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News Archives - Never Too Careful

Employers struggle with just how far they can go to safeguard their clientele

By JANICE BUANNO BOYLES
For The Leader-Herald

New York state is getting tougher on hiring practices in the child care industry and has set some high standards for workers in the field. Late in 1999, the Quality Childcare and Protection Act mandated that criminal background checks be done on all operators, employees, assistants and volunteers of child day-care centers, school age, child-care providers, family day-care homes and group, family day-care homes regulated by the state.

To further safeguard children, the bill also requires that people 16 years and older living on the premises of a family day-care home or group family day-care home must also undergo a criminal background check.

Those found to have convictions for certain serious crimes are automatically disqualified from operating or working in day care settings. Furthermore, the bill allows providers to deny an application in cases where other criminal offenses or convictions are identified.

But that’s not all.

As part of the provider’s initial application for any child day care license or registration, the operator or provider needs to furnish the state Office of Child and Family Services with fingerprint cards of all employees and volunteers.

While New York state is paying for the cost for processing fingerprints for group and family day care providers, operators of day care centers and school-age, child care programs are responsible for the fee for processing fingerprints of existing and prospective employees and volunteers and are allowed the option to pass the cost on to applicants.

Melinda Malagisi of Cherished Memories Daycare of Gloversville says her employees have been fingerprinted.

"Our employees take the fingerprinting cards to the Police Department, where they get the procedure done," she said. "Then the state runs the background check on them. We don't need to set up an appointment with the police. You just walk in."

Gloversville Police Capt. Robert Gugenberger said that at one time, 15 employees of the YMCA in Gloversville showed up together. “We just scheduled another time, and we went to them to do the fingerprinting,” he said.

While stiffer regulations require background checks and fingerprinting for those caring for children in a state-registered environment, many other businesses are on their own to formulate their company’s policies and procedures in the matter.

"We now require background checks on all of our employees, other than the normal written reference checks," Lexington Center Director Paul Nigra said.

Nigra says Lexington employees are put through the state’s central registry check like day care providers, while those who work more directly with clients in their homes are fingerprinted. John Nasso, the executive director of Catholic Charities in Johnstown, said, “We know there’s a potential problem out there when it comes to safety in the workplace.

"Because of the low unemployment rates, many companies hire the first warm body they can find just to fill a position out of necessity," he said. "I've been communicating with the district attorney's office about what can be done to screen prospective employees in the area." Room to Grow Daycare on South Main Street in Gloversville is an agency of Catholic Charities, which is also responsible for two mental health programs and several counseling programs in Fulton County. "We've been researching different employee screening companies on the Internet, but haven't chosen a way yet to do extensive background checks," Nasso said.

According to Jason Morris, president of Beachwood Background Information Services in Ohio, the potential for violence can exist in any workplace.

"Many individuals in management positions believe disagreeable workers are to blame for workplace violence, and as a result are advised to assess workers and job candidates for their alleged propensity towards violence," Morris said. "One common practice used to identify an employees violent tendencies is psychological testing. Although these tests attempt to reveal which workers may act violently and may be good indicators for some employers, it's still not enough."

Like a convicted child abuser who secretly operates a day care center only to commit acts of the unthinkable again and again, Morris says workplace violence not only affects co-workers but also customers. In his report, “Violence in the Workplace — A Growing Problem in America,” Morris cites various incidences of violence in the everyday workplace:

"A furniture store hired a deliveryman who looked good on paper and fit the qualifications perfectly. After working for a few months, the man raped a customer in her home when he came to deliver her order. Had the company conducted a background check, they would have found two prior incidents of sexual misconduct.

"And a McDonald's restaurant in Ohio hired an employee who later assaulted a 3-year-old child in the workplace. And there's the pizza restaurant that hired a convicted child molester who later was accused of raping two teen-age employers. There's so much evidence of an over-stressed population, of the employee who is downsized, laid off or unable to handle the company's growth in technology. There's lack of workplace support, understaffing, lack of training, recession, massive mergers and unemployment that drive workers to the brink. There's television, movies and music that depict violence as an accepted means of problem solving, not to mention the accessibility of handguns," the report states.

In his report, Morris suggests setting up company-wide policies and procedures as a way to curb the violence.

"When a company has these set in place, following them will become second-nature. And conducting a thorough background check through an accredited pre-employment screening agency is very important," the report said. "Companies are able to find out the history of violence and incarceration, history of drug use, abuse, negligence and other derogatory information on an applicant. By taking it a step further and verifying past employment, companies may also find a lapse in their employment history including violence at another workplace." Morris said this type of screening should also include a credit check, DMV check and a public records search. He further advises that a company should develop a committee to deal with this procedure and violence-in-the-workplace issues.

Morris said that about 30 percent of businesses now do pre-employment screening that can cost anywhere from $35 to $275. This includes a Social Security number verification, a driver’s license search, employment and education verification, local and federal criminal record searches and a consumer credit check.

Ken Derr, the manager of special operations for AMRIC Associates in Syracuse, agrees that employees need to have a safe working environment and that before an employee is hired, companies have to notify all applicants and perspective employees that a complete background investigation will be conducted. Derr says that the type of employee background check a company does depends on the type of position being filled.

Derr says the cost of taking on an AMRIC’s employee screening service can run anywhere from $75 for a basic background check to a more extensive search costing $200 to $400.

"The charges depend on several factors," he said. "If we're researching a person who has moved a lot or lived in various areas of the country, our search could take upward of two to three weeks and cost more than the basic three-day search done for a local person." AMRIC has two representatives in Fulton County.

Derr says AMRIC Associates are experienced in financial fraud, white-collar crime, environmental violations, government procurement fraud, personal protection, internal and external thefts, accident investigations, insurance frauds, product liability, vulnerability assessments, computer security, background investigations, trademark violations, tax fraud and workers’ compensation.

While it is possible to search the Internet for employment screening specialists, Derr said that online databases are unreliable. “They can be outdated and incomplete, and New York state does not have a statewide criminal background search database,” Derr said. “We physically travel to court houses and state houses and do hands-on investigations.”

Morris agrees.

"Companies that have field workers, as opposed to simply checking databases, are going to provide better information," he said. "Any bigger companies that have been doing pre-employment screening, if they use an online service, they're not going to be doing it for very long. I used to be a private investigator, and having the ability to run online searches is great, but it's scary."

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