Month: July 2010

Categories
Background Checks Form I-9 Human Resources Miscellany Recruiting Staffing Uncategorized

Reminder of Changes in the E-Verify I-9 Procedure

The E-Verify or I-9 is a vital part of background checks, especially for any contractors with the federal and state governments as well as certain related agencies.  The E-Verify is part of the Department of Homeland Security and upon submission, the I-9 will return confirmation that an employee is eligible to work in the United States.   Of course, the law states that the employer must first offer employment to the job applicant, before being able to conduct the E-Verify-I-9 background check.

To be clear, no employer may conduct the I-9 unless his employment candidate is actually offered employment.   To conduct a pre-employment background check to determine if your job applicant will be eligible to work legally in the United States, I suggest the employer first run a Social Security Trace.

Anyway, as a reminder to the changes in the E-Verify or I-9 program, here is a helpful list of modifications for your review.  This list is provided by the Department of Homeland Security.

SUBJECT: Notification of Significant E-Verify Program Enhancements

The Verification Division, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of

Homeland Security, is responsible for the operation of the E-Verify program. Accordingly, the

Verification Division periodically implements enhancements to improve E-Verify. On June 14,

2010, E-Verify implemented the following enhancements:

• A new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Web Services E-Verify Employer

Agents (formerly known as Designated Agents) – The MOU provides new guidance on the

specific responsibilities of Web Service E-Verify Employer Agents. As a result, all E-Verify

Employer Agents are required to complete the new MOU. You should return the signed copy

of the MOU signature page by August 06, 2010. Failure to return the requested information

by that time could result in loss of access to E-Verify.

To submit the signature page, you can:

1) Fax it to (202) 443-0215. You should include your Company ID number on the upper

left hand corner of the signature page. Additionally, you should include a cover sheet

with your company’s name, address and contact information, or

2) Scan and email it to DAsupport@dhs.gov. You should include your Company ID

number, company name, address and contact information in the email. The subject

heading for the email should be MOU recertifieddon for E-Verify Weh Services.

• Improvements to the 3-day Rule – If you are unable to create a case within 3-days of hire,

E-Verify will prompt the user to enter the reason for the delay. As a result, employers will

no longer be required to note the reason for delay on the employee’s Form 1-9.

• New Audit Trail for Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC) Notices and Referral Letters –

E-Verify will record when the user prints the TNC Notice or Referral Letters.

www.uscis.gov

Notification of Significant E-Verify Program Enhancements Page 2

• Updates to terminology in the Social Security Administration (SSA) and DHS TNC and

Referral Letters

• New Case Closure Process – When closing a case, users will be prompted by a wizard to

answer a question that will determine which closure codes can be selected by the user.

• New Closure Codes — The closure code language has been simplified to improve user

understanding and case closure accuracy.

• Improvements to the reasons for a Social Security Administration (SSA) TNC – The

language describing the reasons for the SSA TNC has been updated so that they are easily

understood.

All new enhancements are documented in the attached Web Services Interface Control Document

(ICD) V21. Please ensure that you have updated your system interface to these new

specifications no later than December 17, 2010. Failure to update by this date could result in loss of access to E-Verify,

Categories
Criminal Records Economy Human Resources Miscellany preemployment screening Recruiting Staffing Uncategorized

Background Checks Can Help Avoid Employee Data Theft

It is tough times out there for any business.   While the global economy has been with us now for a decade or two, there are employers still making adjustments.  It is understandable.   Employers are hiring job applicants from all over the country if not from around the world.   Each business is competing to gain substantial market share while trying to sustain during a difficult economy.

The last thing an employer needs is for employees to be robbing and stealing from them.   It is one thing maybe to steal pencils and paper, and quite another to swipe proprietary data and sell it to your competitors.   According to an article in Network World,  a new survey has revealed that 35% of those questioned believe that employees have provided sensitive information to competitors.   While some of the information was also chalked up to human error, the majority belief was that employees were responsible for the theft and transference of sensitive data.

Nearly two thirds of the IT personnel involved in the survey  admitted to having accessed information that was not relevant to their role.   While the IT group seemed to be the biggest offenders, Human Resources snooping sensitive data coming in a distant second.   As to what  type of data that IT staff snooped on varied according to geography.   A third of of UK respondents  listed accessing HR records first, compared to 28 percent of US respondents, and 38 percent of US respondents choosing to sneakily access the customer database first, compared to just 16 percent of UK respondents.

Whle firms have taken a variety of precautions, this, in-house sabotage had increased from 20 percent last year to 27 percent this year.   Not good,   Especially during an intensely competitive period in a bad economy.

While background checks  are a long way from the cure all, checking an employment candidates criminal history as well as conduct reference background checks will help weed out the undesirable job applicants.   The background check is designed to give the human resources personnel and the supervisors and overview of someone’s criminal and civil past as well as an overview of their performance.  by conducting professional reference verifications on the job applicant, and employer can better determine if the person drew suspicion with respect to any data theft or snooping.

Compared to the embarrassment and the liability factors involved with in-house snooping, and when compared to the potential business loss from data theft, the background check is a cost-effective alternative.  Many employers try cutting corners and do not order a comprehensive series of background checks for their preemployment screening program.   It is being penny-wise and dollar foolish.  It is always best to know what you may be getting into, before you encounter  a very rude awakening.

So check them out before you hire.

Categories
Background Checks Criminal Records Economy Human Resources Miscellany preemployment screening Staffing Uncategorized

The No Background Check Security Card Background Check

a rather substantial security firm in the Dallas area was just fined $10,000 for hiring unlicensed security guards and not conducting adequate background checks on its new employees.  Several of the security guards had criminal histories.

Of course, as with most embarrassing and costly situations, this whole business came to light when authorities accused one of the guards of attempting to steal two safes from a facility.   Given that this Security Firm, I usually don’t like to name names,  has contracted out with the Dallas Cowboys, the State Fair of Texas, and the Sixth Floor Museum,–the site where Lee Harvey Oswald shot President John Kennedy, for those hazy on their history–any such charges of negligence can prove not only embarrassment but detrimental to business overall.

According to the article on the Dallas Morning News site, the Security Company had previously received citations for not properly registering some 38 security guards who were working on the fairground.   Texas law stipulates that security agencies s have five working days from the date of hire to conduct a pre-employment background check.  In that same time frame they are mandated to  fingerprint new employees and file paperwork with state officials.   The company must renew the registration of each security guards every two years. That being said,  two companies said they were satisfied with the company’s work and would use them again.  So that is definitely a positive note for this company.

However, if you are a business and you have to wait until your are cited and fined, then maybe your customers will not prove so loyal.   If your clients expect your to be fully compliant and if they expect you to conduct background checks to assure your employees are qualified and are free of criminal records, then it would make sense to get this all down up front.  Waiting can cause pain and damage to your business.   In this case, according to the article, the Security Company claims they grew too fast and had such a demand for their services that they could find qualified staff.     This is on one hand an enviable situation, a rapidly growing business, but it can also prove a precarious situation.  If you are not compliant, and you do not practice due diligence, than that rapid growth can just as easily reverse itself, leaving you with a rapidly shrinking company.

So…check them out before you hire.

Categories
Background Checks

Another Police Department May Have Hired Despite Records on Criminal Background Checks

This is simply amazing to me.   It appears that once again another police department in a major city may have hired convicted felons in spite of the criminal records on their background checks.  It is either that or nobody bothered to review the background checks as they were returned.   So now we have criminals pursuing criminals, which in the abstract may be a good idea as the new employment hires may have a better understanding of the criminal mentality.  At least, that is what we can glean from a television show.

But real life is not a television show.   While I am all for forgiveness and giving people a second chance, the policy for law enforcement agencies and public service bureaus to hire people with criminal records on their background checks raises some interesting questions.  The first question that comes to mind is whether there will be added and costly liability issues, should this new employee with a criminal record have an altercation or be involved in some situation where a citizen is hurt, or contraband is missing.   Then there the added concerns for behavior patterns and the psychological impulses to take advantage of a newly found position of relative power.

According to NJ.Com, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the Newark Police Department with respect to new hires that had previous criminal records or who had otherwise failed their background checks.   According to the argument, while the Prosecutor’s Office understandably won’t comment on a current investigation, there are indications that certain persons in power exerted their influence to override the negative  recommendations from the  division that oversees background checks.  Let us say that some of the new and questionable hires may be relatives of officers  already on the force.    It should be noted that some of the employment candidates were rejected due to bad credit reports.   Law enforcement authorities will often run credit reports on any of their job applicants.  Nothing unusual here.

I have blogged about the lack of oversight in law enforcement agencies and public service groups in previous articles.  One such article is entitled, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Returns to Earlier Hiring Practices.

Of course, as with anything of this nature, there is more to the story.  Some of the elements included political and internecine rivalries, whistle blowers, and my old favorite, stonewalling.   But with all that being said, there is a lesson to be learned here, and that is to develop a uniform policy regarding background checks.  And then stick to it.  Whether you are a police department, a public service agency, or a private employer looking to hire, the key to conducting pre-employment screening is to develop and adhere to a uniform policy.

This policy and the types of searches may vary according to the level of position and all of its incumbent complexities.  Simply put, you may probably conduct fewer background searches for an entry or lower level employee than you would for middle management or senior executives.   With senior executives, especially those in the financial area, you would consider federal criminal and federal civil searches in order to examine the potential for any white collar crimes in your employment candidate’s history.  You may wish to conduct county civil searches to check for any lawsuits, past or pending that would result in embarrassing you, the employer. With lower level positions, these are hardly necessary.  Same criteria would apply to job applicants in healthcare or, say, IT.

They key in conducting background checks is to be uniform.  And then review carefully the reports themselves, giving them more than a simple once over.  It should go without saying that it seldom pays to acquiesce to undue pressures and to go against your best judgment.  If it doesn’t feel right, and if the record shows evidence of questionable behavior, than it usually pays to go with your gut.