A policy of performing background checks is useless unless it’s followed

Colleges large and small continue to be rocked by news of former and current coaches and teachers molesting the children under their care. Penn State University, Syracuse University, and now The Citadel in Charleston all have made headlines in recent weeks when charges were brought against their former or current staff members. Last week the case against former high school tennis coach Louis “Skip” ReVille of Charleston, charged initially with molesting several boys, was widened to The Citadel, where ReVille supervised boys in a summer tennis camp. One former camper has accused ReVille of showing boys pornography and performing sexual acts in their presence.

Perhaps the scariest announcement came from the Diocese of Charleston, which hired ReVille in 2008 to coach tennis at Bishop England High School. The diocese recently admitted that although they’ve had a policy in place since 2003 requiring all employees and volunteers who work with children to undergo a background check, no such check was performed on ReVille before he was hired.

The story makes clear the point that it is not enough to merely have a background check policy in place, you must follow through and perform said background checks, including a look at someone’s criminal record and searching for them in sex offender registries — every single time, no exceptions. A policy is just a useless piece of paper if it isn’t followed. And there is much more than legal trouble at stake.

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California latest state to say pre-employment credit checks not OK in most cases

California has become the latest state to ban credit checks during the pre-employment screening process, a move that proponents say will help those down on their luck get jobs based on their merit without having to account for their recent hard times.

Exceptions to the new rule, put forth in Assembly Bill 22 by Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, include jobs in the state’s Department of Justice and law enforcement, managerial positions, and those that control $10,000 or more during their workday. Also, employers can still conduct background checks of prospective hires.

California joins Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Oregon and Washington as states that have imposed pre-employment credit check bans. Similar legislation has been proposed or is pending in 28 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Several business groups are opposed to the new law, saying it makes employers vulnerable to theft and fraud from their own employees. But those in favor of the law say credit checks unfairly cull candidates who are fully qualified but whose credit scores were damaged by layoffs, foreclosures and other financial hardships.

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Institute checks and balances to lessen risk of internal fraud

The higher up the ladder, the farther someone has to fall — and the more damage they can do on the way down. When employers consider using some type of employment screening process, it is often targeted toward prospective employees in lower-level jobs, where the fear of a criminal record or a history of drug use might be at play. But executives in higher-level positions can have just as many skeletons in their closet, and they are often given the keys to the company’s assets on a far greater scale than those in the mail room.

The threat of high-level executives committing fraud is a real one, and it’s something that should be considered and checked out before anyone is given a contract or job offer. There are a few checks and balances your company should employ, to alleviate your risk of an employee committing fraud.

1. Create a culture that instills ethical business practices and honesty on every level. No one should be — or be perceived to be — above or beyond these rules.
2. Do your homework during the hiring process by conducting a thorough background check on all employees at every level. Again, nobody should be exempt from this process.
3. Have an airtight system of internal checks and balances in place to be able to detect fraud at its earliest point and stop it in its tracks. For example, business processes like recording sales, billing customers, collecting customer payments and updating customer accounts should be divided between several people. That way someone is sure to come across any differences in account amounts or information

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Majority of retailers surveyed conduct background checks

A recent survey by the National Retail Federation has found that nearly all of the country’s leading department stores, grocery stores, large drug stores, discount stores and restaurants surveyed — a whopping 96.6 percent — use some form of background screening during the application, hiring and employment process.

This includes pre-employment screening on senior executives, store associates, and particularly those in customer service. The survey also showed that retailers are concerned over potentially new Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines that would “Ban the Box” – a term referring to the box asking about criminal history seen on most application forms – and prevent businesses from asking job applicants about their criminal history during the application and pre-employment process. Twenty-eight cities and counties across the country have “banned the box,” no longer asking potential employees whether they have any felony convictions.

The survey also found retailers conduct post-employment screening at a high rate on store associates, store management, and distribution center employees. The most common type of background check is the criminal history check, followed by the Social Security Number trace, and a check of the applicant’s sex offender status.

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Don’t Overlook College When Delving Into Candidate’s Past

Most reputable employment screening companies will go back seven years to delve into an applicant’s past. While that’s helpful, it’s not always complete. That means if a candidate has been out of college for more than seven years, chances are the company might not check out their educational credentials.

But that is one thing every employer should check, from the entry-level position to the top level executive. Despite the trend toward third-party employment screening, a lot of people still inflate their resumés. In 2006, it was revealed that RadioShack's CEO David Edmondson had lied about his education. On his resumé he claimed to have two degrees, when he in fact had none. And Bausch & Lomb's former CEO Ronald Zarrella claimed he had a MBA from New York University, but it was later uncovered that he had never finished the program.

It’s a good idea to check into the applicant’s educational background, to verify their degree, GPA and the applicant’s supposed honors, awards and society memberships.

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Don’t Get Complacent: Do Your Homework Every Time

When a landlord goes through a string of exceptional tenants, it’s easy to get complacent with the entire tenant screening process. It’s easy to start to believe that most, if not all, tenants are trustworthy, hardworking, honest folks who just need a good temporary place to call home. It’s natural to fall into the trap of believing you have an eye for figuring out which applicant will make a great tenant, and who will not.

But when a landlord gets overly confident in his or her “gut instinct,” that’s when trouble arises. That’s when a thorough tenant screening begins to slide into a much more casual routine of checking a few references and calling the applicant’s employer.

If you are one of those landlords, it’s time for a wake-up call. The harsh reality is that problem tenants do exist. There are people out there who are looking for someone vulnerable enough to fall for their lies, trust them, and offer them a place to live. There are people who will destroy your property, rack up bills and never pay them, skip out on rent, and possibly put their neighbors and yourself in danger because of their criminal histories.

Don’t let protocol slide when it comes to tenant screening. Be as diligent with your latest tenant’s application process as you were with the very first tenant you ever signed to a lease. Don’t just check their references, check their previous evictions. Check their credit report. Consider their criminal record. Do your homework, every time, regardless of your instincts. It’s way better to be safe than sorry.

For more information on tenant screening, visit:  http://www.alwaysscreen.com/

Avoid Online Job Postings That Sound Like a Scam

Online job postings are the norm and have been for many years now. As with anything, scammers are out there trying to swindle money from honest folks who believe what they read on the Internet and trust “employers” they’ve never met.

According to the Better Business Bureau, employment listing scams sometimes involve the so-called employer asking for payment to run a background check on the job applicant. The Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Dallas recently uncovered a scam where job applicants were told they had to pay $64.50 for a background check before they could be considered for a cleaning job. But after paying for the employment screening, the job hunter never heard back from the company.

Job seekers should never submit their bank account information, credit card information, or Social Security number over the phone or email. As an employer, you should disclose that pre-employment screening will be part of the application process, but never put job seekers in the position to question the validity of your job listing by asking for personal information or payment of any kind.

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