A letter published on the Cleveland.com website criticizes a U.S.-based background screening firm for laying off local workers in the Ohio area in March of 2012 and “offshoring” both jobs and the personal data of American consumers collected for background checks outside of the country. The full text of the letter, written by Katharine Sarlog, a former employee of the company who was recently laid off, is available by clicking here: Katharine Sarlog letter. (more…)

According to a report from the Associated Press (AP), a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) that performs employment screening for businesses will close two offices in South Dakota by the end of the year and move those jobs to new sites in Arizona, India, and the Philippines. The AP reports that the company, one of the largest background screening suppliers in the country, says the closings in Aberdeen, South Dakota and Mitchell, South Dakota are due to restructuring and will affect approximately 140 workers. The AP story is the latest case of a large U.S. background screening company “offshoring” the processing of background checks to foreign countries. (more…)

To alert U.S.-based employers and job seekers about the potential dangers caused by background check firms “offshoring” Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to countries such as India and the Philippines, Employment Screening Resources (ESR) is offering a new whitepaper on the subject. The whitepaper written by ESR founder and CEO Attorney Lester Rosen is titled ‘The Dangers of Offshoring Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Outside of United States’ and details the hazards of sending PII to counties that are well beyond the reach of U.S. privacy and identity theft laws. The complimentary whitepaper is available at: http://www.esrcheck.com/Download/. (more…)

To help Human Resources professionals understand new California background check laws, Attorney and safe hiring expert Lester Rosen, CEO of Employment Screening Resources (ESR), will present a live interactive HR Hero webinar titled ‘Background Checks in California: Recently Passed Legislation, How to Legally Use Credit Inquires, and More’ on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern Time (10:30 AM to 12:00 PM Pacific). To register for the program – which has been approved for 1.5 recertification credit hours through the HR Certification Institute (HRCI), visit: http://store.hrhero.com/events/audio-conferences-webinars/ca-background-checking. (more…)

The Massachusetts Offices of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulations (OCABR) passed strict data privacy and security regulations ‘201 CMR 17.00: STANDARDS FOR THE PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION OF RESIDENTS OF THE COMMONWEALTH’ that went into effect March 1, 2010 to protect the personal information of Massachusetts residents by requiring businesses to have a multitude of safeguards including a comprehensive Written Information Security Policy (WISP). Effective March 1, 2012, any company, in any location, that holds the personal information of Massachusetts residents must amend its existing third party vendor contracts to require compliance with Massachusetts data security regulations. The law is available at:  http://www.mass.gov/ocabr/docs/idtheft/201cmr1700reg.pdf. (more…)