With companies facing hacking and age-old threats like workplace violence, a thorough system for screening out problem employees is more important than ever. But a laudable push by policymakers to get people “back to work” and make progress on issues such…
Posts by Category: Employment Screening
Bad Background Check Leads to Class Actions, Including Against Freeman Webb
A man who says he was wrongfully fired over false information in a background check has filed a pair of class-action lawsuits in federal court, including one against the prominent real estate firm Freeman Webb. Tyrone Jude was hired as a maintenance man at a Lebanon…
Phony Job Applicants Targeting Employers Based on Technical Violations of Federal Background Check Law
Claims brought against employers under the FCRA arising out of one aspect or another of employers’ background investigation procedures have been the litigation de jure recently. Many of these lawsuits have resulted in multi-million dollar settlements. There is a…
Testing Employer Background Screening Practices
Changes in federal sentencing guidelines will result in the early release of thousands of inmates from prison over the next several years. The lack of employment is generally recognized as a factor that causes recidivism for ex-offenders, and there is increased…
Background Checks More Accurate When Done by Private Sector Companies: Stuart Pratt, Consumer Data Industry Association
An opinion piece by Shantell George claimed that background checks done by private sector businesses were inaccurate. However, she failed to offer any statistics to substantiate that opinion. Background checks done by private sector companies are more accurate and…
Ohio Employers Need Not Be Hazy About Marijuana in the Workplace
Every employer in Ohio and surrounding states must now begin to develop workplace controls to fully address the legalization of marijuana in Ohio. To be most effective and legally defensible, these controls should be more expansive than simple revisions to current…
Per Liar Liar, Performing Background Checks on Minors Can be Major Issue
A client in the hospitality industry asked whether it had to obtain parental or legal guardian consent to conduct background checks and drug screens on its minor employees. Unfortunately, many employers mistakenly use the same hiring materials regardless whether the…
Background Screening – When is Section 603(y) Applicable?
When a company uses commercial background checks to evaluate the suitability of job applicants, they must comply with the FCRA. The FCRA stipulates that before an employer obtains a consumer report about an applicant, the applicant must receive notice and certain…
Are Applicants Giving You Fraudulent Pay Stubs?
Creating fraudulent documents has become easier as technology has improved. With just a computer, printer, scanner and Photoshop software, fabricating fake paystubs can be done at home. Even online paystub services like stubsamples.com and speedystub.com generate…
How a Fort Myers Mental Hospital Missed Warning Signs About Employee Who Sexually Assaulted Patients
Benjamin Bland’s supervisors missed several red flags when they hired him to care for patients at Park Royal Hospital, a last stop for many of Southwest Florida’s seriously mentally ill citizens. Bland was accused of sexually abusing several female…