We’ve spent a considerable amount of time this year discussing the EEOC’s aggressive attitude toward employers over the last 12 months. Whether for background checks, fair pay or workplace discrimination, this is not your father’s EEOC.  And Jon Hyman from The Ohio Law Blog confirms that it’s not just our imagination. Before we get into the stats I think it’s important to read Jon’s conclusion first.

“What does all this mean for employers? The EEOC is no longer an agency where charges go to die. Employers can expect more thorough investigations, quicker resolutions, and more aggressive enforcement. If you are charged with discrimination with the EEOC, you should take it seriously; the EEOC is.”

Now, here are the numbers:

The EEOC recently published its fiscal year 2010 FY 2010 Performance and Accountability Report. Given the state of the economy, its findings are not all that surprising. The EEOC reported a record number of discrimination charge filings, 99,922, its highest total in the agency’s 45-year history. What is surprising, however, is what the EEOC is doing with all these charges—it’s closing files.

Despite the record number of filings, the EEOC resolved 104,999 charges, leaving it with an inventory of 86,338 at the end of its fiscal year. While that number seems high, it’s less than a 1% increase from the end of FY 2009. By way of contrast, the EEOC’s pending inventory increased nearly 16% from FY 2008 to FY 2009. In other words, the EEOC is resolving cases—whether by mediation and settlement, litigation, or dismissals and right to sue letters.

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P.S. We extend our congratulations to Jon for being nominated to the ABA’s Top 100 Bloggers of the year list.

Well it’s that time again to catch up on the latest background screening highlights from our blog and EmployeeScreen University.  Welcome to This Week in Background Checks (TWIB).  Let’s jump right in.

States Contemplate Early Release for Prisoners to Ease Spending- How this trend can have an impact on your background screening program.

Chester Ludow Earns His Master’s Degree- Should we be concerned that Chester is a dog?

Substandard Background Checks in Schools- Just what is a “fantastic” background check?  With the latest incident occurring in my own back yard, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to rant.

EmployeeScreenIQ Recognized as one of NE Ohio’s Fastest Growing Companies- Ouch!  Our arms are sore from patting ourselves on the back.

Podcast!!! E-Verify Mandate Finally in Place for Federal Contractors- No, the bad place down south has not frozen over and donkey’s are not flying!

Credit Scores and Background Checks- Why these things do not go together like peas and carrots.

Yale University Student Murdered- This is clearly a workplace violence issue.  Could a background check have prevented this?

For lowlights of these highlights, be sure to check out our podcast below.

As always, we’ll try to do better next time.

Two great blog postings from two great online legal sources.  The first by Jon Hyman of Korman, Jackson and Krantz talks about a restaurants liability of firing employees after reading their Myspace posts.  This does not fit with our argument about not using it for background screening prior to hiring but it is closely related.  If you read our story about Bozeman Montana you will see how this jury finding is important and timely.  The practice of requiring employees to divulge their passwords violated the Stored Communications Act.

The second story comes from the Legal Blog Watch.  In it, 69 year old human rights activist Khedija Arfaoui is facing an eight month jail sentence in Tunisia for posting a message on Facebook about rumors of children being kidnapped in the country for their organs.  Enjoy!

Jon Hyman Blog

Carolyn Elefant Blog

Not all employers conduct background checks for every position they hire. But as this recent court case shows, sometimes they’re just plain necessary.

If there’s a type of job you’d think would automatically require a background check, it’s those that involve contact with children or the elderly. In fact, background checks for those positions are required by law in some states.

Read more from HRRecruiting Alert

Ready. Soapbox in place, OK, here we go!

Dear Uncle Sam, when you put a mandate in place please make sure you have the capacity and bandwidth to execute it.  I am sure we can all agree that screening dockworkers is paramount to an effective homeland security policy.  However, if you can’t screen them and reach your deadlines who is going to work on the docks?  Uncle Sam, many of us have lobbied you for years that the US Government does a horrible job with background checks, maybe this is your lesson learned.  As background screeners, we understand that the unions position is contrary to the goal that every job is not for every person.  We do agree with them that this process is very much flawed and workers can’t feed their families because you (still talking to my fictional Uncle Sam) can’t do your job properly.  A proper employment screening program can be executed by a qualified employment screening company in 1-3 days.  I am sure the AFL-CIO would concur that your method is flawed, lets do it right!

Report: Security Screening Process Flawed, Leaves Dockworkers Jobless

Thousands of longshore workers, truck drivers and other workers at ports across the nation are out of work, not because of a staggering economy, but because they are caught up in a backlogged, inefficient and often inaccurate screening process for background security checks.

According to a new report from the National Employment Law Project (NELP), the federal Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA’s) post-Sept.  11 port worker background checks have put thousands of otherwise qualified and experienced port workers on the streets instead of the docks, with no rights to back pay once they gain their security clearance.

Most of the workers caught in this bureaucratic limbo are members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), Longshoremen (ILA) and Teamsters (IBT).

The report is the first evaluation of the worker protections in TSA’s Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC). It finds that thousands of workers—disproportionately African American and Latino men—have had to wait an average of seven months while their applications are reviewed, leaving them unable to work and support their families in the midst of a devastating recession.

According to the report, “A Scorecard on the Post-9/11 Port Worker Background Checks,” more than 10,000 workers had lost their jobs while awaiting TSA approval of their TWIC cards after the April 14 compliance deadline passed. Laura Moskowitz, a NELP attorney who led the study, says:

Due to serious problems with the FBI’s records, insufficient staffing and poor TSA screening protocols, there have been major processing delays for workers at ports, which means that large numbers of hard-working families are being left out in the cold at the worst possible time.

To be approved for access to the ports, applicants are subject to criminal background checks using the FBI’s database, immigration status and other security checks. However, the report notes that 50 percent of the FBI’s rap sheets are incomplete or out of date. Contrary to the federal law, TSA denies credentials in an overly broad range of cases such as open arrests, even if they have been dismissed or addressed.

When a worker is denied a security clearance and decides to appeal, Moskowitz says:

TSA and the FBI put the entire burden on the worker to collect the necessary information to clear their records and navigate the process all on their own, which then leaves thousands of workers falling through the cracks of the TWIC program.

It also finds that while worker protections in the program’s appeal process take far too long, eventually almost all workers win their credential cards on appeal. More than 24,000 workers, largely African American and Latinos, were able to keep their jobs with the help of the special protections for workers who are initially denied a credential card based on their record.

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I first came across this topic earlier today reading Sam Narisi’s blog, HR Recruiting Alert.  A brilliant piece that originated from an article in last months Wall Street Journal.  Applicants are dumbing down their resumes so they don’t look OVERQUALIFIED!  In Narisi’s piece, “The New Lie Applicants Are Telling.” he states:

With jobs hard to come by, more and more applicants are lying on their resumes. But they’re not the kind of lies you’re used to.

As HR pros know, it’s not out of the question for candidates to inflate their past job titles and duties, or add academic degrees that were never completed.

But these days, many out-of-work managers are looking for stop-gap jobs and are stretching the truth in a different way — by “dumbing down” their credentials so they don’t appear overqualified.

A lot of formerly high-up employees are willing to step a few rungs down the ladder just to get a steady paycheck. Often, that requires them to convince hiring managers they won’t jump ship the moment the market improves and something better comes up.

One way their doing that: changing job titles to look less impressive, according to the Wall Street Journal. For example, one marketing exec listed her previous jobs as “manager” and “trend researcher” to “staff” and “office support.”

Candidates are also hiding degrees and other academic achievements. One woman looking for temporary clerical work said she received no calls from employers until she stopped listing her master’s degree on her resume.

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According to the Wall Street Journal’s article:

Kristin Konopka sent out nearly 100 copies of her résumé in January in search of receptionist work, but got only one callback. That’s when Ms. Konopka, a 29-year-old New York actress and yoga teacher, took her master’s degree and academic teaching experience off her résumé.

The calls started coming in. The slimmer version of her résumé landed in 30 in-boxes and earned her three callbacks and two interviews. “It definitely picked up the interest,” says Ms. Konopka, who realized quickly that people don’t “want to hire anyone who is overqualified.”

Securing work in a tight economy means more job seekers might find themselves applying for positions below their qualifications. Many unemployed professionals are willing to take paycuts for the promise of a paycheck. But to get a foot in the door, candidates are gearing down their résumés by hiding advanced degrees, changing too-lofty titles, shortening work experience descriptions, and removing awards and accolades.

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So, when we started EmployeeScreenIQ in 1999 one of our pitches was not to overpay candidates because they lied about their qualifications.  I guess employers need to be cautious and do background checks so not to pay market value when they are overqualified? Chew on that for a while???

Its one thing when a company fails to do a proper background check somewhere in the United States. Its another when it happens in my own county!  Cuyahoga County, well know around the State of Ohio for corruption has another feather for its cap.

Agency that transports the elderly within Cuyahoga County fires its finance director after The Plain Dealer inquires about his criminal past

Senior Transportation Connection — a public-private partnership that runs van service for senior citizens in about 20 Cuyahoga County communities — fired its finance director Wednesday, a day after The Plain Dealer confronted him about his recent criminal history of stealing from employers.

Jeremy D. Fields worked as a consultant for the agency since May 2007, months after getting out of prison for his second felony theft conviction in two years. Court records and interviews show that Fields, 32, embezzled nearly $200,000 from two area businesses before landing the job with Senior Transportation Connection.

Agency Director Janice Dzigiel said she was unaware of Fields’ criminal past until Tuesday when a reporter contacted Fields. Dzigiel said after Fields ended the phone call, he rushed into her office and revealed everything.

Dzigiel said she was stunned by the revelations and told Fields to turn in his keys and leave the agency offices, on West 150th Street in Cleveland.

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A caller to a recent NPR radio show suggested resumes go on the endangered species list. Several guests supported the caller, claiming Google and social media outlets like YouTube and Facebook were better ways to judge qualifications.

According to one guest, the staff of a U.S. Congressman appears to agree.

A 21st century guy

Blog entry: April 22, 2009, 10:12 am     |     Author: SCOTT SUTTELL

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, an up-and-coming Democrat from Niles, is a pretty modern guy. An anecdote about him on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” show Tuesday reinforces the point.

The show built off a Washington Post feature about spring cleaning that asked 10 writers to name institutions or people we’d be better off without.

A “Talk of the Nation” caller suggested the country would be a better place without resumes, which are so polished and formulaic that they tell employers nothing of value about an applicant.

One of the show’s guests, Ana Marie Cox, national correspondent for Air America, agreed and noted that at a recent event Rep. Ryan mentioned that he no longer accepts resumes from people who want to work in his office. Instead, according to Ms. Cox, the congressman requires job applicants to take a writing test and to submit a YouTube video about themselves.

Pretty great idea. For the record, Rep. Ryan on his web site posts some biographical information but no formal resume, and the home page features 35 YouTube videos on various topics.

Click the link below for the audio piece. The comments are around the 24 minute mark.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103327792

Now, it is important to note that our staff has not corroborated the hiring practices claimed in the article or the NPR piece. So this isn’t a commentary about a Congressional office’s hiring practice. But it’s an interesting concept.

Are resumes “”positioned” to make a candidate look good? Of course. And while I appreciate the novelty of the idea and embrace using technology to complement a hiring strategy, I obviously disagree. After all, how do you know if what the applicant says on YouTube or their Facebook and LinkedIn profile is accurate?

We find discrepancies on resumes about 55% of the time. Not all result in a client pulling a job offer. But many of them do. How many discrepancies would be found by watching a video online? Depending on where he or she worked, how many of you would be comfortable with that person in that position?

Next week in Las Vegas, employeescreenIQ will be at the SHRM Staffing Management Conference speaking about the dangers of using social networking sites as a pre-employment screening tool. If you will be there, we’d love you to stop by and add your .02.

Welcome back to This Week in Background Checks (TWIB) where we highlight some of the top stories posted on employeescreen University and the IQBlog.  Here’s a quick recap:

From the IQBlog

• Mr. Background Check Went to Washington- Jason Morris and I recently spent two days in Washington DC meeting with our nation’s legislators about the issues that affect the background screening industry and the organizations we represent.  And no, there is no truth to the rumor that I spent the night in the Lincoln bedroom.
• People Lie on Their Resumes!- Say it ain’t so.  A recent CareerBuilder survey indicated that 57% of job candidates who lie on their resumes are automatically disqualified from employment.  Does that mean that 43% of the liars make it through?
• Goverment, Schools and Social Services Do Poor Background Checks- Okay, so we might have discussed this topic once or twice, but check out this recent state of Utah audit
• NFL Players Association and the U.S. Department of Treasury Putting Background Checks to Good Use- It’s about time we see some positive stories about background checks.  I guess no one is interested in hearing a story about a background check gone right.

From employeescreen University

• Struggle to Find Job Can Increase When School and Employers Don’t Recognize Law- employeescreenIQ research shows that electronic signatures are rejected 57% of the time when used to conduct background checks.
• Upcoming Conferences and Speaking Engagements- If the sound of our podcasts haven’t driven you away, maybe our meeting us in person will.  Below are some of the highlights.
  • SHRM Staffing Management Conference- We will be exhibiting and Jason Morris will be leading an educational session on Social Networking Sites.
  • Upper Ohio Valley SHRM Workshop- Nick Fishman will wax poetically on the emerging Technology Trends in Background Checks
  • Gulf Coast Symposium on Human Resources Issues- Jason Morris leads an education session about the Top Trends in Background Checks
  • 61st Annual SHRM Conference- New Orleans baby!

And Finally, Some Shameless Plugs

• IQBlog goes Mobile
• Follow employeescreenIQ on Twitter

That’s all she wrote!  Remember, for all you brave souls that you can listen to the podcast version of this installment of TWIB notes below.

As always, we’ll try to do better next time!

What would the Noid do? We make it a policy while blogging to never directly call out a company for not conducting proper background checks.  However, this story is on every news outlet, newspaper, blog, video service and twitter on the internet.  I have seen and heard this story at least 25 times in the past 24 hours.  Our friends a Cheezhead did a great job explaining it!

After a shocking video that showed Domino’s employees putting food up their nose and passing gas on salami surfaced on YouTube to an audience of millions, the pizza chain went into a damage control frenzy.

The perpetrators were captured and slapped with felonies. Their criminal history has been revealed much to the disgust of the American public, many of whom wonder how one of the accused, who had a rap sheet including sexual battery and possession of stolen property, was eligible to be hired for a job dealing with the public in the first place.

An exhausted and embarrassed Patrick Doyle, Domino’s president, appeared in his own video today in which he assured the public that everything has now been handled appropriately. The statement borders on begging. Check it out for yourself.

If they do revamp their hiring policies, would you give them a second chance?

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