Background check firms agree to $18M settlement

The putative class action lawsuits targeted two Verisk units: Intellicorp Records Inc. and Insurance Information Exchange LLC. These companies provide consumer reports including background checks. In their class action lawsuits, the plaintiffs accuse the companies of violating the FCRA by providing incorrect, outdated or incomplete information to potential employers. Specifically, they argue that the defendants…

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Superstore Target bans the box in their employee application process

The initiative, part of a widespread “Ban the Box” movement across the country, calls for employers to wait until a potential employee is being interviewed or has a provisional job offer before inquiring as to whether they have a criminal past. The idea is that ex-offenders will have a better chance at getting a job if…

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An employer’s guide to the background check process

Basic requirements Running a background check isn’t as easy as just pulling up the information on the web. There are regulations set forth by the Fair Credit Reporting Act that require employers to get written authorization before they are able to get the report. There are certain do’s and don’ts of background checks that come…

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Demand for criminal background checks at record level in Rhode Island

according to the Providence Journal. “Want to work as a massage therapist, schoolteacher, motorcycling instructor or caretaker in a nursing home? Need to bring your family to a homeless shelter? If the answer is yes, you’ll need to visit a police department or the attorney general’s office…where employees in the Bureau of Criminal Identification will…

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Giffords takes background check campaign to New York gun show

(Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)[/caption] Giffords and husband Mark Kelly, a former combat pilot and astronaut, were with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman at the Saratoga Springs Arms Fair on Sunday to highlight a voluntary agreement and stricter state gun control law. It was the latest event visited by Giffords and Kelly in their national campaign…

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Hundreds of U.S. security clearances seen falsified

This data includes the contractor that looked into Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis. Reuters calculated the total by reviewing court documents and press releases from prosecutors for 21 cases resulting in convictions that involved the making of false statements from December 2004 to March 2012. These are the cases government officials have cited to assert that action…

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$150K settlement in lawsuit over background checks

The class-action case was filed back in April by a woman who was denied rental housing based on drug convictions that were 17 and 24 years old. Under state law, such background checks aren’t supposed to include cases unless the conviction, sentence or parole period occurred within the past seven years. The ACLU (American Civil…

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EEOC responds to Attorneys General letter urging reconsideration of criminal background check guidance

a letter sent in July 2013 from the Attorneys General of nine states – Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia – that urged the EEOC to reconsider positions expressed in its ‘Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the…

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Employers: You need to screen your applicants with certified background checks

Not all background checks—or background check agencies—are made equal. As companies grow, they need more qualified people to fill new & existing job roles. But how do you “qualify” an applicant? Any applicant can be screened through a background check, but not all background checks or background check agencies are made equal. If you’re the…

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