E-Verify might soon become a requirement for all employers. Since its inception in 1996, the program has been mandatory for all federal contractors, some state contractors, and companies hiring foreign graduates from U.S. universities to participate in STEP optional training. Currently, less than 10% of American programs are enrolled in the program, according to Lynn Shotwell from SHRM.
The new Consumer Financial Protection Board (“CFPB”) will be enforcing the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”). The CFPB have modified previous forms utilized during background checks and are required under the FCRA. The new forms are as follows:
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) is issuing a new warning to Nationwide Specialty Consumer Reporting Agencies (“NSCRAs”) about giving consumers easy access to consumer reports. The bulletin from the CFPB is here: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201211_cfpb_NSCRA_Bulletin.pdf.
Pre-employment screening has been big news lately, as the rising use of social media for pre-hire screening comes into conflict with privacy laws meant to protect job candidates from discrimination. NPR tackled this sticky subject recently in a “Talk of the Nation” segment about just how far employment background checks should be allowed to go.
Commission updates guidance on employer use of arrest and conviction records.
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today issued an updated enforcement guide on employer use of arrest and conviction records. According to the EEOC, the purpose of this guide is to consolidate and update the EEOC’s guidance documents regarding the use of arrest or conviction records in employment decisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The EEOC’s enforcement guide is an effort to eliminate unlawful discrimination during the background screening and hiring/retention process.
Submitting to a background check is often required before getting a job, renting an apartment, or volunteering at a school or youth program. But dating?
Now that the Florida neighborhood watch volunteer who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February has been charged with second-degree murder, some national experts are suggesting that neighborhood watch organizations across the country need to take a good, hard look at themselves.
Companies that fail to keep a close eye on legal developments regarding pre-hire screening put themselves at risk of costly litigation. As every attorney expert in employment law can tell you, pre-employment background check processes are not the sort of thing you want to “set and forget.” A strong, easily defended pre-hire screening process should be consistently updated to reflect the latest EEOC and FCRA rulings. Moreover, states and cities consistently pass new laws about how employers can conduct pre-employment background checks. To protect your business, it’s important to track pre-hire screening news and adjust your methodology accordingly.
A quick look around the internet might very well give you the impression that pre-employment screening is a simple, do-it-yourself project. Many criminal records check websites claim to have “national databases” and to turn up “all misdemeanors,” implying that conducting a pre-employment background check is as simple as performing a quick web search.
Most tenants are lovely, responsible people you would be happy to have living in your property. Others, however, are riskier propositions. In fact, we have all heard stories of nightmare tenants who could have, and should have, been avoided simply by performing tenant screening. Unfortunately, you can’t always tell these types merely by looking at them; avoiding these unsavory tenants requires performing tenant background checks on all prospective renters.
