By ESR News Staff

Employment Screening Resources (ESR), a leading international employment screening background checking firm headquartered in the San Francisco area, announced that its president, Lester Rosen, will be presenting before the Mt. Baker SHRM Chapter in Bellingham, WA on August 11, 2010.

The Mt. Baker Chapter of SHRM is a chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).  SHRM is the world’s largest association devoted to human resource management.  See: http://www.mtbakershrm.com/content/view/21/91/

Mr. Rosen will be addressing Landmines, Pitfalls and Potential Lawsuits — Understanding the Risks of Using Search Engines and Social Networking Sites to Screen Candidates. 

“I am very pleased to have opportunity to discus this cutting edge topic at the SHRM chapter meeting with to-notch human resources professionals,” commented Rosen. “Recruiters, human resources and hiring managers are utilizing social network sites to make hiring decisions, and there is a need to take into account the potential liabilities that employers can face if done incorrectly or unfairly.”

Mr. Rosen, who is also an attorney, is a nationally recognized expert on employments screening background checks.  He is a writer and speaker on the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), pre-employment screening, and safe hiring issues. In addition, Mr. Rosen is the author of the first comprehensive book on employment screening, “The Safe Hiring Manual Complete Guide to Keeping Criminals, Imposters and Terrorists Out of Your Workplace.” He also wrote, “The Safe Hiring Audit.”

Mr. Rosen’s speaking appearances have included numerous national and statewide conferences.  He has testified in the California, Florida,  and Arkansas Superior Court as an expert witness on issues surrounding safe hiring and due diligence. Mr. Rosen was the chairperson of the steering committee that founded the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS), the professional trade organization for the screening industry, and served as the first co-chairman in 2004.

More information about Employment Screening Resources can be found at www.ESRcheck.com.

By Lester Rosen, ESR President

In a number of blogs, Employment Screening Resources (ESR) has discussed why employer should very carefully consider the dangers of utilizing an employment screening process that sends applicant data off-shore for processing.  Such a practice puts the employer at risk.  Making Personal and Identifiable Information (PII) available to off-shore operator beyond the reach of U.S. privacy laws is a completely unnecessary risk, not to mention the lack of quality control and standards.

In a new twist on off shoring, the global edition of the New York Times reported on July 22, 2010 that Japanese companies are trying to save money by off shoring Japanese workers to cheaper locations in Asia.  Some Japanese firms have found that they cannot use foreign Japanese speakers because the service quality does not match customer expectations, and even foreign workers with a good command of the Japanese language may not understand the nuisances of politeness and manners of Japanese customers.

Although the wages are lower for Japanese workers that allow themselves to be outsourced and off shored, the lower cost of living may allow worker to save money and provide an interesting experience.

It appears that U.S. firms that off shore to foreign countries have also found that even though foreign English speakers are cheaper, the customer experience may often be lacking.  Partly for that reason, many U.S. firms have brought call center work back to the U.S.

ESR does NOT send U. S. applicant information outside of the U.S. for processing.  Once data leaves the U.S., the data is beyond the reach of U.S. privacy laws and there is a lack of privacy protections.  Sending data outside the U.S. put applicants and employers at great risk with no meaningful upside for employers.  As a practical matter, someone in the U.S. has no ability to hire a lawyer in a foreign country to pursue legal action or contact a foreign police authority to get any action taken if their identity of PII is compromised.  The only exception is where ESR is asked to perform an international verification and the information resides outside of the U.S. Even in that situation, ESR goes to great length to protect applicant data by going directly to the school or employer.  If it is necessary to have a researcher do research in a foreign country, ESR only releases the minimum information absolutely necessary.

A large number of screening firms have also taken a position against off shoring data.  See:  http://www.concernedcras.com/no_offshoring.htm.

For more information on background checks and outsourcing, visit Employment Screening Resources (ESR) at http://www.esrcheck.com.

Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/business/global/22outsource.html

By Lester Rosen, ESR President

The Massachusetts Offices of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulations (OCABR) recently passed regulations that went into effect March 1, 2010 and are aimed at safeguarding the personal information of Massachusetts residents by requiring a business to have a Written Information Security Program (WISP) to protect personal information.

The STANDARDS FOR THE PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION OF RESIDENTS OF THE COMMONWEALTH cover any business that “receives, stores, maintains, processes, or otherwise has access to personal information in connection with the provision of good or services or in connection with employment.”

The rules defined personal information as a Massachusettss resident’s name combined with a social security number, drivers license or state issued ID card, or a financial account.

The regulations also apply to third parties and require that there be contracts to ensure that the regulations are implemented and maintained, although the contracts did not need to be updated before March 1, 2012. It appears that Massachusetts takes the position that the rules apply to out of state firms that handles personal information as well.

A business that is regulated by these rules must have and implement a written comprehensive information security policy, or WISP. The rules do not specify exact policies but provides minimum requirements and indicates a business should take certain a number of factors into account such as the kind of records it maintains and the risk of identity theft.

Some of the things a business must do includes a review of foreseeable internal and external risks, evaluation and improvement of safeguards, policies for employee access outside of the business, implementing security measures such as password control and up to date firewall, employee training, ensuring that terminated employees cannot access confidential data as well as disciplinary measures for violations of the regulations.

This new law has been described as the toughest in the nation, and should go a long ways toward improving privacy and data security and fighting identity theft. A text of the new regulations can be viewed at: http://www.mass.gov/Eoca/docs/idtheft/201CMR1700reg.pdf.

With these strict information security regulations now in effect in Massachusetts, employers need to ensure that their background screening firms are in compliance, Employment Screening Resources (ESR) – a leading background check provider – maintains compliance with the new private information protection in Massachusetts. For more information on privacy and data security as it relates to background checks, contact Employment Screening Resoruces at http://www.ESRcheck.com.

Source:

A text of the new regulations can be viewed at: http://www.mass.gov/Eoca/docs/idtheft/201CMR1700reg.pdf

By Lester Rosen, President of ESR

From the ESR Mail Box

Question:

Can an employer automatically exclude an applicant with a felony or criminal record? What about automated processes that use a system to identify applicants with a criminal record?

Answer:

The one thing that an employer can be advised with some certainty is that any sort of automatic policy based upon a person’s status as an ex-offender is very likely to expose a firm to a federal or state Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issue.  That is why nearly every employment application not only asks about past criminal records but also has a disclaimer that a criminal record will not be used automatically.  The rule is clear that an employer needs a “business justification” before excluding someone based upon a past criminal record.  A blanket policy does not allow consideration of the individual, taking into account factors such as the nature and gravity of the past offense, the relevance to the job and how much time has passed.  In fact, in 2009, New York passed a law that requires an employer to review a longer list of factors related to a past crimes.  This is why ESR advises clients to approach any sot of automated software processes with extremes caution.

The idea is that an applicant should not be the subject of prejudice based on their status as opposed to who they are as a person. After all, the root of the word prejudice is to pre-judge.  Of course, that does not mean a sex offender should be supervising a playground or an embezzler handling money, but the bottom-line is that there is a job for everyone, although not everyone is entitle to every job.  As a society, we cannot afford to build more prisons then schools or hospital, so there is a big need to get past offenders employed. In fact, nationally, it costs about $30,000 a year to incarcerate a person.  If a person leaves jail or prison and cannot get a job, there is a high likelihood of recidivism and more costs to society. 

On the other hand, they need to be employed in an appropriate job, to avoid harm to the firm or the public and to avoid lawsuits for negligent hiring.  There is no perfect solution, but as with many things associated with HR, it is the process that is critical.  The process should certainly allow for individual consideration of each applicant on their merits as it relates to a job.  Of course, if a person has lied on tier application and was dishonest about past criminal history then the employer may rightly be concerned about the lack of honesty on the application especially if the application clearly indicates hat any material omission or misinformation is grounds to terminate the hiring process or employment, no matter when discovered.

There are numerous ESR blogs on the subject that can assist employers in navigating these issues:

• 2010 Trend on Increased Focus on Whether Credit Reports and Criminal Records are Discriminatory
• Discrimination Lawsuit Shows Importance of Employer Policy on the Use of Criminal Records During Background Checks
• The Unfair Use of Credit Reports and Criminal Records and the EEOC E-Race Initiative

For more information about background checks, visit Employment Screening Resources (ESR) at http://www.esrcheck.com.

Sources:

http://www.esrcheck.com/wordpress/2010/01/04/2010-trend-on-increased-focus-on-whether-credit-reports-and-criminal-records-are-discriminatory/

http://www.esrcheck.com/wordpress/2010/04/12/discrimination-lawsuit-shows-importance-of-employer-policy-on-the-use-of-criminal-records-during-background-checks/

 http://www.esrcheck.com/wordpress/2010/01/07/the-unfair-use-of-credit-reports-and-criminal-records-and-the-eeoc-e-race-initiative/

By Lester Rosen, ESR President

The following Due Diligence Checklist contains questions employers can use to find out if an employment screening company is utilizing due diligence in its employment screening process. A .PDF version of this Due Diligence Checklist that employers can download and print is located at http://www.esrcheck.com/docs/Due-Diligence-22.pdf.

• Have there been any material changes in the past year that would adversely affect your ability to provide industry standard employment screening reports?
• Is all work performed in the USA to protect privacy and control quality (i.e., nothing sent offshore to India or other places)?
• Are all employment and education checks conducted by professionals in a controlled, call center type environment, so that nothing is sent to at-home workers?
• For employment verifications, are anti-fraud procedures in place, such as independent verifications of all past employer phone numbers instead of relying upon an applicant supplied number?
• For education verifications, are steps taken to verify if a college or university is accredited and to watch out for Diploma Mills?
• Are criminal searches conducted using the most accurate means, which normally means on-site (no database substitutes)?
• Do you search for both felonies and misdemeanors when available?
• When a criminal hit is reported, does a knowledgeable person in your firm review the findings to determine if there are any legal issues in reporting the findings (as opposed to having the information entered by a court researcher)?
• When there is a criminal hit, do you contact the employer immediately to advise that there is a potential problem?
• Does your firm take measures to ensure that ALL legal and relevant criminal records are searched, as opposed to just going back “seven” years?
• If a client orders a “multi-jurisdictional” database, do you re-verify any criminal “hit” at the courthouse level for maximum accuracy, instead of relying on notifying the applicant of a potential hit?
• Do you notify your clients of changes in the FCRA and other applicable laws?
• Do you at least, on a yearly basis, do an internal FCRA compliance audit?
• Do you offer international background checks?
• Is your firm “Safe Harbor Certified” to perform screenings of applicants from the EU (European Union)?
• Do you have data protection, privacy security and data breach policies?
• Are you a member of the background screening trade association, the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS), and does your firm actively participate and support professionalism in the screening industry?
• What is your average turn-around time?
• If there is a delay for reasons that are out of your control, are your clients notified online with in-depth notes and the anticipated ETA of information?
• Are your clients provided with written documentation and resources on safe hiring, due diligence and legal compliance issues?
• Are your clients provided with upgrades in technology that would enhance workflow, such as the ability to have applicants consent online or integration with an ATS or HRIS system?
• Can you describe your initial training program for team members and ongoing training?

For more information on employment screening and due diligence, visit Employment Screening Resources (ESR) at http://www.esrcheck.com.

Sources:

http://www.esrcheck.com/diligence-audit-current-provider.php

http://www.esrcheck.com/docs/Due-Diligence-22.pdf