EmployeeScreenIQ Blog

Two stories hit my in-box this morning and they could not be more frightening.  The first is pure negligence.  We have written about contractor background checks in the past, this is a great example of lax policy.

Sex Offender Found Working at School

Police caught on to Brown after arresting him on multiple felony counts of indecent exposure to at least five women and one child in the State Line Avenue/I-30 area of Texarkana, AR.  Brown also faces failure to register as a sex offender charges in both Arkansas and Texas.

Brown remains in the Miller County Jail awaiting his first court appearance.

The second story makes you wonder who is paying attention on the Texas State Medical Board????

Editorial: Sex offender should not hold medical license

Few yardsticks in life are better than the headline test. Try it on this one: “Sex offender keeps license to practice psychiatry.”

Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, has vowed to look into the matter, and we’re encouraged that he will. Those who have a state license to treat people at their most vulnerable must be beyond reproach. Those listed on the state’s sex-offender registry could not fit into that category.

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A Philidelphia law firm is feeling the burn after discovering a former employee is responsible for forging checks totaling more than $100,000 from the estates of the firm’s deceased clients.  Assuming that the legal recruiter who recommended the employee for employment had conducted a criminal background check, the firm hired her.  Little did they know that she was awaiting sentencing in New York for stealing $285,000 from her previous employer – also a law firm.

A partner in the law firm states in this news story that the recruiter obviously didn’t do their job since a criminal background check was not conducted on the employee.  Well, unless the law firm made that a requirement in their contract with the recruiter, they never should have assumed the vetting process was taking place.  I believe it is unfair of the firm to throw the recruiter to the wolves over this one when they themselves didn’t conduct their due diligence and make sure the recruiter was conducting the background check. 

It is incredibly important that businesses work with their recruiters and staffing agencies to iron out an employment screening process and determine which types of background check results are acceptable and which are not .  Making assumptions about such an important process can be a costly mistake.

Parelegal charged in 100G theft

By Stephanie Farr, Philadelphia Daily News – May 19, 2009

Kathy Foer-Morse didn’t fit in at High Swartz law firm in Norristown.

She showed up late, left early and couldn’t be located during some workdays, according to her employer.

After her termination, partners at the firm said that they discovered $100,937 couldn’t be located, either.

During a subsequent investigation, detectives learned that the former estate paralegal was awaiting sentencing in New York for stealing $285,000 from the last law firm where she worked, and that she had used the money she allegedly stole from High Swartz to pay restitution in the New York case, said Kevin Steele, Montgomery County first assistant district attorney.

“She clearly didn’t learn her lesson,” he said.

Moreover, rather than take from High Swartz’s accounts, Foer-Morse wrote checks to herself from deceased people’s estates and forged the executor’s signature, said Paul Bartle, managing partner of High Swartz.

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A private ambulance firm in Alabama has had its contract suspended by a local hospital over allegations that they have not performed criminal checks on their ambulance drivers.  Losing one contract is unfortunate for this company, but how many more do you think they will lose now that this story has become public?  Shortcuts during the hiring process can definitely end up costing you later on.

Birmingham hospital suspends ambulance contract over staff checks

By Alison Dayani, Birmingham Post

A Birmingham hospital trust has said it is no longer using a private ambulance firm that has come under investigation for allegedly not carrying out criminal checks or proper training on its staff.

University Hospital Birmingham Trust, which runs Selly Oak and Queen Elizabeth hospitals, was using On Site Medical and Ambulance Service to transport patients from children to vulnerable pensioners from its premises.

The Oldbury-based ambulance firm, which has had its contract with West Midlands Ambulance Service suspended over the allegations last week, has sparked an inquiry over whether at least six of its ambulance technicians have had the necessary enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check and medical training to keep patients safe.

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If you ask 10 HR professionals what they consider to be a good background check, you’d probably get 10 different answers.  Why?  Because the term “background check” is a very loose term.  When it comes to contract employees, it is vital that companies work closely with their recruiters and temporary staffing agencies to define a screening process.  What they believe to be a thorough background check could significantly differ from what you consider to be a thorough background check.  Nick Fishman authored an article for employeescreenIQ’s quarterly newsletter, The Verifier, which examines this very issue and offers great advice on how you can work with your recruiters and temporary staffing agencies to set up a screening program to meet your needs.

When companies don’t get involved with the process, they run the risk of employing an individual they otherwise wouldn’t had they known specifics about their past.  A Spokane, WA-based business knows this all too well.

Couple accused of embezzling $800,000

Bill Morlin
Staff writer – SpokesmanReview.com
November 20, 2008

A woman and her boyfriend are accused of embezzling $814,000 from two Spokane advertising agencies and using the money for down payments on houses, luxury vehicles and airline tickets for a youth football team’s trip to California.

Michelle A. Wing and Kenneth Marsh are each accused in a federal indictment of conspiracy and multiple counts of bank fraud in a white collar crime investigation handled by the FBI.

Wing also is charged with two additional counts of identity theft – opening credit card accounts, using her boss’ name, Social Security number and birth date without his knowledge.

The credit card fraud, which lasted several months, reportedly included the $30,000 purchase of a 2008 Super Bowl package for the couple.

Wing, who is 33, was arrested and taken into federal custody last month for violating terms of her supervised release from a similar federal bank fraud conviction in Montana, court documents show.

She currently is being held at a federal correctional facility at SeaTac, and is expected to be returned to Spokane soon to be arraigned on the new charges.

FBI agents arrested Marsh Wednesday at a Spokane concrete company where he works as a dispatcher.

A short time later during an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno, the 39-year-old suspect was ordered held in jail without bail until a detention hearing on Friday.

The indictment alleges Wing was hired in December 2005 by Centaur Group, a Spokane business which provides “administrative services” for two separate advertising companies, E Media, owned by Eric Hixson, and Power Marketing Services, owned by Ryan Pirello.

The two businessmen, who jointly own Centaur Group, said Wednesday they hired Wing to do bookkeeping work through a temporary employment agency, based in Spokane, whose owner had assured them he had done a criminal background check.

They had no idea, Hixson and Pirello said, that the bookkeeper they hired was on federal supervised release for a 2001 bank fraud conviction in Missoula, Mont.

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Hurricane Ike

In early September 2008 Southeast Texas was hit with one of the worst hurricanes in its history.  Hurricane Ike, making landfall as a category two hurricane peaked at a 5.1 hurricane while still out in the Gulf of Mexico.   In total, Hurricane Ike was blamed for 153 deaths, 71 in the United States.  According to Wikipedia, Damages from Ike in US coastal areas are estimated at $27 billion.

At this point you are probably saying to yourself “What does this have to do with background checks?” Well, I’m glad you asked.  Marketwatch.com had an article yesterday titled; “Hurricane Ike Victims Should be Wary When Hiring to Rebuild.”  Hurricane Ike will bring many out of state builders and contractors to Texas to help rebuild the areas most damaged by the storm.  According to the Texas Association of Builders (TAB):

“Our industry understands that people want to quickly put their homes and their lives back together,” said Bill Pittman, president of the Galveston County Builders Association. “But the State sets stringent requirements for building and remodeling in Texas that are designed to protect homeowners. Using a builder or remodeler who has met these requirements will help safeguard a homeowner’s rebuilding investment.”

Under state law, home builders and remodelers must register with the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC) in order to do business in Texas. Registration assures homeowners that their builder or remodeler has passed a background check and maintains a Texas business address. In addition, work performed by that builder or remodeler must meet specific building standards and be covered by a warranty.

“Using an out-of-state builder, remodeler or contractor is risky,” said Beaumont builder Bill Little, a director of both TAB and the Home Builders Association of Southeast Texas. “Neither they nor their work is held accountable to standards set by the State of Texas. Hurricane Ike victims run the risk of being re-victimized as they try and rebuild their lives.”

Homeowners or anyone looking to hire a contractor should check their registration status via the TRCC online database at www.texascc.org or by calling 1-877-651-TRCC.

We can only learn from past experiences.  August 27, 2001, Sue Weaver was brutally raped and beaten to death by a twice convicted sex-offender hired to do service work in her home. Sue had contracted with a major department store to have the air ducts in her home cleaned.  Burdine’s did not conduct criminal background checks on those workers they sent into their clients’ homes.  Sue’s life is over. Had a criminal background check been done, Sue might still be alive today.  The Sue Weaver C.A.U.S.E. was created to promote Consumer Awareness of Unsafe Service Employment.

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