The United States is not the only country to see the increased need for employee screening. An article published August 12^th 2008 by The Economic Times references the growing use of background checks by small businesses in India. The article states that background checks were traditionally considered a practice reserved for high-level positions at large corporations. However, small businesses in India are also seeing the benefits of running a thorough employment background check prior to making any hiring decisions.

 This article has shown amid increasing numbers of reports; indicating a jump in the number of fraudulent job applications both in the US and abroad. Unemployed workers are falsifying their references and academic backgrounds more than ever, increasing the need for comprehensive employee screening before a hiring decision is made.

 The Times article theorizes that the increase in fraudulent applicants in India may be due to the decrease in job opportunities nationwide and the resulting intense competition to find employment. With the United States in the midst of an economic downturn itself, it is wise for both large and small US employers to complete employment background checks on their candidates.

 An employment background check can be run on a potential employee, with their permission, using a qualified employee screening company. A comprehensive check will look into the applicant’s criminal history, employment references and confirm their educational backgrounds. Further background research is usually recommended based on the position and hiring company.

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Employee fraud is a major issue in the United States. The term ‘fraud,’ in this case, stands for anything from property theft to misrepresentation to complicated legal schemes. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners released a report in 2006 entitled, “The Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse.” This report is a reminder of the value of comprehensive employee screening.

A few key numbers from the ACFE’ 2006 report:

-  The median loss caused my occupational fraud was $159,000.

-  It was estimated that occupational fraud could account for up to $652 billion in losses for US organizations in the year 2006.

-  Small businesses of 100 employees or less suffered disproportionate losses in fraud schemes, with an average of $190,000.

-  Of all the types of occupational fraud that were reported, 91.5% were asset misappropriation frauds.

There are no guarantees when it comes to occupational fraud. Even with an employment background check system in place, it may be possible for your company to become the victim of fraud. However, employee screening is still very important in reducing the likelihood of becoming a victim.

Employee screening will also help insulate a company from liability for large negligent hiring lawsuits that are often filed against employers when employee fraud occurs. In many of these cases the company has no knowledge of any wrongdoing, but failed to be diligent during the hiring process. Therefore, the company is held liable for the actions of their employee(s) who were involved in the fraud.

Contact Employer’s Reference Source Northwest today for information on how to improve your employee screening process and help protect your company from fraud.

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The Vail Daily newspaper recently published an update to the story of a Vail, CO resort currently involved in a lawsuit. The suit stems from an employment background check that did not do enough to uncover a ski instructor’s criminal background. The ski instructor in question was charged with rape of a 17 years old ski student. The instructor was found not guilty, but the family of the girl now has a lawsuit against the ski resort.

 The lawsuit claims that the resort had advertised that they always ran an employment background check on all their applicants. In fact, the human resources director did run a background check on the instructor in 2004 but it only revealed a glimpse of his criminal past.

During the criminal trial proceedings it was revealed that his criminal rap sheet actually dated back to 1989 and contained numerous arrests. Included on this extended criminal background were arrests made for criminal mischief, car theft and trespassing.

The Vail resort is now trying to prove to the court that it did its due diligence or it faces a multimillion-dollar settlement. The case is yet another reminder of the dangers employers can face when they do not require enough on their employee screening process. As it happened, the employment background check that the resort ran on the instructor only looked back 5 years.

A professional employee screening company will work with a client to prevent a situation like this. In this case of the resort, it was apparent that a more extensive background check was necessary to get a full profile of the ski instructor. Don’t let this happen to your business, invest in a comprehensive employee screening service and reduce your risk.

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The Necessity of Ongoing Employee Screening for Current Employees

Contrary to popular belief, employee screening does not always end with the hiring of a new employee. Numerous industries are already utilizing post-hire screening with many more on the way. Post-hire screening is recurrent screening that periodically checks certain aspects of an employee’s background to make sure there have been no significant changes since their hiring. Recurrent drug tests, criminal checks and periodic relicensing are examples of recurrent post-hire screening.

 There are many industries that could benefit from ongoing employee screening. Those businesses that operate with a great deal of liability for their employee’s need to continually reaffirm that employee is clean, sober and staying out of trouble. A company who has hired a driver would certainly want to know if that driver had been amassing speeding tickets in the year since their hire. Post-hire employee screening is the way to go about this. Running a comprehensive employment background check is necessary to protect the company from risk while building trust with the employee. Post-hire checks are necessary to reduce legal liability on the part of the employer, while further building trust with the employee.These post-hire checks are also a necessity when a current employee is moving over to a different position or department within the same company. Whenever this happens, different aspects of the employee’s background may become more relevant than others and may not have been adequately checked during their initial screening. A qualified employment background check provider such as Employer’s Reference Source will be able to develop correct and legal ongoing background checks for any business. Contact them today for more information.

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Blog #1: The BBC Reports on Embellishing Students & Employee Screening

The BBC recently reported on a matter very interesting to the employee screening industry. It was concerning a study done by the UK employee screening agency Powerchex.  It involved verification of nearly 4,000 students’ application materials for financial service positions. The study found embellishments on the part of a significant percentage of students. More interesting was the correlation they discovered between the ranking of each University and the percentage of students who embellished.

During the employee screening process, it was discovered that more students from the lower ranking Universities, around 43%, stretched the truth or lied on their applications. Of the students who graduated from more prestigious Universities, the percentage of those who lied dropped down to 14%.

The BBC did not go into depth regarding the analyzing of the figures, but the staggering difference in the percentages did indicate a few possibilities.  It could very well be that the large percentage of lower ranked University students who embellished on their applications did so to be considered as qualified as the top University students. It follows than that the top University students would not feel as inclined to falsify their resumes because they would be more confident in their achievements and credentials.

While this study is not meant to show that only top University graduates can be trusted when applying for positions, it is a reminder that employee screening is necessary to weed out those whose resumes outshine their own past.

More on the figures from the article on the BBC website at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7517918.stm.

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Case Study: Dallas Schools Backlogged and Behind

Would you want to know the backgrounds of the people working with your children? The residents of Texas did.  In 2007 as they passed a law that required in-depth background checks for both their current and future employees. This law came on the heels of reports of delayed and incomplete background checks on the part of the Dallas Independent School District.

This particular school district was not keeping up with the employee background check requirements and was backlogged for months. It was also using non-comprehensive databases for the states where the employees had lived.

In today’s world, comprehensive pre-employment screening is vital. Letting screening standards lapse into the state that the Dallas school district did left the children in potentially harmful situations and the district open to legal action.

The passing of the new law in Texas was an acknowledgement that the limited background searches were insufficient to discover the complete backgrounds of school employees. After all, with checks like this, the employee need only leave a suspicious state off the application and their employer would be none the wiser.

The Dallas Independent School District eventually discovered that in their backlogged background checks, numerous employees had undisclosed criminal records that had not been discovered in their limited checks.

If a comprehensive employee background check system had been in place much earlier, the district would not have been employing people with questionable backgrounds. Don’t let potentially harmful employees slip by with an inadequate pre-employment screening practice.  Consult with a qualified employee background check provider to guarantee that due diligence will be exercised.

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Imagine hiring an employee and then finding out he has been accused of rape.  This is just what happened in the case of Andrew Bolsinger. 

 If you do not perform an employment background check prior to hiring, he or someone like him may be your next employee.  Employee screening will show patterns of past behavior.  It is not just the criminal element, there are many warning signs in the employment history and driving history. 

Have your employees screened by professionals with experience.  Then if something happens to your customers or employees you have done your best to prevent it.  A court of law looks favorably on that.  It is called Due Diligence with respect to hiring practices.  Employers Reference Source provides risk assessments at no charge.  How vulnerable are you?

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Employers must have personal information about their employees including Social Security numbers, date of birth and full name.  This information is crucial to the employer for them to comply with hiring laws.

Recently, Oregon and Washington passed legislation regarding how this information is protected, stored and destroyed.  An article regarding New Employee Privacy Rights in Oregon and Washington explains the requirements.

We would think that common sense would dictate taking special care with employee’s personal information.  Yet, we frequently hear stories of personal information being disposed of improperly or made available to identity thieves.  Now each business must have a security plan and breach notification procedures.  There are regulations that spell out exactly what must be done and the business may be held accountable.

Maybe the new regulations will make a business think twice before handling employee information in an unsecure manner.  What do you think?  Comments Welcome!

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