employeescreenIQ Blog

Ousted school chief sorry for Resume Lies

Jason Morris — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:43:44 +0000

EMERYVILLE — Stephen Wesley, the Emery Unified School District superintendent who resigned Wednesday over allegations he falsified his resume, publicly apologized Thursday for embroiling the district in controversy.

Wesley’s apology came during the public comment portion of the previously scheduled district Advisory Committee meeting, a day after school board trustees voted unanimously to accept the superintendent’s resignation.

Wesley admitted his mistake and said he still wants to be part of this community, according to school board vice president Kurt Brinkman.

Brinkman said Wesley told the crowd at the meeting that he was on his way to Arizona when he decided to head back.

“That took a lot of guts. I have more admiration for the man than I ever had before,” Brinkman said.

Wesley’s appearance, which was not scheduled, didn’t come as a surprise to supporters, who credit Wesley with strengthening the tiny district wedged between Oakland and Berkeley.

Presidential Vetting

Jason Morris — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:11:04 +0000

With all the news over the past few weeks about Presidential vetting I felt it was appropriate to clarify some important points. Vetting a person through the media and through associates is much different than your traditional employment background investigation. Typically (and legally) a background check on a potential employee will not include allegations of pregnancy, marital infidelity and spousal arrests. Picking a Vice Presidential candidate leads the “vetter” down a much different path. An employer is not concerned so much with how the Country will perceive their employee. For a more in-depth view of how an employment background check is done, read our series Employment Screening 101. For information on other areas of employment screening check out employeescreen University. To read more about how potential VP candidates are vetted…..open any newspaper, blog, magazine, etc.!!

DOT Delays Implementation of New Drug Testing Procedures

Nick Fishman — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:59:37 +0000

The Department of Transportation recently announced that they had delayed implementation of their new drug and alcohol testing policies. I actually caught wind of this substance abuse screening news a week or so ago, but couldn’t make heads or tails over what changed or why. Shocking, right?

I’ve always subscribed to the philosophy of not writing about what you don’t know or understand, so I’ve decided to defer to the folks Delaware law firm, Young, Conaway, Stargatt and Taylor who author The Delaware Employment Law Blog .

Attorney Molly DiBianca writes:

Last month, the Department of Transportation (DOT), announced that changes to its drug and alcohol testing regulations would go into effect on August 25, 2008. The new regulations amended and added to 49 C.F.R. Part 40, relating to adulterated, substituted, diluted, or invalid urine specimens. After complaints from the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department (TTD), though, the DOT has delayed the implementation of the new rules. The regulations will be open for comment submission for one month and are scheduled for their official debut in November—in whatever form they take at that point.

So what caused the sudden change of heart? The TTD, along with the Association of American Railroads, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association; the Teamsters, and the Air Transport Association, joined by the Regional Airline Association, asked the DOT to reconsider the portion of the new regulations that would make specimen validity testing (SVT) mandatory. The DOT considers mandatory SVT to be an important way to combat cheating on drug tests.

View the full post here . . .

Blog Roll: NCCI Releases New Study on Workplace Violence

Jason Morris — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:38:37 +0000

NCCI Releases New Study on Workplace Violence

Posted by Ross Arrowsmith on Wednesday, September 3rd 2008 under Workplace Violence Research & Studies

from National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc. (NCCI Holdings Inc.)

Download the report: Violence in the Workplace—An Updated Analysis

This is the fourth in a series of NCCI reports on workplace violence. It provides updated data and analyses based on the latest available information from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on workplace homicides and assaults by persons and from NCCI on the characteristics of claims associated with workplace violence.

Sailors Sent Back To UK After Failing Drug Tests

Natalie Beck — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:43:46 +0000

One or two sailors testing positive for drugs is one thing. But EIGHTEEN? During the course of one random drug test sweep? On a warship whose mission was to combat drug smuggling? Wow.

Yet another prime example of why randomly testing your employees for drugs and alcohol is a VERY good idea. The results might surprise you.

Sailors Sent Back To UK After Failing Drug Tests

Eighteen crewmen are to be sent home after testing positive for cocaine on a warship used for combating drugs trade

Press Association - Tuesday September 2, 2008

Eighteen sailors who tested positive for cocaine on a Royal Navy warship were today preparing to fly back to Britain, the Ministry of Defence said.

The disgraced crewmen, caught during routine testing onboard HMS Liverpool in the south Atlantic, were believed to be landing at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, within the next two days.

They could be facing the sack after what was believed to be the biggest drugs bust in the navy’s history.

Paul Porter, a spokesman for the MoD, said: “We’ve always said that we do not tolerate the misuse of drugs in the navy and as a consequence of these individuals testing positive for drugs, they will be returning to the UK as part of ongoing action against them.

“Where necessary, replacement personnel will be joining the ship to ensure it remains capable of doing its job.”

News of the failed tests came after five soldiers from the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery were dismissed for taking cocaine — and eight from the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers were found to have traces of cocaine and cannabis in July.

HMS Liverpool is a type 42 destroyer whose duties in the south Atlantic included combating drug smuggling.

The MoD said the test was carried out after the crew had a “run ashore” on a break in Brazil.

A source told The Sun newspaper that the 240 crew members had to be tested “from end to end”.

“It has been incredibly embarrassing for the navy.”

Did you Graduate from College?

Jason Morris — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:44:30 +0000

I got an interesting email from our Director of Compliance titled “Ironic Spam!” I guess this spammer didn’t know they were sending this to an expert in compliance in the pre-employment screening industry. Her made up title, not the subject line of the email:

Subject: Submit your nomination for a Degree

WHAT A GREAT IDEA!

We provide a concept that will allow anyone with sufficient work experience to obtain a fully verifiable University Degree.

Bachelors, Masters or even a Doctorate.

For US: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Outside US: +1-XXX-XXX-XXXX
“Just leave your NAME & PHONE NO. (with CountryCode)” in the voicemail.

Our staff will get back to you in next few days!

These criminals will go to great lengths to sell you a degree. According to an article in the SouthTown Star, the FBI set up an investigation in the 1980’s called Dipscam. It was the largest federal effort to combat degree and diploma mills. Before the internet the bogus industry went into decline. “However, the internet has injected such schemes with steroids, and they’re grwoing feversihly.“ Fortunately, with the emergence of the employment screening industry, background checks are uncovering more and more diploma mills. This is also leading to a more educated human resource professional, curbing resume fraud.

The consequences of this fraud can be serious, especially in the medical field. In 1997, an 8-year-old girl, Rose Kolitwenzew, was treated by a doctor who supposedly had a medical degree from the British West Indies Medical College, but no such college existed. The man’s instructions led to the girl’s death.

It appears the state of Alabama is learning its lesson from recent stories in New Jersey. Last week we reported New Jersey educators benefiting from fake or online degrees. Now, Alabama education officials are looking into internet courses and degrees. The state has also taken action against four Birmingham based online colleges. All Unaccredited!

What Can Chad Johnson Teach Us About Background Checks?

Nick Fishman — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:07:58 +0000

Chad Johnson, wide receiver for the NFL’s Cincinatti Bengals has officially changed his last name to “Ocho Cinco”. Why did he do this? There are so many issues we could dig through to get to the bottom of this, but let’s just deal with the surface. Johnson (I mean Ocho Cinco) is known by his attention grabbing antics. A couple years ago, he began referring to himself as “Ocho Cinco” to pay homage to . . . himself. His jersey number was 85. He was fined by the NFL when he placed this name on the back of his jersey. Ergo, the name change.

Why can those who conduct background checks learn something from Ocho Cinco’s antics? Well, because it gives us an opportunity to discuss how to conduct a thorough criminal background check. As you remember, the best practice is to conduct a criminal record search in all counties where an applicant has lived, worked or attended school over at least the last 7 to 10 years under each name used. So, if we were to conduct a Social Security Number Trace (Address History Search) on Mr. Ocho Cinco, we would find at least the following counties: Hamilton County, Ohio (Johnson’s in-season hometown), Dade County, Florida (Johnson’s off-season hometown) and Benton County, Oregon where Johnson attended Oregan State Univeristy. And now we know that we would find two names: “Chad Johnson” and “Chad Ocho Cinco”.

Assuming that Chad was just your average job applicant, we wouldn’t know that he had recently changed his last name. Therefore, the best practice would be to perform a county criminal record search in each of the aforementioned counties under each of the names.

Another celebrity who could really make us work to perform a thorough background check would be musician, Prince, who’s also gone by Prince Rogers Nelson, The Artist Formerly Known as Price, The Artist and at one point just used a symbol as his name. Okay, who knows if those were all legal names? Just having fun after a long weekend.

This Week In Background Checks: 8/25

Nick Fishman — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:36:01 +0000

We’re happy to provide this week’s TWIB Notes as you head into your Labor Day Weekend. In case you missed our various blog posts and employeescreen University news and notes, here’s a recap of the highlights:

Newsworthy Items

More Fallout from St. Regis Diploma Mill Scam- Poor Regis University is caught in the aftermath
Background Checks in Schools- We finally found a positive story about background checks in school. As we send our kids back to school, usually scratch our heads and ask why schools can’t get this right

Court Closures

Many state of Louisiana Parishes have announced court closures as they brace for Hurricane Gustav
All U.S. Courts will be closed for Labor Day Monday, September 1st

Legislative Update

California Employers Beware on AB 2918 - If passed this bill would severely restrict the use of employment credit reports by California employers.

That’s all I’ve got! Have a great long, happy and safe Labor Day weekend.

Listen to the TWIB Podcast below:

More Fallout from Diploma Mill Bust: Regis University

Nick Fishman — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:55:05 +0000

Poor Regis University; the institution itself, its faculty and its students. By now millions of people across the country and the world have learned about the diploma mill in upstate Washington who sold false degrees from the bogus institution of “St. Regis University”. Well, one could understand how Regis University and St. Regis University might get confused for one another. Unfortunately, the legitimate academic institution, REGIS UNIVERSITY is taking an unfortunate hit.

Earlier today, we posted another story about this St. Regis University diploma mill and we received a comment from the president of REGIS UNIVERSITY in Denver, Colorado, Reverend Michael J. Sheeran. He wrote:

“As the President of Regis University in Denver, Colorado, I am especially aware of the damage done by degree mills like St. Regis, which has injured the reputation of my school. Founded in 1877, the real Regis has 15,000 students seeking legitimate degrees at our American campuses and online.

In contrast, St. Regis was a fraud masquerading as a legitimate school. It is important that potential students, regulators, and employers differentiate between the legitimate institutions of higher learning and the criminals who cheat the public by using names that trade on the good reputation of real schools.”

In light of this message, we thought we might help the good people at Regis University spread the word. If you are a prospective employer who receives a resume from someone that claims to have graduated from Regis University, don’t automatically assume that the applicant is lying.

Of course, you should still remember to conduct an Education Verification.

Bogus Diploma Mill Bust Nets Almost 10,000 Buyers

Jason Morris — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:14:56 +0000

There are almost 10,000 job seekers out there using fake diploma’s from this one operation. We have written about diploma mills before, there are hundreds if not thousands of them. Conducting a thorough background check will identify if your applicant’s education is on a diploma mill list. Just last week, employeescreenIQ uncovered several unaccredited universities for our clients. A nice justification for the cost of a thorough employment background investigation!

Bogus Diploma Mill Bust Nets Almost 10,000 Buyers

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

(MCT) CHICAGO—The network of bogus universities was a family-run venture based in rural Washington state, but the criminal enterprise spanned the globe, with operators allegedly paying bribes to Liberian officials and selling fake Ph.D.s and M.D.s as far away as Iran.

They were arrested by state and federal officials with the help of a physics professor.

George Gollin, professor of physics and Fermilab physicist at Illinois, helped unravel the scheme that has resulted in eight guilty pleas this year.

The investigation could spark further charges against hundreds of people who may have bought and used bogus diplomas.

Dubbed “Operation Gold Seal” by federal investigators, the case exploded into the national news with the publication of the names of some 9,600 possible buyers of junk degrees from the phony “St. Regis University” and at least 120 affiliated institutions operated by Dixie and Steven K. Randock Sr.

Claims to advanced degrees from diploma mills and other unaccredited schools are burgeoning, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year as state and federal employees use phony credentials to bump up their salaries, Gollin said.