Over the past few years we have written countless posts about the EEOC and various State governments seeking to be progressive and give those with criminal records a second chance.  Their intentions are always good, however, we all know how this story ends.  I certainly don’t argue the merits of their ambition to make good for all in the world, but….the old adage; screw me once, shame on you, do it twice shame on me, seems to fit nicely here.

The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) has now come under scrutiny because they hired two men with previous criminal records.  Again, a valiant effort to progressively make the world a better place, but, as we have always said, not everyone is suited for every position.  Should these men have been placed in this particular job? Should they have been given a second chance? Not our call to make, however, I think the EEOC will have a position or argument if they make future decisions based on this situation.  Time will tell!

According to WPRI.com Eyewitness News; RIPTA hired two ex-convicts as drivers for their RIde program, which serves the elderly and disabled. The men had lengthy criminal records and had served time at the ACI. They said the men profiled in the piece are no longer behind the wheel of a RiDe bus, but it is unclear if they were given job placement elsewhere within the agency.

The entire story reminds me of an old quote by Albert Camus;
“The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.”

RIPTA puts brakes on hiring people with criminal records

The head of the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority has come under fire after the agency hired two men with criminal records to drive buses transporting the elderly and disabled.

Chief Executive Charles Odimgbe described it as a pilot program that has been discontinued. He said it reintegrated former criminals into society.

Thomas Deller, chairman of the agency’s board, praised the program. But board member Maureen Martin told Odimgbe that hiring men with criminal records raises passenger safety issues.

The Amalgamated Transit Union accuses Odimgbe of undermining bus service through attempted cost-savings.

The board on Monday did not discuss the hirings, first reported by WPRI. Deller says the board will take up the question another time.

The Senate Committee on Housing will investigate.

I love HR. Despite the fact that sometimes HR gets a bad reputation of being the police and hand-holders in the organization, we can make a huge positive impact. There are a number of possibilities and ways that this can happen in every aspect of your HR program. However, it will require that those in HR move out of the policeman uniform and into a business suit. We have to stop being concerned with what people can’t do and focus on what we can do to help our organization move forward.

Moving forward requires a focus on talent and a questioning of the status quo. Real organizational  impact can happen when we ask some of the following questions:

• In what ways can we recruit, develop, and retain the individuals we need to achieve the targets? (Oh and yes, you need to know the targets and priorities of the organization.)
• What do we need to do better?
• What do we need to do differently than what we are doing right now?

Just the thought of these questions may seem overwhelming, especially if you feel you need to make many changes. However, it doesn’t have to be. In a session at HRevolution in Las Vegas last week, Joe Gerstand and Jason Lauritsen presented a session on hacking HR. In order to understand this, you must first understand what hacking is and what it isn’t. Hacking according to the Talent Anarchy team is not an overhaul of your entire talent management program or your entire talent acquisition program. It is, however, looking at the program and determining what small changes can be made with a strong positive impact. This process, according to Lauritsen is about constantly moving forward and making improvements.

It’s really quite simple and that is what I love about HRevolution. This unconference is full of HR professionals looking to collaborate and challenge each other to make it better. These professionals are about moving HR forward and constantly asking how to be better. In my opinion, spending time with people who have this type of passion is the strongest way to maintain you own passion in the pursuit to improve.

In the theme of this constant inquiry and passion, EmployeeScreenIQ is continually hacking the background screening process for its clients by their flexible and no shortcuts approach to screening. There is a culture and a commitment to ensure that every aspect of our work enables clients to achieve their talent acquisition goals.  I let the experts guide me in that area, so I practice hacking in other places. Let the experts at EmployeeScreenIQ do the same for you.

If you haven’t heard of HRevolution, look it up. It will be well worth your time. And if you are not using EmployeeScreenIQ, call us. It will also be well worth your time.

Keep Hacking.

Background checks uncover dirt on candidates

Background checks on this year’s field of 36 City Council candidates uncovered a felon, alcohol-related offenses, assault arrests, deadbeat parents, financial woes and a particularly vindictive divorce.

Each municipal election cycle, the Tulsa World relies upon records and databases from courts, jails, law enforcement and government agencies to vet those seeking public office.

The checks revealed current and past issues with 13 of the 36 candidates.

The city’s municipal primary is set for Sept. 13 and general election Nov. 8.

District 1: Democrat Jason Trent Jr., 45, is a convicted felon.

In 1994, Trent pleaded guilty in Tulsa County District Court for failing to return rental property, including a TV and VCR.

Trent was fitted with an ankle monitor, which he eventually cut off and left for Oklahoma City.

As a result, Trent was charged with escape, which he pleaded guilty to in 1995 and spent about 18 months at Jess Dunn Correctional Center in Taft.

“This all goes back to when I was addicted to crack cocaine and making a lot of bad choices,” he said.

“I’ll be honest with you, I was a straight up (screw) up.”

Trent said he has been “clean and sober” for 15 years, but when the Tulsa World brought up a 2001 charge for marijuana possession, he said he meant he was clean off of crack cocaine for that period.

Trent added he hasn’t used any illegal substances since that 2001 arrest.

In that case, Trent pleaded guilty in Tulsa County on charges of speeding, driving with a suspended license, obstructing a police officer and marijuana possession. He received a one-year suspended sentence.

More

Your favorite background check provider recently sat down with China Gorman, Chief Operating Officer of SHRM and discussed a myriad topics including: the challenges the HR profession has faced in the past year, SHRM’s accomplishments since the last Annual SHRM Conference and their plans for the next 12 months.  We also talked about China’s enthusiasm for Twitter (check out her page).  This interview is a must-listen for human resource professionals.

Take a listen.

Once again we feel it’s important to step aside from writing about background checks and cover this important HR legislative issue.  A few weeks back we wrote about the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), here is an update!

This week, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) – a pivotal vote on labor issues and potentially the 60th cloture vote on the Employee Free Choice Act of 2009 (EFCA, H.R. 1409 / S. 560) in the Senate – announced that he plans to oppose EFCA and oppose cloture on the bill.

While this is important news for HR professionals, employees and employers, the effort to pass EFCA and other amendments to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) will remain alive for the foreseeable future.  Sen. Specter’s announcement means that EFCA proponents are still only two votes shy in the current Senate of having the 60 votes necessary to defeat a filibuster and pass the bill.  There are more than enough House members to pass EFCA, and President Obama continues to support its enactment.  Even after announcing his opposition to EFCA, Sen. Specter acknowledged that EFCA, or the “card check” bill, will not go away.

For these reasons, the SHRM Governmental Affairs department has prepared an EFCA Toolkit to help members more fully participate in the advocacy process on the EFCA and other amendments to the NLRA.

The EFCA Toolkit is one component of a larger more comprehensive advocacy strategy on the Employee Free Choice Act. The Toolkit is designed to provide you with the necessary materials to perform your own grassroots advocacy campaign.

Included in the Toolkit are the following:

-  Employee Representation Fact Sheet
-  EFCA Power Point Presentation
-  How to Lobby Power Point Presentation
-  Text versions of both the House (H.R. 1409) and Senate (S. 560) versions of EFCA
-  Employee Representation Email Alert
-  SHRM’s Employee Representation Policy Statement
-  Sample Letter to the Editor for your local newspaper(s)
-  Myths vs. Facts – This document addresses the common claims of EFCA supporters

We hope you will visit the EFCA Toolkit website because your involvement is critical to SHRM’s advocacy success.

On Tuesday, March 10th, the highly controversial Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) was introduced in both the US Senate and House of Representatives.  The bill (H.R. 1409, S. 560), which is sponsored by House Education and Labor Committee Chair Rep. George Miller (D-California) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), would amend federal labor laws in several critical areas, significantly impacting how employers address union organizing activity.

As has been reported widely in the media, EFCA allows unions to become employees’ bargaining representatives on the basis of a “card check” process, thereby depriving employees of the right they presently have to vote in secret-ballot elections. A lesser-known, but equally important, provision of the bill mandates arbitration of initial collective bargaining agreements when the parties cannot come to agreement on their own. EFCA also provides triple back pay to employees who are the victims of employer unfair labor practices (“ULP’s”) during an organizing campaign or in the period leading up to a first contract, allows for civil fines upon employers of up to $20,000 per violation for willful and repeated ULP’s committed during the same time period, and enhances the ability of the National Labor Relations Board to obtain injunctions in federal court against employers with respect to organizing campaigns or initial contract negotiations.

Supporters of EFCA claim that the legislation would make it easier for employees to organize, which they believe would lead to greater protections for workers. Opponents argue that the bill would violate workers’ rights and cause substantial economic harm to businesses and consumers. Congress is split on EFCA, mainly along party lines — with Democrats for the most part favoring the legislation and Republicans generally opposing it. President Obama supported previous attempts to enact EFCA when he was in the Senate, and he repeatedly endorsed the legislation during last fall’s presidential campaign.

While passage of the legislation in the House is almost assured, the critical question is whether EFCA supporters have 60 votes to overcome an anticipated filibuster by opponents of the legislation. In fact, many believe that what happens to the bill may hinge upon the as-yet-unsettled Senate race in Minnesota between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken.

More

I will be in Washington DC lobbying for the background screening industry next week.  As a founding member and past co-Chairman of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS), you can be sure this will be discussed.  This issue is likely to be raised not because it has anything to do with background checks, but because we are all employers!

On Friday Congress passed the massive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  President Obama will sign this bill into law on Tuesday February 17th in Colorado. The $789 billion package is said to create and/or save more than 3 million jobs.  According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) the bill will have a considerable impact on its members.

A few areas that will affect Human Resources:

- E-Verify – All provisions for E-Verify were removed from the final version of the Bill.

- Unemployment and Health Care Coverage – A nine month extension of a program that offers an additional seven weeks of unemployment benefits.

- Health Care Technology – Almost $20 billion will be spent to improve the nations health care information technology.

- Trade Protection for Jobs – A provision was added that would extend Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits for at least 160,000 more workers who lose their jobs because of increased imports or because workers move those jobs offshore.

- Executive Compensation – A controversial provision limits compensation packages for businesses receiving TARP funds can offer their executive teams.

There are sure to be more areas of the 1,100 page bill that will impact Human Resources but these will have the most immediate.  Background screening companies were looking forward to the E-Verify provision as it allows us to enhance our automated I-9 Services.  The program is still available but voluntary for much of the country.  Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.