the location, status, risk level, and other crucial details of sex and violent offenders.
-
Increasingly, employers are taking sexual harassment issues in the workplace seriously.
In particular, the #MeToo movement has forced employers to consider how sexual harassment can create unsafe, unwelcoming, and discriminatory work environments, introducing a vital #MeToo background check.
As such, someone with a documented history of sexual harassment – including a restraining order for harassing, stalking, or otherwise threatening another person – would likely see those factors negatively impacting their job chances.
Additional Resources
States are Requiring Background Checks for Locksmiths
Throughout the US, several states are now requiring locksmiths to not only be licensed, but to undergo state regulated background checks. Even when states don’t have requirements for locksmiths, some cities, like New York, NY, has made their own regulations on locksmiths. Currently there are eleven states that have some type of regulation for locksmiths. Many wonder why locksmiths are being regulated as they are but these professionals have skills that enable them to open locks that most people would have no idea how to manipulate. This gives them an open door for crimes such as theft and robbery.
Nationally, locksmiths that are members of the professional organization, Associated Locksmiths of America, are required to undergo background checks as well, but every locksmith is certainly not a member of this organization. The organization prides itself on high ethics and asks that their members do not use their skills in a way that would compromise public safety.
For companies who wish to background check their locksmiths, hiring a third party company like backgroundchecks.com can make the process easier. This company has several products, like their US OneSEARCH which will search criminal records from all over the US, including terrorism lists. This product allows organizations to quickly search across the nation for criminal records, which lowers the odds of hiring somebody with a criminal past.
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.
For more information about our authors, click here.
Sex Offenders Have an Open Door in Florida Thanks to Weak Law
James Roy Melton Jr. is a convicted child sex offender in the state of Florida. Even after his conviction, however, he had been able to secure work as a camp counselor and sadly, it is unknown exactly how many children may have been abused by him. The summer of 1997 was the summer that Melton Jr. was able to work at the summer camp and the laws have still not been changed.
The state of Florida does have laws in place to protect children from sex offenders, but in one of the most obvious places, summer camp, laws don’t provide or mandate any type of reporting or enforcement. Though it has been almost 15 years since Melton Jr. worked at the camp and he has been in prison ever since, Florida residents are puzzled as to why nothing has been done to change these laws. When earlier reports surfaced in 2010 lawmakers like Senate President Mike Haridopolos; Stuart Rep. William Snyder, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; and Sen. Ronda Storms, head of the Senate’s Children and Families Committee all promised swift change, but didn’t follow through in 2011
As it stands, Florida summer camps are effectively unregulated in regards to licensing and screening of employees and volunteers. In fact, the state has no idea how many camps there are in Florida nor do they have any information on the people who run them. Once James Roy Melton is released he could set up a camp without any license, invite children in and who knows what may happen. It is thought that Melton Jr. abused at least 12 children when he was at the camp in 1997, but even now, since nothing is regulated when it comes to camp, it is unknown if there were just 12 or possibly more.
There are only six states in the nation who do not regulate camps and Florida is by far the largest of them. It is known and on record that lawmakers have been made aware of this situation since at least the mid 1980s. The legislature could decide to authorize third party screening companies like backgroundchecks.com to carry out and certify checks. This company has dedicated programs allowing sponsoring organizations to set screening standards and compel employees and volunteers in participating organizations to go through basic or advanced background checks, which nearly always includes a product like the US Offender OneSEARCH which instantly checks sex offender registries throughout 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.
For more information about our authors click here.
Source: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/weak-laws-pave-way-for-child-sexual-abuse
Massachusetts School District Performing “Flash” Background Checks on Visitors
In an effort to protect students, the Medford, MA school district has launched a new background check system in their schools. All visitors of any of the Medford schools will need to show ID at the school office. At that point, the office will run an instant background check on the person which will show any criminal history. The person’s name will also be run though the state sex offender database.
If a person who is at the office has a suspicious record, administrators are immediately notified and the person is asked to leave school property. Though the system was $10,000, something that many schools may not be able to afford, Medford schools feel as if it was a good investment. In addition to keeping their visitors on track when it comes to these instant background checks, all staff and volunteers are put through a more extensive background check like those you may find at third party companies.
One of these third party companies, backgroundchecks.com, offers several products that can offer such instant checks to help keep their schools safe. One of the instant products is called US Offender OneSEARCH.
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.
Oregon Makes Background Checks Easier for Service and Education Volunteers
In the state of Oregon, new legislation has been passed that will make background checks for education and service volunteers easier. The new bill will also make it mandatory for some people who work for the state government to go through background checks who were never required to get background checks before. These new requirements are important as they will make it harder for criminals to get access to important state information as well as access to children and the elderly.
Per the new regulations, any employee who currently works or volunteers in service or education in the state will be required to go through a background check. Prior to the passing of this legislation, the system was extremely confusing as there were several tiers and requirements depending on the position. Some examples of those who will now be required to get background checks are custodians, home care employees, and volunteers at schools. The new background check requirements will streamline the way hiring and processing employees are done.
Now that the state is checking all of their service and education employees and volunteers, they are taking a great step towards making sure all state employees are covered by background checks. There are definitely certain things that the state could to do make these background checks even more effective however. Making policies to run background checks on all employees every year or every five years would be an excellent way to ensure safety in the work place. When these policies are enacted, companies and organizations will be able to ensure that the people they hire have clean backgrounds. This will also protect organizations from any liability they may face should an employee commit a crime.
When organizations and companies are looking to do a thorough and extensive background check, hiring a third party background check company like backgroundchecks.com will likely be able to make this process easy and make sure that all employees are compliant with policies. There are many products available from backgroundchecks.com including Multi-State OneSEARCH. This product is great as it allows companies and organizations to search records in up to five states. The records that are available include criminal records at the county and state level as well as a search of state sex offender registries.
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.
Safe Churches are a Priority for Seven-Day Adventists
The Seventh - day Adventist church is taking a step that many other corporations have done: they are putting their employees through background checks in an attempt to help keep children safe. Though the Seventh-day Adventists are technically a religious organization, they have employees just like any other corporation and they are taking on the responsibility of performing background checks on their employees in order to keep their churches safe from misconduct and abuse, something that has plagued other religious organizations in recent years.
In addition to performing background checks on employees and volunteers, the church is also using education in order to teach both children and adults what is right or wrong when it comes to conduct and interactions with each other. They want to make sure that the church is a safe place for children to be and have really made a lot of progress, more so than other churches, when it comes to making sure they are covering all the ground they can.
Some of the other things that the church is doing, short of background checks and education, is making many of their employees mandated reporters, which means they are obligated to report any misconduct or wrongdoing to the powers that be. This includes anything that can be seen as a crime against a child. The great thing about this is that it has been in place since 2003, much sooner than many corporations began doing this. Though the check on volunteers was not added until 2011, the church, overall, has been very proactive about setting up a very safe environment for children. Volunteers include those members of the church who teach religious classes to children, those who work with church youth groups and anyone involved in the youth programs of the church.
Organizations, like the Seventh-day Adventist church, who are taking the responsible route when it comes to background checks could really benefit from using a third party like backgroundchecks.com. This background check company has many products that really help organizations get a thorough view of their employees. One of these products is known as the US Offender OneSEARCH and would be very helpful to the church as it searches for matches against sex offender databases all over the country. The church has a responsibility not to allow sex offenders near children and using these products is an excellent way to go about it.
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.
Rhode Island Background Check Law Has Passed
After a week of debate, Rhode Island lawmakers have passed a new background check law that will make it mandatory to perform a criminal background check on adult volunteers who wish to participate in youth mentoring. This law would require all applicants who want to work with children through state programs to undergo a full criminal background check.
Currently, Rhode Island requires background checks for all adults who work in schools, but mentor programs are not included in that law, though some of the mentor programs do take place in school locations. Lawmakers believe that the expansion of the previous law will help keep children safer both during the school day as well as when participating in afterschool activities.
Many companies, as well as schools, all over the country use third party background check companies like backgroundchecks.com for their background checks. This company in particular has a wide variety of products that would be great to use when checking the backgrounds of those who work with children. One of them is called US Offender OneSEARCH and it will be able to show companies if the person in question has a history of sexual crimes anywhere in the US, as well as in some US territories.
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.
Lawsuits Filed Against Schools Due to Changes in Background Check Policy
The state of Pennsylvania have been sued by four teachers who are fighting to save their jobs after new laws have been put in place to protect children. Under a new Pennsylvania state law, all school employees, including teachers, administrators, contractors and support staff, must report certain arrests or convictions within three days. The crimes that must be reported include physical assault, sexual assault, homicides and kidnapping. In total, there are 28 crimes that must be reported to authorities.
Four separate lawsuits have been filed against the state due to this new law as the interpretation of the law seems to be causing problems. The language of the law states that anyone who is convicted of one of these 28 crimes would be terminated from their job immediately. However, it seems to imply that this is only for future employees, not those who are already employed by Pennsylvania schools. It is important to note that those who are filing lawsuits are those who have been convicted of one of these 28 crimes and are at risk of termination due to this new law. If they lose the lawsuits, they will lose their jobs as teachers.
The teachers will be fighting that the law is unconstitutional and that the results of these background checks should not apply to current employees. They state that it violates the due-process rights of the employees and they should not have to suffer further for these crimes as they have already paid their dues to society for the crimes that they have committed. This will be a hard sell in court, however, since many schools have programs where criminal monitoring is done continuously and most companies in the US have similar policies as Pennsylvania schools have. In general, most people believe that this is the right thing to do in order to keep school children safe while in a learning environment.
When it comes to the companies who do these background checks, many of them, like backgroundchecks.com, offer some excellent products that allow companies to make sure they are hiring and retaining employees who have a clean criminal background. There are even products like Ongoing Criminal Monitoring that will be used as an add-on to their other products. When used in conjunction with their other products, criminal monitoring can be used to continuously scan a person’s name and report when new crimes appear on their records. Using these tools can help keep children safe and well while they go through their school day.
Some Pre-Schools are Not Performing Background Checks on Volunteers
It has just been uncovered by a local television station that some Washington state pre-schools are not performing background checks on their volunteers. Parents are, of course, outraged by this development and many are calling for action to be taken. Though there are some pre-schools that are making the responsible choice and performing background checks on everyone who is in contact with children, those who are not area only putting kids and other employees at risk.
According to news reports, the schools that have been found to be lax in their background check policies are those in the Pasco, WA area. The television station who has released this information state that their research yielded the frightening statistic that only 4 out of 7 pre-schools that were contacted actually check their volunteers against criminal databases. For the 3 that are not performing these checks, the children who attend these pre-schools could be in a lot of danger.
Those schools who are currently performing background checks on volunteers and employees like Small World Learning Centers, has a defined process that everyone must go through who will be working with children. They need to get a background check done though the Department of Early Learning then send the official information back to the Small World Learning Center where they will be working. Only then will they be able to volunteer their time.
It is important to note that only parents and guardians of other students at pre-schools are generally allowed to volunteer for things, but these people can certainly have criminal backgrounds that many people would not be comfortable letting their young children communicate with. Gateway, another pre-school in the area does not background check any of their volunteers. According to a representative of the school, volunteers are not allowed to be in the classroom without a teacher, so they do not feel the need to background check everyone. However, just because there is a policy that a volunteer cannot be in the classroom alone, doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
For those pre-schools that are not performing background checks, hiring a third party company like backgroundchecks.com would be extremely beneficial to them. There are several great products that backgroundchecks.com offers like US Offender OneSEARCH which searches all sex offender registries nationwide. With this and other products that backgroundchecks.com provides, these schools could be thoroughly checking volunteers as well as employees, which can help keep children safer.
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.keprtv.com/news/local/No-background-checks-on-volunteers-139410258.html
Oklahoma Lawmakers Considering Forcing Volunteers to Pay for Their Own Background Checks
Lawmakers in Oklahoma are seriously considering a bill that would make it legal to force volunteers who work with children to pay for their own background checks. Some of the background checks, which cost about $40, could be paid for by organizations, but the organizations would not be responsible for the payment and would have the option to pass the fee along to the volunteers. Currently, Oklahoma law does not make it mandatory for volunteers to undergo a background check, but this bill aims to change that as well.
Oklahoma State Rep. Joe Dorman, who initiated this bill, states that he wants to make sure that honest adult volunteers are not swayed from volunteering because of this charge, but also wants to make sure that quality adults with no criminal history are the ones who are mentoring Oklahoma’s children. He additionally states that these volunteers would only need to go through a background check one time and stressed that organizations have the choice to pay for the background check, so the fee may not even be applicable.
These background checks would cover any adult who volunteers to work in any capacity where they would be with a child overnight or someone who volunteers to be in any position where they would be with a child in a locker room.
Though some opponents of this bill believe that the biggest problem is the cost, others say that this bill is simply not enough and other measures should be put into place in order to protect the children in Oklahoma State. For example, it is stated that anyone who works with children, such as a coach, who may be with children overnight will have to have a background check, but other volunteers, who may be with children during the day would not have to go through a background check.
For those organizations who want to perform background checks on volunteers, third party companies offer dedicated programs like backgroundchecks.com’s selectCHECK tailored to volunteer screening. Screening packages can be customized for each organization’s standard, including the addition of the US OneSEARCH which will be able to instantly search criminal records across all fifty states and several US territories. This product also includes a search of sex offender registries, which is always a high priority for screening solutions targeted towards subjects working with children.
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.
