A great article showing the challenges some courts and states are having with an increased use of background checks:
The state of Maine received a record 37,000 requests for criminal background checks last month, a pace that the State Bureau of Identification says it can’t maintain without more staff.
WRONG. Many argue in todays day of identity theft that removing identifiers from public records all together is a good thing. The US Senate is conducting hearings on identity theft and many are suggesting that if you don’t allow individuals to see this information we are all protected. This is a slippery slope, the problem is if you remove this information you have no way to identify that the record you are looking at is on the person you are searching.
Lets take an example of John Mohammed, John is looking for a job as a car salesman, after John’s background check is complete the company finds out that he has a 1999 Auto Theft after which he served one year in prison. John’s criminal record shows his full name and date of birth. When John is told he did not get the job because of this he is shocked, his biggest concern is that in 1999 he was serving oversees in Korea.
John Mohammed is a very common name. It just so happens that this record belonged to another person by the same name with the same date of birth. What we need is MORE IDENTIFIERS on court records, this will protect consumers from being accused of crimes they may not have committed.
Some may further argue that John would have been protected becuase of the FCRA and his right to dispute the record and in turn get the job he intended. This may be true, however it does not always happen that way.
Its very important that consumers write to their congressman and senator to let them know that their intentions are good but exceptions must be made.
Recently, Texas almost passed the type of legislation that would limit identifiers on public records. Members of NAPBS were there to stand up and show how this would effect the pre-employment screening industry. Texas considered the issues and it looks like certain information will not be removed!
This week I attended the NAPBS annual conference in San Antonio TX. NAPBS has grown by leaps and bounds this year, currently over 400 companies have made the decision to join forces to have one voice for our industry. With recent news about security breaches and identity theft, Washington has been flooded with new legislative efforts to help consumers out with various issues. Before the formation of NAPBS the industry had no voice therefore bills were passed that severely hampered a company’s ability to perform quality and accurate background checks. Currently we are working with legislatures and elected officials showing them various ways to combat these issues without affecting our industry and our client’s ability to hire qualified, safe employees.
This week NAPBS held its second annual conference, it was a huge success. Members worked with privacy organizations to help consumers understand the differences between what happened with data brokers and how it is different from what our industry does. In addition we were further educated on various state laws and federal updates to the FCRA. Jason B Morris, President of Background Information Services, Inc. took over as co-chairman of the 2005-06 board of directors of NAPBS.
NAPBS will hold a mid-year government relations meeting in New Orleans and a “March on Washington” in July in order to meet with various elected officials to further our cause. As the association grows we will be lobbying congress to and other state legislatures to further the cause of NAPBS and the employers we represent. For more information on NAPBS please visit their website at www.napbs.com
You can’t pick up a newspaper or watch television today without seeing a story about background checks. Take a look at this story, there are still some schools and government offices that don’t screen their employees… In Milwaukee, the mayor has urged for tougher checks on police applicants.
Today I wanted to give my two cents on diploma mills. A recent article in the LA Times gives a new angle on what is happening in today’s society. Diploma mills are on the rise and anyone with an internet connection and a credit card can get one. Its very important to make sure your pre-employment screening company qualifies the schools they are verifying before attempting the verification. Imagine hiring an individual who claims he/she is a teacher only to find out they simply bought their degree.
It seems you just can’t open a paper or browse the Internet today without seeing an article on Identity Theft. I found a good article today on how to protect yourself against identity theft.
My recommendation is always, run regular credit reports on yourself, better to find out before it gets out of hand!
NPR (National Public Radio) last week had a great story regarding identity theft and upcoming senate hearings. NPR’s broadcast included many fine points about the data industry and the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act). Click here to listen to the broadcast. It is not clear yet how the background check industry will be effected by all the new legislation but I would imagine there will be a few new restrictions. Background Information Services along with NAPBS is working hard to address the concerns of the legislatures to make certain employers are still able to get the best product available.
There is a great series this week in the Cleveland Plain Dealer regarding the public records system in the United States. This is a great way for the layman to understand how the system works and to help protect yourself against identity theft.
Many companies in the United States are increasingly finding themselves hiring individuals from oversees. Most often employers fail to realize that many elements of their domestic pre-employment screening program can be conducted on these candidates. Typically, global screening consists of verifying education and employment based on information supplied by the applicant and some type of criminal check in the host country and, or country of origin. These types of background checks are critical due to the nature of most of these positions. BIS often finds that firms hire IT professional from oversees locations. Having an individual with access to all your firms’ critical data without proper due-diligence could prove to be a critical failure. In addition to servicing our US client base with their Global Screening needs, BIS also services foreign customers for their US and Global Screening requirements. BIS is one of six US pre-employment screening firms that is Safe Harbor Certified by the US Department of Commerce. BIS Global Screening Services does not operate as an international investigative agency.
In light of recent news events focusing on the protection of consumer information, we thought it might be important to reinforce the priority BIS places on protecting both your and your applicants’ information and maintaining the highest level of privacy. BIS understands that the information we provide can be damaging if put into the wrong hands, therefore we employ the use of a number of practices to safeguard against potential abuse.
While no security program can be deemed impenetrable, BIS mitigates any potential breach through the use of the following tactics. For security purposes, this list is not all inclusive.
BIS takes very seriously the trust that our clients place in us to maintain strict legal compliance and respect for your candidates’ privacy. We will continue to develop standards and practices designed to protect that trust.
