by Jason Morris

It looks like the State of NJ Education Department has been getting a lot of heat since the diploma mill story hit the news!  In an update it appears they will be revising their policies.  Maybe they read all of the stories we have written on Diploma Mills??

TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey’s Education Department says it will come up with rules to stop school administrators from getting extra pay after obtaining graduate degrees from so-called “diploma mills.”

Education Commissioner Lucille Davy announced the plans.

It was recently revealed that officials in Freehold, including superintendent H. James Wasser, had degrees from Breyer State University, a unaccredited university.

State Senate President Richard Codey is calling for the state Attorney General to investigate the issue.

Full Story

by Jason Morris

So it looks like the city was a “day late and a dollar short” on their background screening program.  It appears in 2007 they were enlightened and decided to start running background checks….but what about current employees?  A day late; They should have been running these way before 2007, don’t they read the news? A dollar short; adding a simple service like IQ Review would have gone back and checked those not already screened.

Swimming Pool Rape Case Prompts Demand for Background Check Policy Review

By Amos Maki (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Thursday, August 21, 2008

Mayor Willie Herenton and members of the Memphis City Council are demanding answers after an employee at a city swimming pool was charged with raping a 17-year-old girl and exposing her to HIV.

Timothy Bernard Payne, a pool attendant at Westwood Community Center, was hired in 2006, one year before the city began running background checks.

Payne was indicted on a rape charge in 1993, but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor assault. He was charged Monday with the July 31 rape and is being held in the Shelby County Jail on $250,000 bond.

On Aug. 5, Human Resources director Lorene Essex told the council she would perform regular background checks on temporary employees who had contact with children after a television station reported a city lifeguard remained on the job after being charged with assault.

Essex said the lifeguard, who had since been terminated, had a clean background check when he was hired, but because the city does not do yearly follow-up checks, the charge he received while he was a lifeguard was unknown to city officials.

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by Jason Morris

Criminals Need Not Apply for School Volunteer Jobs

By Ray Pitz

The Beaverton Valley Times, Aug 21, 2008

Everyone from school field trip chaperones to parents who read individually with students will soon have to pass a criminal background check if they want to volunteer at area schools.

On Monday, the Beaverton School Board approved a policy that would require conducting background checks on the district’s estimated 10,000 volunteers at 50 schools.

The policy will affect those who have direct contact with students.

Randy Kayfes, director of public safety and the lone sworn police officer working for the Beaverton School District, said the district plans to run the checks through the Oregon Law Enforcement Data System. That system, which requires having a police officer on staff to administer, is expected to be faster than a current system the district uses to run checks on its employees.

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by Natalie Beck

Does every person convicted of a crime deserve a second chance?  I’m going to make a generalization here and assume that most people would say it depends on the type of crime committed and how long ago the conviction occurred.  This is a decision every employer must weigh should they receive a not-so-stellar background check result on a candidate.

Well, it appears that Prince Charles has decided to give an ex-con a position at one of his estates.  According to this article, a background check was not conducted on this person (which of course we do not recommend) but the employee has been forthcoming with his past insisting he is a changed man.  Can people change?  I’d like to think so.  Is it possible that every ex-con out there can change for the better?  Most certainly not!  But I’m not ready to discount every single one of them just yet.

But back to the issue at hand.  Every day employers must weigh the pros and cons of every potential candidate vying for a position at their company.  This becomes especially difficult when there is a criminal past involved.  The only advice I can give to those employers would be to look at the type of crime committed, how long ago it took place, whether or not that conviction has any bearing on the type of job responsibilities the candidate would have, and what their legal department’s policies and procedures are when hiring someone with a criminal past.  Of course, should you hire this person, there is no guarantee that it will work out the way you want it to.  That will happen with the best of candidates too.  Making good hiring decisions is not an easy job.  But if you do your due diligence with the background checking process and follow consistent hiring practices, you should be able to keep your head above water.

Click here to read “Ex-Con Is Now Prince Charles’ Window-Washer“

by Nick Fishman

A New York woman is suing Madison Square Garden, home of the NBA’s New York Knicks and the NHL’s New York Rangers, because she was denied employment based on the outcome of her background check.  The background check revealed a prior misdemeanor conviction for assault from five years ago and she alleges that she was discriminated against.

See article “New York Complaint Says ‘The Garden’ Discriminated in Background Check”

Her attorneys assert that since African-Americans are prosecuted and convicted at a much higher rate than whites, using criminal convictions found on a background check is discriminatory.  As a blanket statement, this is a ridiculous.  (To be fair, the attorneys are really saying that the practice of employment screening creates a disparate impact on minorities)  However, the Fair Credit Reporting Act permits employers to conduct background checks to determine suitability for employment.  If a person has been convicted of a crime that would call into question their ability to perform the job they are being hired for or if they represent a significant liability to the employer and, or their employees and customers, the employer has every right to deny employment.

Since I don’t know the specifics of the case, I can’t really argue the merits or lack thereof.  However, this will be a case worth following.  I do think that since the case is being brought in Federal Court on EEOC claims that they are looking for more than just a payday.

I would assume that the following will be important in determining the outcome:

• Does Madison Square Garden conduct background checks on all prospective employees in the same position that the applicant applied for?
• Has Madison Square Garden made similar hiring decisions when background checks have revealed similar convictions (including time, scope, repeat offenses, etc.)
• Have they ever hired another candidate with a similar record?
• Did the applicant grant consent to the background check and was she notified that her employment was predicated on the successful outcome of the check?
• Did the applicant dispute the findings? (It seems she did not.)

What can employers do to mitigate the opportunity for successful claims?

• Don’t discriminate in your hiring practices (that one seemed fairly obvious)
• Be consistent in your screening practices.
  • Develop guidelines for what background screening services should be conducted on candidates applying for each position
  • Make consistent decisions when Adverse Information is found
• Be careful with Adjudication Modules.  They can lead to EEOC issues.
• When making a decision not to hire based on the outcome of the background check, be aware of how the adverse information found would affect the job responsibility of the applicant
• Stay away from Social Networking Sites.  They too can lead to discrimination claims.

We’ll keep you posted.

by Jason Morris

I guess you can’t technically call this resume fraud? This is a terrible and negligent practice by educators, but isn’t prevented by the NJ Department of Education.  A degree with no academic value gives educators and administrators a nice pay raise.  The only chance of this practice coming back to haunt them is a quality background check when they go to find their next job.

N.J. Educators Free to use Diploma Mills

Taxpayers foot the bill for tuition

By ALAN GUENTHER • Gannett New Jersey • August 17, 2008

Psst . . . Wanna buy a degree from a diploma mill and stick taxpayers with the bill?

If you’re a public school educator, New Jersey won’t stop you.

State Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said she is powerless to prevent local school boards from handing out tax money to administrators who boost their pay by obtaining degrees with little or no academic value.

When it issued a nine-page report last week, the department entered a growing national controversy about the value of online degrees. But instead of announcing tough new standards, the department made only a few suggestions.

“I feel sorry for New Jersey. Here they had an opportunity to step up to the plate, and they opted not to,” said former FBI agent Allen Ezell, who investigated diploma mill fraud for 11 years, then wrote three books on the subject. “I would have thought New Jersey would have had a little more brass than that.”

Freehold Regional High School District became the epicenter of the diploma mill controversy in New Jersey when the superintendent and two top administrators obtained degrees from an online school that has been deemed an “apparent diploma mill” by Alabama officials.

After completing an investigation into the administrators’ degrees, the education department’s report stated there was “no sustainable evidence” that the administrators “possessed the prerequisite intent to deceive when they obtained the degrees” from Breyer State University, which has been chased out of two states and an African country.

The education department report suggested — but did not require — that high school administrators, in the future, earn college degrees from reputable, accredited schools.

None of the three administrators investigated — Superintendent H. James Wasser, Assistant Superintendent Donna Evangelista and recently retired Assistant Superintendent Frank Tanzini — was required to pay back the $10,750 they received in taxpayer money to obtain degrees from Breyer State.

The board gave raises — $2,500 each per year — for their advanced degrees.

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by Natalie Beck

This is very good news for all of you employers out there that conduct pre and post-hire drug testing.  In addition to the safeguards laboratories have put in place to detect any type of dilution or adulteration to a urine specimen, a new bill called ”The Drug Testing Integrity Act” has been proposed that will “outlaw the manufacture, sale, shipment or provision of any product designed to assist in defeating a drug test.” Those in violation of this bill would be subjected to penalties and fines.

Stepped-Up Efforts Aim To Thwart Cheating On Drug Tests

Legislation has been introduced, and regulations soon will take effect to crack down on products and guidance designed to defeat testing.

By Susan J. Landers,  AMNews staff. August 25, 2008.

Washington - What do salt, bleach, soap, drain cleaner, detergent, lemon juice and white vinegar have in common? All are promoted on Web sites as substances that can be added to urine to mask the presence of illegal drugs.

Thousands of sites provide information on how to cheat on drug tests, and many of the techniques have been publicized for decades. No sooner had regulations been developed to institute President Ronald Reagan’s 1986 call for a drug-free federal workplace than people began searching for ways to evade detection, said Amitava Dasgupta, PhD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

Labs have been successful, so far, at keeping up with the methods employed, but “it’s a cat and mouse game,” Dasgupta said. Just when labs catch up with one subterfuge, another comes along.

Dasgupta spoke July 29 at the Annual Meeting and Clinical Laboratory Expo 2008 of the American Assn. for Clinical Chemistry in Washington, D.C.

With drug abuse a critical problem in the U.S. and many other nations, the screening of potential employees has become common, Dasgupta said. More than 47 million adults reported working in settings where testing for illicit drug or alcohol use occurred during the hiring process, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Drug testing is also a public safety issue, and American Medical Association policy outlines the need to safeguard the validity and integrity of the testing system.

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by Nick Fishman

Remember the Anthrax scares just following the September 11th attacks?  Nearly seven years later, the government finally tracked down the person they believe is responsible.  Guess what?  He was one of them.  Bruce Ivins was employed as a government scientific researcher.  Could they have known Ivins was capable of this by running Continuous Employment Background Checks?

The folks over at HRExecutive Online published a great article about what employers can do to monitor their existing employees.  You might also recall that we included this trend of screening existing employees in our List of 2009 Screening Trends. Take a peek.

Screening Employees- By Tom Starner

When the powerful U.S. government has a tough time determining if one of its employees — an employee in a highly sensitive area — is mentally unstable and potentially dangerous to others, what kind of outcome can private employers expect?

Experts say the use of screening tools to reduce the risks associated with hiring or retaining a person who may turn to violence can be effective and worth the cost, but no system is infallible.

And, of course, it’s important to make sure the company follows privacy and employment laws when instituting screening policies.

In the government’s case, Bruce Ivins, who recently committed suicide after being named the likely suspect for the notorious anthrax killings in 2001, is now being described as “deeply disturbed” by the government itself. And the media is reporting that the potential litigation arising from the situation could run into “tens of millions of dollars,” according a report in USA Today.

“One of the best predictors of how a person will act in the future is his or her past actions,” says Pamela Devata, a senior associate in the Labor and Employment Practice Group of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, the Chicago-based law firm. “This is why running periodic background checks and screenings on employees or potential employees is imperative.

“[Running background checks] not only mitigates risk to the employer but more importantly, it increases the safety of the person’s co-workers,” she says.

Traditionally, employers have used background screening for job applicants, but there is an emerging trend for the use of such tools for current employees, says Nick Fishman, chief marketing officer and executive vice president of Cleveland-based employeescreenIQ.

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by Jason Morris

Cleveland Indians’ international free agent suspended by MLB after failing background check

Sunday, August 17, 2008
Paul Hoynes
Plain Dealer Reporter

Major League Baseball has suspended one of the four international free agents the Indians signed in July.

Right-hander Edward Pinales from the Dominican Republic did not pass a background check by MLB officials and was suspended for a year. John Mirabelli, Indians director of scouting, said he wasn’t sure if Pinales said he was younger than he really was or used a false identification.

“In the past when something like this happened, you would renegotiate and sign a player for a lesser amount,” said Mirabelli. “Now Major League Baseball has stepped in and said the player will be suspended for a year and that he can’t sign with another team.”

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by Jason Morris

This makes me feel great, my 2nd grader starts school tomorrow.  The State of Ohio is widely considered one of the best states when it comes to the accessibility of fingerprinting and the channeling of results.  Ohio makes it very simple for industries to conduct background checks when fingerprints are required.  The fact that educator background checks are behind is ridiculous.

Background Checks of Longtime Educators Lag

Many to return to classes without a search for criminal history in years
Saturday,  August 16, 2008 8:50 PM

By Jennifer Smith Richards

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Hundreds of longtime educators whose criminal histories haven’t been examined in years, if ever, will return to their classrooms in the next few weeks without background checks, the state says.

The state didn’t even require fingerprints to be submitted until Sept. 5, after the start of school in most districts, but a backlog in federal background checks means that it could take much longer before the Ohio Department of Education examines the results.

In addition, the department’s priority is to check the background of new licensees before looking to see whether longtime school workers have criminal records.

All school workers must be fingerprinted for state and federal background checks under a state law enacted last fall. But educators with permanent or eight-year licenses are particularly affected, because many had not been checked.

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