Safe Hiring Expert to Present at Los Angeles HR Star Conference on February 29

To help Human Resources professionals stay in compliance with new laws regulating background checks in California, Attorney Lester Rosen, a safe hiring expert and CEO of background check firm Employment Screening Resources (ESR), will present a session titled “How to Comply with California’s Two New Laws Regarding Background Checks” on Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at the Los Angeles HR Star Conference. To register for the conference, which takes place from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA, visit: http://www.hrstarconference.com/la/. (UPDATE: Jared Callahan, Director of Business Development for ESR and licensed Private Investigator, will speak at the LA HR Star Conference in place of Lester Rosen on February 29). “Employers in California, and employers doing business in California, need to be aware of two new laws that took effect on January 1, 2012 that will change the way they conduct employment screening background checks in the state,” says Rosen, the author of ‘The Safe Hiring Manual,’ the first comprehensive guide to background checks, and a frequent speaker on due diligence issues nationwide as part of the ‘ESR Speaks’ training program. In the session, Rosen will cover two new California background check laws – California Assembly Bill 22 (AB 22) and California Senate Bill 909 (SB 909) – in detail:

• California Assembly Bill 22 (AB 22) relates the use of credit report checks of job applicants and current employees for employment purposes. AB 22 prohibits most employers and prospective employers in the state – with the exception of certain financial institutions – from obtaining consumer credit reports for employment purposes. In addition, AB 22 also requires the written notice informing the person for whom a consumer credit report is sought for employment purposes to also inform that person of the specific reason for obtaining the credit report.
• California Senate Bill 909 (SB 909) relates to the “offshoring” of the Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of consumers who are the subjects of background checks. SB 909 addresses the issue of personal information of consumers collected during background checks for employment purposes being sent “offshore” and outside the United States or its territories beyond the protection of U.S. privacy laws. SB 909 amends the California Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRA) that regulates background checks in California and requires a new disclosure be made to consumers as to whether their PII will be sent outside the country.

Rosen is a nationally recognized safe hiring expert and the founder of Employment Screening Resources (ESR), a nationwide background check company headquartered in Novato, California and accredited by the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS). He was the chairperson of the steering committee that founded the NAPBS, the professional trade organization for the background screening industry, and served as the first co-chairman. He has also qualified and testified in the California Superior Court as an expert witness on issues surrounding safe hiring and due diligence. The Los Angeles HR Star Conference is a free, one day conference on a wide variety of human resources and employment law topics for HR executives and managers in Los Angeles and Southern California. There will be 17 sessions in total for 2012. For more information and to register for the conference, visit: http://www.hrstarconference.com/la/. For more information and legal updates about pre-employment background checks, as well as advice on how to implement safe hiring programs, visit Employment Screening Resources (ESR) – ‘The Background Check Authority^SM’ – at https://www.esrcheck.com or call ESR at 415.898.0044. Sources: http://www.hrstarconference.com/la/. https://www.esrcheck.com/Newsletter/ESR-Speaks/How-to-Comply-with-Californias-Two-New-Laws-Regarding-Background-Checks-116/. http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/asm/ab_0001-0050/ab_22_bill_20110920_enrolled.pdf. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/sen/sb_0901-0950/sb_909_bill_20100929_chaptered.pdf. About Employment Screening Resources (ESR): Employment Screening Resources (ESR) – ‘The Background Check Authority^SM’ – provides accurate and actionable information, empowering employers to make informed safe hiring decisions for the benefit for our clients, their employees, and the public. ESR literally wrote the book on background screening with “The Safe Hiring Manual” by Founder and CEO Lester Rosen. ESR is accredited by The National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS), a distinction held by less than two percent of all screening firms. By choosing an accredited screening firm like ESR, employers know they have selected an agency that meets the highest industry standards. For more information about Employment Screening Resources (ESR), visit https://www.esrcheck.com/ or call 415.898.0044. About ESR News: The Employment Screening Resources (ESR) News blog – ESR News – provides employment screening information for employers, recruiters, and jobseekers on a variety of topics including credit reports, criminal records, data privacy, discrimination, E-Verify, jobs reports, legal updates, negligent hiring, workplace violence, and use of search engines and social network sites for background checks. For more information about ESR News or to send comments or questions, please email ESR News Editor Thomas Ahearn at [email protected].]]>