by Nick Fishman

As we’ve discussed a number of times in the past, there are a number of restrictions, recommendations, guidelines, etc. about how to use a credit report when making a hiring decision. We found these guidelines on the Ohio Civil Rights Newsletter from October. They are worth the read if you currently utilize or are considering utilizing credit reports for your hiring decisions in the state of Ohio. The following paragraph taken from the newsletter give you the gist:

In the light of the discriminatory impact on minority job applicants, employers should be extremely cautious in their use of consumer credit reports as a tool for screening job applicants. The policy guidance, as approved, makes clear that when an applicant is denied employment on the basis of his or her consumer credit report, the employer should have valid, objective proof–preferably in the form of a job validation study–that its use of these reports is not only related to the job in question, but also based upon a business necessity. More

by Nick Fishman

The on-again off-again drama with the DHS No Match initiative continues according to this legislative update from Seyfarth Shaw.

On Friday, November 23, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requested that a federal judge stay the litigation regarding its new Social Security “no match” rule. Rather than proceed with the litigation, DHS plans to revise the rule to address the court’s concerns about the rule’s legality. DHS intends to begin a new rulemaking process in December. More

Will this political game of hot potato ever end?

by Nick Fishman

As we’ve discussed a number of times in the past, there are a number of restrictions, recommendations, guidelines, etc. about how to use a credit report when making a hiring decision. We found these guidelines on the Ohio Civil Rights Newsletter from October. They are worth the read if you currently utilize or are considering utilizing credit reports for your hiring decisions in the state of Ohio. The following paragraph taken from the newsletter give you the gist:

by Jason Morris

Just found a great informative article about identity theft. Linda Foley is quoted from the Identity Theft Resource Center. I have met Linda several times most recently at the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS) Conference. While Linda is not an expert in Pre-employment Screening, she is in expert in identity theft and privacy. Kudos to Linda and all the great work she is doing.

Holiday Forecase: More e-scams

By Richard Burnett | Tribune Newspapers: The Orlando Sentinel November 26, 2007

ORLANDO - Just in time for “Cyber Monday” and the online holiday shopping rush: A new round of bogus e-mail, identity-theft experts say.

Have you won $2 million in a Christmas sweepstakes held by Coca-Cola in the United Kingdom? Can you make big bucks just by cashing checks for an Irish researcher, Chinese exporter or rich oil consultant in Dubai? Is there a problem with your account at Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, eBay or PayPal?

No. But you might think so if you fall for some of the recent e-mail scams infesting the Internet.

More

by Nick Fishman

I’ll start by saying that I am not a tree hugger by nature. However, over the past several months I have spent time both personally and professionally wondering how I (and we as a company) can make a difference in the world. All of the environmental concerns you see written about every day and the topic itself are not going away. I strongly feel that protecting our environment should not be a political issue. It’s a responsibility we all have (I know, I’m starting to sound preachy. I’ll do my best not to preach for the rest of this post, or ever again).

Anyway, I’ve noticed how wasteful we have all become. Bottled water, 5 mile per gallon Hummer’s, paper plates, printing of every email that comes through our in box. In the case of background checks, there is still a lot of unnecessary paper being wasted.

This morning I came across an article in the Chicago Tribune titled, Don’t-print plea takes off (check it out). I’ve actually seen a lot of people in my personal and professional life add this environmentally-friendly message to their email signatures (see file below). I figured, it would be a great place to start. Next, I have decided to dedicate some future blogs to outlining some more environmentally-friendly processes for conducting background checks. Most that I have thought of actually improve the process anyways, so they won’t necessarily make you go out of your way to adopt them if you so choose.

I will offer up the following disclaimer: I am not ready to call employeescreenIQ a “Green Company”. There are far too many ways that I know we all fall short and I think people could take shots at us all day for things we could improve. Rather than risk becoming a hypocrite, we’ll do what we can. Please feel free to make suggestions as you see fit. I won’t adopt them all, but I really do believe that any change in action is a change for the better.

Okay, I’ll get off my soap-box now and get on with the business of background checks.

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by Jason Morris

The employeescreenIQ philanthropy committee was excited to announce they have dropped off over 300 pounds of food to the Cleveland Food Bank.

The philanthropy committee wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Hopefully this experience will make all of us appreciate the good food and family that surround us during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Lauren Keeper, committee co-chair was excited the group was able to donate so much to the food bank. Taking time off from conducting background checks to help those in need was just one step the committee is taking to help others.

by Nick Fishman

Happy Thanksgiving to our loyal blog readers! I could write volumes on why this holiday is the best of all, but since it’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I’ll make like everyone else and give a 15% effort on this day.

As many of you know, all U.S. courts are closed on Thursday.

Enjoy your families! Hopefully, the next time we correspond none of us will be 10 lbs. heavier.

by Nick Fishman

Kudos to the University of Colorado for adopting a background checking policy for school employees. It took an ugly campus incident to initiate the process, but thankfully the victim of incident is fine by the accounts I have read and University took swift action.

by Jason Morris

Our friends at SHRM posted our trends article in Staffing Management Magazine this month. See our latest article 10 Background-Screening Trends to Track in 2008. Feel free to comment below! As always, all of our media postings can be found here.

by Nick Fishman

Congratulations to great friend and former client Sue Hennessey who is now opening SearchPath International’s 50th office. Sue is a true professional in every sense of the word with a tremendous body of work at the top levels of HR management. Click below to view the release.

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