To help individuals enjoy effective control over their personal information, an extensive January 2012 proposal by the European Commission for a new General Data Protection Regulation aims to strengthen and bring into harmony data protection law across Europe. A Communication from the Commission, ‘Safeguarding Privacy in a Connected World – A European Data Protection Framework for the 21st Century,’ is at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2012:0009:FIN:EN:PDF. (more…)

A new California law due to take effect January 1, 2012 – Senate Bill 909 (SB 909) – appears to be one of the first in the nation that addresses the growing concerns over the controversial practice of “offshoring” personally identifiable information (PII) collected during background checks of job applicants by sending the data outside of United States and its territories and beyond the protection of U.S. privacy and identity theft laws. This is Trend Number 9 of the fifth annual Employment Screening Resources (ESR) ‘Top 10 Trends in Background Checks’ for 2012. To view the list of trends, visit http://www.esrcheck.com/ESR-Top-10-Trends-in-Background-Checks-for-2012.php. (more…)

By Lester Rosen, Employment Screening Resources (ESR) President & Thomas Ahearn, ESR News Editor

In 2011, due to the mobility of workers across international borders in a global economy making it no longer adequate to conduct background screening checks just in the United States, a major trend will be the necessity of international background screening since an increasing number of workers will have spent part of their professional careers abroad.

Employers in the U.S. have long recognized that conducting due diligence on new hires with background screening is a mission critical task that can help them avoid being the subject of negligent hiring lawsuits if they hire someone that they should have known – through the exercise of due diligence – was dangerous, unfit or unqualified.

However, with the increased mobility of workers across international borders it is no longer adequate to conduct these background screening checks just in the United States. Background screening also must be done internationally since an increasing number of workers have spent part of their professional careers abroad. The number of foreign countries from which U.S. employers may seek information about applicants with international background screening is expansive, and includes Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (U.K.).

This is Trend #5 of the Employment Screening Resources (ESR) Fourth Annual ‘Top Ten Trends in Pre-Employment Background Screening’ for 2011.

A need for international background screening can occur in several situations:

• Job applicant from abroad: International background screening is necessary when an American company is considering a job applicant who was born abroad and is either coming directly to the U.S. from another country or has not been in the United States long enough to rely solely upon checking American references and criminal records.
• Job applicant spent time abroad: International background screening is necessary when an American company is considering a job applicant who spent considerable time abroad in another country and the employer wants to obtain data for that time period.
• Job applicant from other country will work in that country: International background screening is necessary when an American company is hiring an individual in another country to work in that country, such as an outside sales representative.

Recent U.S. government statistics show why international background screening is so necessary. Employers should understand that, statistically speaking, people in the United States who were born – or have spent significant time – abroad make up a surprisingly large amount of the current U.S. population:

• Foreign Born U.S. Residents: Based on the ‘Place of Birth of the Foreign-Born Population: 2009’ report issued in October 2010 that presents data on the foreign born population using the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS), there are 38.5 million foreign-born U.S. residents, representing 12.5 percent of the population.
• U.S. Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs): According to the report ‘U.S. Legal Permanent Residents: 2009’ (April 2010) from Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS), a total of 1,130,818 persons became Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) of the United States in 2009, up from 1,107,126 in 2008, a 2.1 percent increase in legal immigration.
• Unauthorized immigrants: According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS) report ‘Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2009’ (January 2010), the unauthorized immigrant population living in the United States reached an estimated 10.8 million in January 2009 and grew 27 percent between 2000 and 2009.
• U.S. Citizens That Spend Much Time Abroad: While no reliable statistics exist regarding the number of U.S. citizens that spend a considerable amount of time abroad, many U.S. citizens have travelled outside the country, and some have lived, worked, or attended should in another country and for a considerable amount of time.

What these figures tell employers is that only performing background screening within the U.S. is probably not enough. More and more, employers find they need to obtain information from outside of the United States on such matters as criminal records, past employment, and educational accomplishments with international background screening.

However, due to the perceived difficulty in performing international background screening, some employers do not attempt to verify international employment or education credentials, or perform foreign criminal checks. However, the mere fact that information may be more difficult to obtain from outside of the U.S. does not relieve an employer from their due diligence obligation, or “duty of care,” associated with hiring.

An employer cannot simply take a position that it is harder to exercise due diligence because the research is international. Nor can employers simply assume that the U.S. government has conducted background checks if the worker was issued a visa since government checks are generally not aimed at verifying credentials or checking for criminal records for employment purposes.

To exercise due diligence in hiring workers with backgrounds outside the U.S., employers should – at a minimum – consider international background screening for:

• Criminal records
• Employment
• Education
• Publicly available terrorist lists and international databases
• Driver’s license, media searches, and – in some countries – credit reports

Employers should also be aware of special challengers when it comes to international background screening. Each and every country is completely different when it comes to international background screening. Techniques, information, and availability of public records that are taken for granted here in the United States are often times not available abroad. Outside of the U.S., there is generally very limited access to public records and the types of information needed for background screening. Each country has its own laws, customs, and procedures for background screenings.

When performing international background screening, there are a number of the special challenges and practical difficulties employers may face, including:

• Differences in courts and legal systems
• Language barriers
• Name variations including transliteration into English and Phonetic transcription or “transcribing”
• Time differences
• Means and cost of communications
• Differing calendars and holidays
• Inherent risk of fraud
• Costs more expensive compared to background screening in U.S.
• Payments must be made in another country’s currency

Although international background screening can be challenging, it is not impossible. Employers can find themselves in hot water if they assume that international background screening is too difficult or expensive and simply bypass the process.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), both employers and background screening firms still have certain obligations regarding international background screening. If the task of international background screening is outsourced to a U.S. background screening firm, that firm has an FCRA obligation to take reasonable procedures to insure accuracy. If there is a negative public record, such as a criminal record “hit,” then the U.S. background screening firm must make certain the information is correct and up-to-date, and supplied in a way that does not violate any data or privacy protection rules.

Employment Screening Resources (ESR) – a leading background check provider both nationally and internationally accredited by the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS) and the third U.S. background screening company to be “Safe Harbor” certified – recommends employers implement an international Background Screening program that best fits their needs. ESR recommendations include:

• Employers not assume that just because a person has spent time outside of the U.S., that international background screening is not possible.
• Employers not assume the U.S. government has performed a background check that relieves employers of their due diligence obligation to conduct their own screening.
• Employers perform international background screening in a legally compliance manner.
• Employers perform the broadest criminal search allowed in each country, the international ESR criminality search.
• Employers perform verification of, at the very least, the highest education that the applicant attained, the last employment where the applicant worked.
• Employers pay particular attention to international education verifications since the world is awash with phony schools, fake degrees, and worthless diplomas.
• Employers never identify applicants as “applicants born abroad” but rather simply as “international screening” since it may be discriminatory under Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regulations.
• Employers use proper consent forms for European Union (EU) “Safe Harbor” data privacy standards.
• Employers perform international credit reports and driving records when available in some countries.

In January of 2011, Employment Screening Resources (ESR) will release a white paper ‘Introduction to International Background Screening’ that will provide information about what risks employers conducting such international background screenings should be aware of and the many ways background screening overseas differs from background screening in the United States. Some of the topics covered in the white paper include:

• Two Types of International Background Checks:  Screening vs. Investigation
• Why Employers Cannot Assume Government Screens Workers from Abroad
• Challenges When Performing International Background Screenings
• Tips on International Education & Employment Verifications
• Terrorist Watch Search Lists, International Databases & International Sanctions Search
• Legal Implications for Employers Doing International Background Checks
• EU “Safe Harbor” Privacy and Data Protection in International Background Screening
• Recommendations for International Background Screening Programs

To read more ESR News articles about International background screening, visit http://www.esrcheck.com/wordpress/tag/international-background-checks/.  To read the article ‘Introduction to International Screening’ by Employment Screening Resources (ESR) founder and President Lester Rosen, visit: http://www.esrcheck.com/articles/internationalscreening.php.

Employment Screening Resources (ESR) is releasing the ESR Fourth Annual ‘Top Ten Trends in Pre-Employment Background Screening’ for 2011 throughout December. This is the Fifth of the Top Ten Trends ESR will be tracking in 2011. To see an updated list of ESR’s ‘Top Ten Trends in Pre-Employment Background Screening’ for 2011, visit: http://www.esrcheck.com/Top-Ten-Trends-In-Background-Screening-2011.php.

Founded in 1996 in the San Francisco Bay area, Employment Screening Resources (ESR) is the company that wrote the book on background checks with ‘The Safe Hiring Manual’ by ESR founder and President Lester Rosen. Employment Screening Resources is accredited by The National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) Background Screening Credentialing Council (BSCC) for proving compliance with the Background Screening Agency Accreditation Program (BSAAP). ESR was the third U.S. background check firm to be Safe Harbor’Certified for data privacy protection. To learn more about ESR’s Leadership, Resources, and Solutions, visit http://www.ESRcheck.com or contact Jared Callahan, ESR Director of Client Relations, at 415.898.0044 or jcallahan@ESRcheck.com.

Sources:
http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/acsbr09-15.pdf
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/lpr_fr_2009.pdf 
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/ois_ill_pe_2009.pdf
https://www.export.gov/safeharbor/

An important consideration when U.S. screening firms do international background checks are the application of foreign privacy laws regarding the manner in which information is obtained, transmitted, and utilized. The central issues are data privacy and protection. The European Union (EU) has extensive privacy laws that affect U.S. employers and screening firms.  These rules went into effect in 1998. The European privacy rules impact the transmissions of “personally identifiable data” from offices in EU countries to businesses in the U.S.

Firms that acquire data on individuals from EU member countries without compliance with the EU rules can be in violation of EU law. This can have a serious impact on international firms or firms that do business in an EU country.

 However, American firms that develop a privacy policy may enter what is called a “Safe Harbor” by certifying a privacy policy that includes adequate mechanisms to protect confidential personal data. The program is administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce. 

A firm can become Safe Harbor certified by following the guidelines listed at the Department of Commerce.  Information can be obtained at http://www.export.gov/safeharbor/ 

Employment Screening Resources was just the third background screening firm in the U.S. to receive Safe Harbor Certification from the Department of Commerce.  

ESR provides international background checks all over the world, including criminal records, and employment and education verifications.  ESR’s president Lester Rosen was the keynote speaker at the first international background screening conference held in India in 2007, and has traveled to a number of countries to investigate background screening. ESR also published the first comprehensive white paper on international background checks as part of the book, “The Safe Hiring Manual.”   

For more information on international employee screening services, see, see: http://www.esrcheck.com/international.php

Employers have long recognized that conducting due diligence on new hires is a mission- critical task. Firms cannot afford to be sidetracked by employee problems such as workplace violence, theft, false resumes, embezzlement, harassment or trumped-up injury claims. Employers can be the subject of lawsuits for negligent hiring if they hire someone that they should have known, through the exercise of due diligence, was dangerous, unfit or unqualified.

However, with the mobility of workers across international borders, it is no longer adequate to conduct these checks just in the United States. A 2000 government study shows that 11.5% of the population consists of immigrants. In addition, an increasing number of workers have spent part of their professional career abroad. The number of countries from which employers seek additional information about applicants is expansive, and includes India, China, the Philippines, France, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Japan and Canada, among others.

Because of the perceived difficulty in performing international employment screening, some employers have not attempted to verify international credentials or to perform foreign criminal checks. However, the mere fact that information may be more difficult to obtain from outside of the U.S. does not relieve an employer of their due diligence obligation.

Nor can employers simply assume that the U.S. government has conducted background checks if the worker was issued a visa. After the events of 9/11, the U.S. has increased checks on foreign visitors and on workers on government “watch lists.” However, the government checks are generally not aimed at verifying a credential or checking for criminal records for employment purposes.

Education
Verification of an educational degree earned abroad is critical to verify credentials and to avoid fraud. An employer needs to determine if an applicant in fact attended the school claimed and received the degree claimed. Statistics show that education fraud can run as high as 20%. The employer also needs to determine if the school is accredited and authentic. The world is awash with phony schools and worthless diplomas. If the employer is not familiar with a school, the employer should conduct its own research. A legitimate school will often have an e-mail address or phone number so that they can be contacted to verify a degree.

Employment
Foreign employment can also be verified by contacting the employer even though they are in a foreign country. Often such calls will be made in the middle of the night due to time differences. The critical step is to obtain as much information about the past employer as possible from the applicant. If the employer does not speak English, an interpreter may be needed.

In order to assist employers in the requirements worldwide, ESR has published a helpful chart showing what is required in each country around the world. See: 

http://www.esrcheck.com/internationalscreening.php

In order to comply with international data and privacy protection laws, ESR does not send personal information offshore.  The verifications are conducted from the U.S.   The only exceptions are certain countries referred to as “Red Zones,” where due to unique circumstances, a local researcher may be needed.  

In some countries, verifications can be especially difficult due to problems in that country with communications or other barriers. In the event a country does not utilize the English alphabet or an employer or school cannot communicate in English, it may be necessary to request applicant information in the language of that country.  A U.S. firm that performs international screening should also be Safe Harbor Certified.