Trouble Ahead
I love old black-and-white Western movies. One standard scene involved two trains speeding through the country toward each other. You knew that if something didn't happen, there'd be a big, nasty wreck. That's the scene in business today. Except, instead of two trains we've got screening practices and legislative efforts to make sure that everyone gets a fair shot at a job speeding toward each other. Over the last decade, more and more companies have started using criminal background checks and pre-employment credit screening. There's nothing wrong with that. But many of the employers who've climbed on the background screening [...]
E-RACE and You
Recently, HR Morning carried an article titled: "EEOC warns about background checks." It's about the E-RACE program. Here's a core paragraph. "The EEOC program designed to combat discriminatory practices tied to background checks is called E-RACE (Eradicating Racism And Colorism from Employment). It started when the agency noted, in the last few years, a steep climb in complaints from applicants who said they were unfairly excluded from competing for a job because of information that showed up on a background check." The key word here is "unfairly." If you're using background checks the right way you should be in compliance [...]