The Google background check
Traditional criminal checks have protections for employees built-in to the system, courtesy of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). State laws also serve to protect the subjects of employee background checks. Some criminal records dog job candidates longer than they would like, but at least the person is notified about the problem, and there are mechanisms for correcting inaccuracies. But in the Internet era, employers are increasingly using sites such as Google and MySpace to vet potential employees. What are the implications?
It is easy to see why the Google background check is so popular. It is free, instant, and can provide an insight into someone’s character in a way that an interview never would — after all, most interviews will not include details of bar hopping and sexual escapades. Criminal records may occasionally show up online, but the data found is often going to be from social networking sites. If someone posts data on themselves, through a public profile or blog, it is fair to expect that others may be looking. The situation gets murkier when third-parties post derogatory comments. It can difficult or impossible to prosecute an anonymous poster. Many web sites have recognized that the road to popularity is best reached by encouraging angry or pornographic screeds, and the reputational damage can be very real. The Washington Post recorded a striking example of this recently, where a top law student was denied […]
What are the legal requirements for a nanny background check?
If you are a consumer, as opposed to a business owner or human-resource professional, you probably do not run background checks very often. Maybe to check out a boyfriend, or a self-check prior to interviewing for a job. These are all casual searches that do not affect someone else’s job, credit, or housing. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) doesn’t apply, and there are few legal issues involved.
But the rules are different for nanny background checks. In hiring someone to look after your children, you will almost certainly want to run a criminal check, and maybe a driving record check as well. But now, you are a potential employer. What is the difference?
First, you should use an employment screening website, such as SentryLink, that is truly FCRA compliant — many are not. You must obtain a signed release from your babysitter before running the background check. If you find something in the background check that would prevent you from hiring or retaining her, you must notify her of that fact and give her a copy of the background report, along with the FCRA summary of rights. She may want to dispute the results of the report directly with the source that provided it, which is why an FCRA compliant provider is important.
As an employer, you will need to follow the rules given by the FCRA for employers. For full details, including a link to a
Automated background checks
At SentryLink, we like to keep up with the latest technology, so we were interested to learn about a new device that can automatically run a background check on someone entering a building. As reported on Kiosk Marketplace, a company called LobbyGuard Solutions has released a kiosk that will automatically run a background check against the national sex offender registry, as well as an optional internal list, before allowing them entry.
Here is how it works: A person swipes their driver’s license to get a visitor’s badge. The kiosk reads the information from the license, which will include name and date of birth. Using a broadband connection the kiosk then dials the home company to do the sex offender check against their database. It appears as if they are working off of the free national sex offender registry. It will also check against any “do not enter” list that the customer has set up.
While it is too soon to know if this particular device will catch on, kiosks have already proven themselves in corporate environments that are limited to employees. There are several ways in which access can be controlled, with fingerprint authentication as a great option for both convenience and security. Fingerprints also eliminate the problem of “buddy punching” for jobs where workers are paid per shift.
Although the sex offender check is innovative, I suspect that the market for that particular feature is likely to be limited to places frequented […]
What is an OFAC background check — and should I use it?
Many customers have asked us about OFAC, named for the Office of Foreign Assets Control. In this post we explore what OFAC is, what an OFAC check does, and whether it is appropriate for use in corporate employment screening.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is part of the U. S. Treasury. It is the official body that determines whether or not an entity or individual is permitted to do business with the United States. Sanctions, first used in 1812 against Great Britain, are part of the tools used to apply financial pressure to a group. The government learned a while ago that it is easier to interfere with or track the flow of criminal funds, than to prosecute the underlying criminal activity. Witness the case of Al Capone, convicted of income tax evasion rather than murder, and the successful use of anti-racketeering laws to reduce Mafia influence.
With the events of 9/11, OFAC’s attention turned to terrorism. The desire to identify terrorists increased in the business community as a whole. And in the context of criminal background checks, the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list became more important. This is
….a list of individuals and companies owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, targeted countries. It also lists individuals, groups, and entities, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers designated under programs that are not country-specific.
This list was primarily designed for use by financial institutions; they are not permitted to deal with anyone on the list. A […]
The origin of variable sentencing for criminal convictions
In the United States and many other countries, sentencing is a separate phase of a criminal trial. Once a defendant has been convicted, a judge will typically determine his punishment in the sentencing phase — and that punishment can vary. We are so used to this that the origin of the tradition is rarely questioned. But why would two people who committed the same crime serve different jail sentences? You might assume the purpose is to allow the circumstances of the crime to be taken into account, and indeed this is its main use today. As it turns out, variable sentencing has a far darker past.
Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species was published in 1859. Its impact was enormous, and like many new developments in science it was used and abused to justify current social practice. For that time period, this included the Western belief in the inferiority of non-white races and the lower intelligence of women. Scientists believed they could predict intelligence by looking at the shape of a skull. Fortunately, these ideas have been relegated to the dust heap by today’s scientific community, but they were quite influential in their day.
One of the new movements created was criminal anthropology, spearheaded by Cesare Lombroso. He believed that much criminal behavior was hereditary, that a criminal type existed, and criminal tendencies could be predicted by objective physical signs. Thick skulls, low foreheads, and long arms were all the mark […]
The FBI’s National Criminal Information Center
Today we look at the mother of all criminal record databases: the National Criminal Information Center, or NCIC. This is a compilation of various criminal record files that are maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The files of greatest interest for background check purposes tend to be the list of wanted persons, and individuals who have been “charged with serious and/or significant offenses”.
The NCIC actually has seven categories of people in its database. In addition to the two mentioned above, it includes:
- Missing persons.
- People the Secret Service believes are a danger to the President or other protected individuals.
- Members of violent gangs. Note that you do not have to be arrested to make it into this category.
- Members of terrorist organizations. As with gangs, proof is optional.
- Unidentified persons. Includes the dead, as well as the living who don’t know or can’t express who they are.
The criminal record files are backed up by fingerprints and other identifiers.
It is clear from looking at this list that NCIC is designed to cover a lot more than criminal convictions. There are also few restrictions from placing someone in the database. Since NCIC is effectively limited to law enforcement use, this did not cause problems for employment screeners at first. But with the events of 9-11 there has been increased interest in using NCIC for employment screening. If you are a hazardous material truck driver, as of May 2005 you must pass an […]