pre-employment background checks
Should firefighters require background checks?
They spend time in and around residential areas and businesses during times of emergencies, and assist people at their most vulnerable. They visit schools for fire safety days and interact with children. Even so, it is not mandatory in every state for volunteer firefighters to undergo background checks, even if their full-time counterparts are fully…
Read MoreDon’t put all your eggs in one database when it comes to background checks
In their editorial, Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers and California Rep. Adam B. Schiff stated that all volunteers and potential hires working in these types of positions should be screened through the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System. Rogers and Schiff described the FBI fingerprint database as “the most robust criminal background check [system] available” and…
Read MoreWill your state enact ban-the-box laws in 2015?
In 2014, several states and metro areas instated laws that prohibit public employers from immediately disqualifying candidates that carry a criminal record. An employee criminal history disclosure is no longer required on initial job applications in Washington D.C., New Jersey, and Delaware, all of which passed ban-the-box laws this year, as did cities in New…
Read MoreEmployers and social media: avoid these 4 background-screening blunders
When employers are looking to hire, there are many things they must be aware of: avoiding discrimination, following the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and not breaking ban-the-box laws, to name a few. Throw a few Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn accounts into the mix, and suddenly making hiring decisions becomes a lot more treacherous. Be smart…
Read MoreNew ‘ban the box’ in Columbia, Mo. stops employers performing background checks prior to job offer
According to the National Employment Law Project, most ban-the-box laws allow federal or public employers to conduct background checks on job applicants after initial interviews are conducted, but prevent employers from asking on job applications if a candidate has been convicted of a crime. It is not very common for cities or states to push…
Read MoreLinkedIn ‘Reference Search’ lawsuit shows pitfalls for employers and social media
It’s no surprise when employers and social media mix during the hiring process, as employers often want to get an accurate idea of a prospective employee beyond the glossy resume and carefully culled reference list. LinkedIn provides a service, “Reference Search,” to help those employers that are premium account holders, by providing lists of individuals…
Read MoreStudy: College graduates undergo more background checks than executives
A new study by U.K. background-screening firm HireRight shares some scary statistics. In interviews with 140 human resources representatives, all of whom are employed by companies with more than 5,000 employees, researchers found that it is quite common for executive-level employees to undergo fewer background checks and screening processes than the typical entry-level, college graduate…
Read MoreWashington D.C. latest to ban the box on job applications
At the beginning of September, Washington D.C. passed its own ban-the-box law, joining the ranks of many other cities and states in preventing employers from requiring job applicants to state whether or not they have ever been convicted of a crime on an initial job application or during a first interview. The new law, called…
Read MoreCalif. police require social media passwords for employment screening, despite law
Some police agencies in California have been requiring prospective employees to hand over their social media passwords during background screening, or risk losing out on a job. California passed a law two years ago preventing employers from asking applicants for social media passwords, but there is a loophole: the wording of the law makes it…
Read MoreWoman who inspired Georgia educator background check law arrested in Florida
signed a new background screening law that requires all school employees — public and private — to undergo nationwide fingerprint background checks. Before the law was passed, school administrators in the state were required to submit to state and federal background checks, while other employees were only required to pass state background checks. The new…
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