Employment Screening Professionals – What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You...

In our current economy, employers may find themselves receiving an abundance of resumes. Some resumes might look impressive at first glance, but studies have shown that as many as 50 percent  of all applicants' list false information or omit information. This makes it even more critical that hiring managers and organizations thoroughly screen potential employees to protect their company, their employees and those that they serve.

Not only does completing thorough background checks save companies time and money in recruiting, hiring and training; it also protects organizations from theft, fraud, violence, bad publicity, and negligence hiring liability – which is very much in the forefront of the news today.

So, what is negligent hiring liability?

Negligent hiring is "the failure of the employer to investigate a job applicant's work experience, character, criminal history and other relevant data prior to the hiring of an employee."

Negligent hiring liability holds employers responsible for both what they DO know andwhat they should have knownabout their employees.

Did you know?.....

-Courts have REPEATEDLY affirmed that employers have a duty to exercise REASONABLE CARE in hiring individuals who, because of the nature of employment, may pose a threat to the public.

-Your organization CAN and WILL be held liable for criminal or violent acts of its employees.

-Juries in such cases will assume that if you COULD have known you were hiring someone dangerous or unfit for a job, you should have known.

The costs are just too great to put your organization at risk by hiring employees without performing and documenting proper due diligence in your hiring decisions

Other Statistics that May Surprise You....

-Substance abusers are up to 13% less productive than non-abusers and change jobs at least 3 times a year.

-75% of employees steal from their employer at least once and 30% of businesses fail due to theft – and - $50 billion is stolen annually from U.S. businesses by employees.

-1.5 million workers are assaulted in the workplace every year and 1.75 million days of work are lost each year by victims of workplace violence. And more than 13% of workers compensation claims are fraudulent. These claims raise your premiums which can lead to downsizing workforce and a weaker business.

Additionally, false information on resumes ranges from fake salary claims and adjusted working dates to hide employment gaps, to even more serious issues such as omitting criminal history.

So, almost everyone would agree that a comprehensive background check is critical. But how do you really know if you're really receiving a quality background screen?.....

All background screening companies are basically the same, right?

NO – Not even close.

In background screening, success hinges on three things... quality of data, customer service and compliance expertise. Most people assume all companies pull from the same databases, but this is completely untrue – especially when it comes to criminal records. Each background screening firm makes their own decision on how much or how little data to use, which is frightening to those of us receiving it.

A truly great company will perform Nationwide Criminal searches, including sex offender registries & office of foreign asset control terrorism watch lists, while also performing Social Security Traces and manual County Criminal record searches. Manual County Criminal searches are available in all 3,347 counties in the United States and are particularly important because they contain the most up to date records available AND are the only way you can see pending charges. Background checks can also include many other things like driving records, credit checks, and much more, but a good company will only recommend what you need and take the time to explain why you need it.

A background screening company must also stay compliant with all Federal and State employment laws including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). But did you know that not all criminal background checks being offered by background screening firms are FCRA compliant? According to the FTC, background checks that rely only on databases compiled from "stored data" in public criminal records are not compliant and should not be used for hiring purposes. Trying to handle background screening yourself online or using a firm who doesn't know what they're doing can leave you in non-compliance and liable to the Federal Trade Commission. It is best to leave it to the experts.

PCOC is currently in talks with one of the best employment screening companies in the world, Reference Services, Inc. They are one of only 42 companies in the country to be nationally accredited by the National Association of Professional Background Screeners and they are currently performing screening for NPMA's Quality Pro certification program and are the preferred vendor of the NPMA for general members as well. Reference Services, Inc. (RSI) believes that all of their clients deserve to know it all and expertly uncover criminal records and other key information that other firms miss. Their Nationwide Criminal Search alone is made up from over 490 million records from more than 1,000 sources. They also take great care to ensure that their records are accurate, following diligent order review and compliance procedures on every background check that is performed. With the many issues hiring managers have to deal with, worrying about the quality and compliancy of a background check shouldn't be one of them. We will have more information when negotiations are finished.