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The other night, a friend told me about a debate in his homeowners’ association. Some members wanted the association to require contractors to certify that they conduct criminal background checks on all new hires. Others think that’s extreme.
My friend asked me what I thought. I referred him to the Sue Weaver CAUSE website. They […]

PI Newswire, a news service for private investigators, splashed the following headline across the screen of my computer. Jury Finds Housing Authority Negligent in Elderly Woman’s Murder after Tenant Background Check Misses Neighbor’s Criminal Past. Here’s part of the lead.
A jury recently ruled that negligence by the Housing Authority in a North Carolina city led […]

“Are you a scarecrow?” my mother would ask, usually arching one eyebrow. The correct response was, “No Ma’am.”
The scarecrow my mother was referring to was the one in the Wizard of Oz. If you’re not familiar with that tale, let me refresh your memory.
Dorothy, a young girl living in Kansas, is picked up by […]

The American entrepreneur and department store executive, John Wannamaker, once said that “Half of all the money I spend on advertising is wasted. I just don’t know which half.”
Sounds to me like what you face with resumes these days. You know there may be falsehoods mixed in amongst the truth. But it’s hard to tell […]

John Phillips is one of the country’s leading experts on employment law. The good news for us is that he writes an excellent blog, The Word on Employment Law. There, he puts what he knows into terms that non-lawyer HR people and real-life managers can understand and use.
His February 16, 2010 post, “Alabama Shooting […]

The Macon Telegraph recently ran a story with this provocative headline: “Problem principals: Bibb school leaders had problems at previous jobs.” Here’s the lead.
In the past 18 months, four Bibb County principals were investigated for allegations ranging from choking a student and mismanaging federal money to testing blunders and having an affair with a subordinate.
Three […]

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 […]

Many of the stories I see about background checks have a familiar theme. “Background checks are a good idea, but I don’t want you to check on me.” That’s why a story out of Rapid City, South Dakota stands out.
The headline reads: “Ice cream vendors embrace background checks.” Here’s the lead.
Details of Rapid City’s proposed […]

To background check, or not, is online love’s latest question, at least according to the Salt Lake Tribune. The course of true love has never run smooth, but who ever thought it would come to this?
There have been plenty of stories lately about men and women using background check services like SentryLink to check out […]

An article in the Colorado Springs Gazette outlines how deferred sentences can let someone convicted of a crime pass your background check. Here’s what happened in Colorado.
Robert Lawrence Psaty worked as a mental health clinician at the Colorado Mental Health Institute. A waiter noticed him slip a pill into his companion’s drink while having dinner. […]

Seems like lately we’ve seen story after story about how one church or another didn’t do background checks that should have been done. So it was great to see the story in Christianity Today about how one church uses background checks and other tactics to preserve the safety of the children in its care.
The article […]

Yvonne Mintz, managing editor of The Facts, a newspaper in Brazoria Country, Texas wrote an insightful editorial titled: “BISD made right decision [budgeting money for quality background checks] for our children.” Here’s the core of her argument.
Sad as it is for a school district to have to pay big bucks for advanced background checks on […]

Under the headline, “Officials mandate screening staffers“, Florida Today reports the following.
“Effective today, no employee will be hired by the city without undergoing a criminal background check.” Here’s the background.
On January 15, the City Council of West Melbourne voted to hire Doug Wyckoff to a three-year contract as city attorney for more than $100,000 […]

The Houston Chronicle recently ran an editorial about background checks for taxi drivers in that city. Here’s the gist.
By April, taxi drivers who wish to pick up or drop off passengers at Bush Intercontinental Airport will have to pass a background check by the Transportation Security Administration. The cabbies, 80 percent of whom came here […]

Advance, a web site for health information professionals, asks: “What’s more expensive than the time and money invested in hiring and training a new employee?” Their answer: “Doing it again, when a new hire exits unexpectedly.”
Then they lay out several strategies, including background checks, for doing a better job of hiring. The article is […]

According to a headline in the Waco Tribune, “Bus driver charged with assault aced background check”. In the story, the claim is even stronger. “Hillsboro schools Superintendent Jerry Maze said the 64-year-old school bus driver accused of propositioning a 14-year-old student for sex passed the school’s ‘very comprehensive’ background checks.’”
There are people out there who […]

The Dallas Morning News reports that completing required background checks on non-educational school workers is turning into a real nightmare. The title of the article is “Costly fingerprinting required for Texas public school workers.” Here’s an excerpt.
Red tape and resistance have tripped up the state’s first crack at collecting fingerprints for an estimated 1 million […]

In Pikeville, KY, a community group is “urging property owners within Pikeville city limits to help build a safer community by doing background checks on potential renters“. Makes sense to me.
What’s unique about this story is that this is not a law enforcement agency or landlord’s association that’s urging the background checks. It’s a […]

In Bucks County, PA, the Bucks County Courier Times reports on how “Parents urge board to make background checks a must.” Here’s what’s going on.
Pennsylvania laws require employees of schools and daycare centers submit to background checks. It requires foster parents to get checked. The idea is that people in those positions have privileged access […]

Workplace violence statistics are hard to come by because they’re scattered all over. But we know it’s serious and we know that you need to act to help keep your employees safe and keep yourself out of court.
Here are some statistics from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the U.S. Department […]

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