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Background Checks

Unsuccessful applicants have rights regarding criminal background checks

07/01/2007

Q. Our company uses the sheriff’s office to run criminal background checks on all finalists for employment. Our application form notifies the applicants that their criminal histories might be reviewed, but we do not provide any further notice to them. Our new personnel director is adamant that this practice is in violation of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Is she correct?

Good faith and bad references

07/01/2007

Q. How do I give a reference for a worker I had to fire?

‘One-Man death squad’ headed Palisades nuclear plant security

07/01/2007

Officials are investigating a possible security breach at the Palisades nuclear power plant after Esquire magazine ran a profile of the plant’s head of security. Turns out, William Clark bragged about being a hit man …

Probation protects in case of bad background checks

06/01/2007

One good reason to have new employees serve a probationary period is that it gives you more time to check their backgrounds and find out whether they were forthcoming on their applications …

ChildNet could have used ‘Dragnet’ detective work

06/01/2007

Two facility managers for ChildNet, the agency that runs Broward County’s child welfare system, were fired after being implicated in several thefts at the agency …

Protect against your company’s biggest security threat: your employees

06/01/2007

A lost laptop containing the Social Security numbers of more than 50,000 people … A misplaced disk that contains account information for an entire state … Your company’s greatest security threat probably comes not from outside sources but from your own employees. To protect against such internal threats and loss of information, you need to take specific measures to reduce potential risks …

Background checks

06/01/2007

Q. When may an employer conduct background checks on employees and potential employees?

When interviewing applicants, beware these red flags

05/01/2007
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Prepare to justify policy barring former criminals

05/01/2007

Does your organization have a blanket policy of refusing to hire applicants with criminal records? If so, make sure you can explain exactly why. Because minority applicants may be statistically more likely to have criminal records, requiring a clean criminal-record history may have a disparate impact on a protected class and violate Title VII …

Prevent new type of lawsuit: Credit-Check discrimination

03/01/2007

If your organization uses credit checks in the hiring process, you’d better have a sound business reason for doing so or you could face a new type of litigation …