EmployeeScreenIQ Blog

Any company that employs those that operate or work on any type of commercial transportation system (airplanes, semi-tractor trailers, boats, railroads, etc.) are mandated by the Department of Transportation (DOT) to test employees.  Employees whose positions fall under DOT rules and regulations for drugs and alcohol both prior to employment and randomly must be tested. The DOT is VERY specific about how the tests are conducted, the percentages of employees that must be tested for drugs and alcohol on a yearly basis (depending on applicable DOT agency), and how often random selections are made. Failure to properly manage your company’s DOT drug and alcohol testing program can get you into trouble – namely large fines and possible loss of government contracts. The City of Chicago learned this the hard way. If there is ever any question about your DOT drug and alcohol testing program, do not hesitate to consult with your legal department or the Department of Transportation directly to get those questions answered. It may save you some heartache (and money) in the future!

Click here to read “City’s Drug Testing Chief Fired for Errors”

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You may remember that about two weeks ago, we blogged about this story. When perusing our local news affiliate’s website, I ran across this updated piece. I’m not sure which is scarier – this person working with special education students (as was her former position before she resigned) or working with small children at a day care center (her current position). Scratch that – both very frightening if the criminal records her former employer found in her past turn out to be legit. My question is – if these records do not belong to her, as she claims, why didn’t she officially refute the findings with her former employer instead of just giving up and resigning? Per the FCRA, she has the right to formally dispute the information found in her background check and is entitled to a correction in her report if it is discovered that the records really do not belong to her. Sounds a little fishy to me…

Click here to read “Teacher’s Aide Blames Criminal Background on Mistaken Identity”

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This company learned the hard way what can happen when an employee consumes alcohol on the job. A New Mexico man fell 20 feet to his death after slipping on a plank at a construction site. After the accident, it was discovered that this man along with some of his co-workers had been drinking on the job. One co-worker was arrested for a DWI shortly after the fall as he was leaving the scene of the accident. Not only had this employee been driving on a revoked license for the past 5 years, he had also been arrested previously for drunken driving.

The owner of the company indicated that he had no way of knowing about his employee’s revoked license and never would have allowed his employment if he had. A simple Motor Vehicle Record Check would have provided such information. A random drug and alcohol screening program may have deterred these employees from consuming alcohol during work hours (if keeping their job was important to them). Unfortunately, with all of these safeguards, accidents on the job can always happen. But it is up to the employer to make sure they are doing all that they can to make sure it doesn’t. Not only do employers need to actively protect their employees and customers from workplace accidents, they also need to protect the livelihood of their business.

Click here for the story

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If this study doesn’t convince you to randomly screen your employees for alcohol use (or drug use, for that matter), I don’t know what will. This UK study provides some staggering information on employee alcohol use in the workplace that may leave some of you surprised. While it is great that employers are conducting pre-employment alcohol and drug tests on their employees, it is equally important to continually screen your employees to make sure they are not drinking before work and habitually using illegal substances. Alcohol and drug use are the predominant factors in decreased productivity, absenteeism, and workplace accidents.

Your employee was clean when they started the job, but how about now?

Click here for the study

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More and more employers are including both pre-employment and random drug testing as part of their hiring procedure and company policy. As a few companies have learned, this is a VERY good idea as they are now finding many of their prospective employees are testing positive for a variety of illegal drugs. As a person who has been working closely with employeescreenIQ’s client base over the past few years with regards to their drug testing programs, I cannot begin to describe the stories I have heard and what a great idea it is for employers to drug test their employees and potential employees. What you find may surprise you!

If you are thinking about implementing drug testing in your workplace, please contact employeescreenIQ for more information regarding our substance abuse screening services.

Click here for the article.

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Looks like quite few people didn’t do a background check on the best way to conduct a background check. (Maybe that statement was overkill, but after reading this article, you’ll understand why I couldn’t resist!). This article talks about how one company had no way of knowing that their employee had out-of-state warrants and the limitations of Massachusetts CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) system, MA’s statewide database of criminal records information. employeescreenIQ, as well as many other outlets, have stated time and time again that statewide databases are notorious for having incomplete, inaccurate, and outdated criminal record information and should never be used as a sole criminal records source for companies looking to obtain a comprehensive background check on their prospective employees. Also, companies should be conducting criminal records checks in states other than the applicant’s current state of residence or just the state the company is headquartered in. Unfortunately, this message has not reached everyone’s ears and that is why we end up with situations like those described in this article.

This company could have potentially located this person’s out-of-state warrants and other possible criminal activity in his past by running a Social Security Number Trace, obtaining his address history, and running a criminal records check in every county he has lived in in the past 7-10 years. The company could have topped this off by running statewide and national searches in order to locate any records that may have appeared in places other than where he lived (this would have been our recommendation since the nature of the position this person had required that he travel without setting down a permanent residence that would have been detected by the SSN trace). This would probably be a bit pricey, but sure beats the cost of a negligent hiring lawsuit. I believe the author of this article could have done this story more justice by doing a little research on how companies can conduct a comprehensive background check and possibly save another company from having the same misconceptions.

Click here for the article

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Yet another shining example of someone working with children that should not have been. This just goes to show that school officials should make sure that the proper screening procedures are followed before a person is placed in a position of authority at a school. It’s one thing for the employee/volunteer to have a criminal past, but quite another when this person is contributing to the delinquency of those he is supposed to be supervising.

Click here for the story

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