EmployeeScreenIQ Blog

We just published a great article on EmployeeScreen University by Robert Jones, Director of Operations at Socrates Ltd. which analyzes the prevalence of employment screening in Brazil and the intricacies and nuances of performing background checks in country.

Here’s a sneak peek at how this international background check is performed:

Performing Background Checks in Brazil

Brazil has one of the world’s fastest growing and dynamic countries.  The country will host the 2014 Soccer World Cup and in 2016 the Summer Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro. By 2016 Brazil is projected to have overtaken France to become the fifth largest economy in the world (Source Brazilian National Bank for Economic Development (BNDES)).  The country was largely unaffected by the recent global financial crisis and continues to increase its influence on the world stage.

It is therefore understandable that in recent years there has been a significant increase in requests for background checks with a Brazilian component and the good news is that it is usually possible to perform screening inquiries with reasonable efficiency and efficacy.

Identifying Particulars

Let’s first look at how to establish unique identifying particulars:

1. A date of birth is a key identifier in Brazil. Dates are expressed as day/month/year.

2. Brazil is at times a confusing bureaucracy. For example, each citizen is required to have a Registro Geral (general registry) number, known as a RG number. Although this number appears on an official Brazilian ID card, The RG number is issued at the state level and also by a number of other bodies (such as the armed forces). Therefore, it is not only possible, but also legal, for an individual to have multiple RG numbers. Legal residents of Brazil, who are not citizens, are issued with a Registro Nacional de Estrangeiros (national register of foreigners) number, known as a RNE number. Because the federal police manage this registry at the federal level it is an unique identifier. However, for screening purposes, like the RG, it does not have much value.

3. Anyone that wishes to open a Brazilian bank account, purchase property, buy or lease a car or a cell phone, work for a company or otherwise participate in the local economy must apply for and receive a Cadastro de Pessoa Física(Individual Taxpayer’s number), known as a CPF number. It is worth noting that there is no residency or citizenship requirement for the issuance of a CPF number. This number is, for practical purposes, the only unique government issued document that can be relied upon during the identification process.

4. Brazilians speak Portuguese and a significant percentage of the population is of Portuguese heritage. Women normally adopt part of their husband’s last name upon marriage and children usually take the last name of both father and mother. Thus the child of Maria Silva and José Santos could be Lucas Silva Santos.  However, the child of Lucas Silva Santos would most likely take the grandfather’s name (Santos) and drop the grandmother’s name (Silva). That said, there is not definitive formula, which makes it important to have the mother’s name as well as an individual’s full name as a step in the identification process.

Identity theft is not unheard of in Brazil, but with a full name, mother’s name, CPF and date of birth, identification can be considered definitive.

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We just published a guest article on EmployeeScreen University by Verifile Limited’s Eyal Ben Cohen about international employment background checks.  Check out this excerpt below.

International background screening is rising in prominence and is becoming ever more critical to businesses as borders open up and the battle to hire the best talent intensifies. This article provides an overview of international background screening and an insight into the importance of conducting thorough international employee checks correctly and legally.

So picture this scenario, Mark has been appointed to a new senior role and his employer wants to check his background. He has had an international education and career path which has enabled him to work abroad. He studied in Switzerland and Germany and enjoyed a successful career in Australia, Malaysia and the UK before moving to the US. This will not be a completely unusual scenario to many readers. But how can we effectively check Mark’s credentials to ensure he has been honest and truthful in his application for the role?

Evidently we are going to have to screen Mark in each of those countries mentioned, but how should we do this? Many screening companies are experts on the rules and regulations of their own countries, but many do not know to what extent regulations or background checks differ abroad. Before starting any checks we need to have a clear understanding of the local laws and cultures in each country. For example, in the US criminal records are obtained from county and Federal courts, but it is impractical to conduct a national check by going to every court in the US. But this does not mean that the rest of the world uses the same process. On the other hand in the UK, national checks are possible through official government bodies set up for this purpose, and indeed by law it is illegal to obtain criminal records in any other way, for example by trying to copy the US approach by going to a local court.

When faced with an international check, there are six key areas to consider:

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Our neighbors to the north are decades ahead of us in passing legislation to curb workplace violence. Major changes to the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act called Bill 168 create new rules to prevent violence and harassment in the workplace. The bill does not directly address background checks or employment screening, however, another provision obligates an employer to warn employees if its knows, or should know, that a worker could come into contact with a person with a history of violence. (Kind of sounds like the Negligent Hiring Doctrine) How would it know this; the answer is simple, comprehensive screening of their employees.

Ontario employers face tough new violence laws

There were plenty of warning signs of trouble in the months before nurse Lori Dupont’s final shift at Hôtel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor, Ont.

In February of 2005, she had broken up with Marc Daniel, a 50-year-old married anesthesiologist, after he tried to kill himself. The two had met while working in the hospital, where Dr. Daniel had a history of harassing nurses, both verbally and physically.

When he was released from hospital after his suicide attempt, Dr. Daniel returned to work, where he intimidated and stalked Ms. Dupont, a 36-year-old single mother. He left compromising photos of her on her car and threatened to distribute them. He was suspended, but soon back at work again, on the recommendation of a psychiatrist.

On the morning of Nov. 12, when the pair were on a shift together, Dr. Daniel hid behind a pillar in the recovery room. Minutes later, he stabbed Ms. Dupont to death, plunging a hunting knife into her upper chest and back seven times. He was later found in his car, with a syringe in his arm and no vital signs. He died three days later in the same hospital.

Almost five years later, new workplace violence and harassment rules prompted by Ms. Dupont’s death are set to take effect in Ontario. On June 15, employers in the province will have to comply with the major changes to the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act, contained in amendments known as Bill 168.

Other provinces, including Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, have some comparable legislation, but some legal experts say Ontario’s new rules are vague in places and leave questions that will likely have to be answered in court.

And employment lawyers in Ontario say that with the deadline now less than three months away, many of the province’s corporations are only now coming to grips with the changes.

Under the coming regulations, employers will have to conduct workplace violence risk assessments, draft new policies on workplace violence and harassment, and warn employees if they could be exposed at work to someone with a violent past.

Employees will also have the right to refuse to work if they feel they are at risk of workplace violence.

The reforms also broaden the definition of workplace harassment, which is currently limited to sexist, racist or other comments covered by the Ontario Human Rights Code. Now, harassment will be defined as including “course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome.”

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There have been a few studies conducted in the United States covering recidivism rates of offenders and ex-convicts. Anything above .0001% is virtually why the employment screening industry even exists. We have written in the past about our own domestic recidivism rates but have yet to post anything outside the US. I found this article discussing these staggering rates in Canada. The Winnipeg Sun is reporting that the re-offending rate in some cases is as high as 100%. The article throws out some incredible, almost unbelievable numbers about recidivism. The author summarizes by saying if Manitoba’s corrections branch is to rehabilitate criminals, they’re not doing a very good job! Do you do background checks on your Canadian applicants? I hope so!!

Re-offending rates are staggering

If the main objective of Manitoba’s Corrections branch is to rehabilitate criminals, they’re not doing a very good job.

At least according to their own numbers released by the Opposition Tories Tuesday, which show the rate of re-offending in some cases is as high as 100% for young criminals.

The most recent data from the last three months of 2007 shows 75% of adult inmates released from provincial jails were charged with another offence within two years of completing their sentence.

The numbers include charges for new offences and for breaching conditions of release.

It’s an astonishingly high number and it confirms what many of us have observed anecdotally for years — our courts/corrections system has evolved into a revolving door of justice where criminals re-offend over and over again.

The 75% recidivism rate for the last quarter of 2007 is the highest in at least five years, according to the data. Which means the problem is getting worse, not better.

The recidivism rates for young offenders during the same period are even more staggering.

In the three-month period from April to June 2006, 100% of young offenders released from youth custody were charged with another offence within two years.

That means every young offender in Manitoba who completed a youth jail sentence between April 1 and June 30 that year was charged with another offence within the following two years.

That’s an incredible statistic and a glaring example of what a massive failure our justice system is.

What’s equally startling is not once has the recidivism rate for young offenders in custody dropped below 75% since 2002.

Most quarters it ranged between 80%-95%. It’s a horrible record.

The stated objective of the Youth Criminal Justice Act is to rehabilitate young criminals and help them transform their lives.

It’s obviously not working. Even in deferred custody cases — where young offenders serve their sentences in the community with conditions — the recidivism rate is as high as 85%-90%.

There are obviously no easy solutions to bring down recidivism rates for adults and young offenders. But whatever our courts and jails are doing now is not working.

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It seems that our friends across the pond have some major issues on their hands.  It appears that over 7000 CONVICTED criminals applied to become teachers last year.  The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) provides background checks to the schools but has no idea how many of them were hired.

CRIMINAL CLASSES: JOBS FOR EX-CONS

NEARLY 7,000 convicted pedophiles, killers and kidnappers applied to become teachers last year.

The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) revealed brothel keepers, flashers, child beaters and drug dealers were also among those after classroom jobs.

Last night Secretary of State for Children Ed Balls demanded an investigation after the disturbing figures were released under the Freedom of Information Act.

They showed 6,750 of the 248,220 people who applied for classroom jobs last year had criminal records.

They included two who had taken indecent photos of children and four convicted of manslaughter. The CRB carries out checks for employers on job candidates who may be unsuitable to work with children or other vulnerable people.

But a Home Office spokesman admitted they had no figures to show if any of them landed teaching jobs.

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Hotels in India and many other countries are beginning to embrace the concept of employment background investigations.  The Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai India and others will begin background checks on various staff, and long term guests.  This move comes after terrorists took siege of the Taj Mahal hotel and held employees and guests for several days.  Over 132 people were killed and hundreds more were injured in these well coordinated attacks spanning across the city of Mumbai.

The full article can be found at:

Rattled hotels start screening employees

Our thoughts are with the families of the victims of this horrible tragedy.

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The Canadian Criminal Records Bureau or CRB’s system for criminal records is not without flaws.  This is the system primarily used by Canadian employers to conduct background checks.

Wrong name! Trainee is accused of assault

A STUDENT nurse could be kicked off his course after a check by the Criminal Records Bureau wrongly accused him of assaulting an 11-year-old boy.

David Williams, 45, was due to start a placement at Meldreth Manor School as part of his course at Anglia Ruskin University but is having to defer his place after he was wrongly said to have assault convictions which are in the name of another David Williams.

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According to Human Resource Executive Magazine the need for international recruiting is going to explode.  In the United States we are experiencing a massive nursing shortage.  According to the Baltimore based Center for Nursing Advocacy, the US is projected to have a shortage of 275,000 nurses by 2010.  HR Executive writes an interesting article;  RX for International Recruiting.  Currently there are no standards for recruiting nurses internationally.

And the United States is not alone, according to Patricia Pittman, executive vice president of Washington-based AcademyHealth, a nonpartisan organization that focuses on health research and policy.

“It’s really impossible to compete with salaries in the United States,” says Pittman, who estimates that a nurse can earn up to 10 times their salary in the source country.

This is creating some big issues across the globe.  Unethical recruiters see huge dollar signs and are doing everything they can to bring nurses to the US.  Recruiters in India and the Philippines seem to be taking advantage of this and are using unethical means to recruit talent.  According to HRE in order to respond to the problem, a code of ethics for recruiting foreign-educated nurses was recently unveiled at the National Press Club in Washington by a task force of health care professionals, attorneys and recruiters, among others.

What does this mean to you?  Make sure you are doing background checks on your recruiters and nurses.  International Background Checks or Global Background Screening services are available and should be utilized in all cases.  Make sure your foreign recruiters are adhearing to ethical standard and not putting your orgainization at risk.

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