A new study commissioned by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Charles Koch Institute (CKI) revealed that about two-thirds of human resource professionals are open to hiring or have hired applicants with criminal histories. Employers who choose…
Posts by Category: Employment Screening
Vermont Enacts Salary History Inquiry Law
Vermont has joined several other states that have enacted a law to prohibit employers from inquiring about, seeking or requiring salary history information from prospective employees. Taking effect July 1, employers and their agents will be prohibited from inquiring…
Opioids, Marijuana and Substance Abuse Issues Present Both Familiar and Groundbreaking Challenges to Employers
With the advent of marijuana decriminalization and expanded use for medicinal purposes, the legal and human challenges regarding the opioid crisis also are expanding. One of the most challenging issues is knowing how and when to address an employee who appears to be…
Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress Claim for Job Applicants Remain Viable
A judge recently allowed a claim of emotional distress to continue, denying the employer’s motion to dismiss. The case found that the employer knew the plaintiff suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and waited until one day before she was scheduled to…
As Opioids Hit the Workforce, Employers are Forced to Improvise
The opioid epidemic that is destroying individuals and families across the country also is threatening to shut down manufacturing plants and whole industries. Particularly affecting men ages 25 to 54, opioid use has become a key factor regarding why “prime age”…
Salary History: To Ask or Not to Ask?
A recent Glassdoor survey has revealed that 53 percent of respondents believed employers should not ask applicants about their current or past compensation. While many states and cities have passed laws prohibiting such information from being requested, employers…
Nearly 2 in 5 Employers Have Lost a Job Candidate Because of a Poor Experience with Their Background Check Process, Finds New CareerBuilder Study
A recent CareerBuilder survey reported that more than a third of employers have lost a candidate because they had a negative experience with their background check. The national survey included representative samples of 2,369 full-time employees and 3,462 full-time…
A Painful Epidemic
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, opioid-related overdoses took the lives of 33,000 Americans in 2015. Driving the trend is a steep rise in the use of opioid painkillers, with 35 percent of American adults receiving prescriptions…
Federal District Court Upholds Employer to its Promise in FCRA ‘Pre-Adverse Action’ Notice
It was determined by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin that an employer potentially violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) when it provided the employee with three days to dispute information contained in the background report rather…
7 Steps to GDPR for US Companies
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ensures that data subjects have greater control over their personal information, but it creates drastic changes to data privacy for anyone who is in the European Union and for any company that retains EU customer data….







