Nonviolent Offenders Get Second Chance to Prove Themselves

A recent study of the records of 14,000 people who used a 2003 law to have their criminal records sealed offered several surprises to criminal justice experts. The law allows certain offenders to ask a court to order law enforcement agencies to keep criminal offenses under wraps.

Approximately 10% of the 14,000 offenders committed other crimes since 2003. The program shows enormous success. The nonviolent offenders were virtually allowed back into the workforce enabling the offenders to get a second chance.

"In the age of the Internet, where accusations cling on people the same way the scarlet letter did 300 years ago, these non disclosures are really, really significant," said Keith Hampton, Austin defense attorney and chair of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association's legislative committee.

Not everyone is pleased, however. Told of the 10 percent rate of repeat offenders, Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley said, "Wow, that's a pretty high level of recidivism."

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Embezzlement on the Rise in Nashville

Small businesses in Nashville, TN are making it easy for employees to steal. Nashville police said they have investigated more embezzlement charges than ever before and blame the economic crisis for the rise in white collar crime. People are more willing than ever to risk everything to earn a few more dollars, and small businesses are the perfect target.

"When there's a lack of oversight, there's room for fraud," said Lieutenant Mickey Garner with the Metro police Fraud Unit. One employee began writing small checks with to herself from a small orthopedics group. She kept writing checks, and since she never got caught she ended up embezzling more than $230,000.

Small business often think that pre-employment checks are not worth the cost. Some businesses only hire one or two people a year and like to trust their gut. The simplest check could save you thousands of dollars. Most criminals are repeat offenders and will strike again given the opportunity.

Another "Somebody ought to write the checks, somebody work the accounts, that way you have two people. Maybe they can check out each other and make sure one's not doing what they shouldn't be," says Garner.

Most people who are caught embezzling are sentenced to probation and rarely forced to pay back the money they stole.

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Ohio Governer Takes Criminal Pardons Seriously

Landing a job with criminal records can be impossible. Employers turn away job applicants with arrest records.

With 494 clemency requests on his desk, Ohio governor Ted Strickland is taking his duty seriously. He said he will release decisions on 100 or more of those requests soon. "The clemency power given to the governor, and at the national level given to the president, is a fairly broad power, and that's why I think it must be used very, very carefully. It's an attempt to seek justice in a way the the legal system is not empowered to do," said Strickland.

45% of all clemency applications request full pardons. A pardon effectively expunges criminal records. Strickland takes his job seriously and considers all aspect of the applicant's request before issuing a decision, "It's across the board. The crimes that they have been convicted of are wide-ranging, all the way from nonviolent drug offenses to some brutal crimes, including murder, " he said. "Everyone has their own set of circumstances and their own stories."

One example is Raymond Marbury Jr., who applied for a pardon three years ago. He was convicted of writing bad checks, forgery and receiving stolen property in 1992. He has since earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees and worked as a paralegal. He purchased a home and made restitution. He is requesting a pardon so that his record might be expunged in an attempt to make it easier to qualify for a job.

Strickland admits that a criminal record is a barrier for employment, "I think in some cases, it's likely to be a huge impediment, but that does not mean that simply because of that, at least in my judgement, that clemency is merited or justified."

Strickland is a former prison psychologist and looks at every case diligently before making his decisions. He understand the responsibility he faces when clearing a criminal record effect many, not just the former criminal.

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Austin Legislation Threatens Criminal Records Research

Legislation is being proposed in Austin to eliminate date of births from the Texas Public Information Act. Such legislation would effectively remove one of the most crucial pieces of information used by journalists and other agencies to conduct criminal background checks.

Senator Jane Olsen of Flower Mound, TX said, "The goal of this legislation is to protect sensitive information that could put our public employees in harm's way. Dates of birth should be protected from identity thieves, who would love to have this information to unlock our personal finances."

While Olsen's statement is true, that little piece of seemingly insignificant language unlocks a surprising amount of information about a person. Removing it will do little protect employees from identity theft.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, most identity theft results from a stolen credit card, government ID or bank statement – not through a public records request. And Social Security numbers, home addresses and information about public employees' family members already are exempt from disclosure in Texas.

Many news organizations use these public records to check up on government agencies. News organizations have exposed the lack of criminal records checks done by these agencies and alerted the public to criminals who are working among them. Checks and balances are necessary and this legislation seeks to eliminate them.

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Highlight on Healthcare Background Checks: Avoid Negligent Hiring Suits

The best protection against negligent hiring lawsuits is a policy of due diligence on each applicant that approaches your company. The healthcare industry is particularly vulnerable to negligent hiring lawsuits because they are held liable for any illegal act conducted by their employees. Managers and supervisors can even be held personally responsible for the acts of those they manage and supervise.

If an individual in a healthcare facility is injured physically or financially by the criminal, violent, or negligent acts of an employee they may legally pursue a negligent hiring lawsuit against the employer. Punitive damages from such a lawsuit can range well into a six-figure settlement. Negligent hiring suits that are successful demonstrate:

• An employment relationship existed at the time of injury
  
• As a result of the relationship, the employee and the injured party met
  
• Both parties had a right to be where they were at the time of injury
  
• The employee was unfit or incompetent and posed a reasonable risk to the public
  
• The employer knew or should have known the employee was unfit
  
• The employee caused injury
  
• The employer’s negligence in hiring was the proximate cause of injury
  

 

Utilizing background checks is one way to prevent negligent hiring from happening in the first place. A recent survey by SHRM (the Society for Human Resource Management) indicates that 53% of job applications contained false information and 10% conceal criminal history.

At minimum, conducting a criminal background
check in all counties in which an applicant has lived for at least the last seven years. Verifying licensure, employment and education are extremely valuable in the wake of public reports of education fraud on resumes.

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North Carolina Focuses on Background Investigations

North Carolina has been experiencing a boom of business development. With the economic crisis, it seems more and more of the business in the NC state are looking to protect what assets they have left by finding legitimate background screening companies.

It came to our attention at Liberty that the highest demand for background checks is coming out of Charlotte. In response to that demand, Liberty has recently hired Jenny Johnson, a national sales executive out of Raleigh, NC.

Jenny represents an asset to Liberty Screening Services as our representative in North Carolina and in the East Coast. With over 7 years of background screening experience, we are confident in Jenny's capabilities to represent our company and our products.

Jenny is an active member of the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, the Society of Human Resource Management, and the Raleigh-Wake Human Resource Management Association.

On a personal note, it is Jenny's cheerful and ever-smiling disposition that is one of her most valuable contributions to our company. We are happy to introduce her and welcome her to our team.

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E-Verify Proposal Dropped from Stimulus Package

Stripped from the recently signed stimulus package, the E-Verify mandate would have required all employers using federally mandated funds to run their employees through the E-Verify program. Just before the bill was given to President Obama, the mandate was stripped.

E-Verify would have been an excellent assurance that jobs that are available are given to legal, authorized workers. In these hard times, it is hard to believe more protections for American jobs were not considered more seriously.

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Social Networking and Employment: Reasons to Beware

If an employers asks in your application you what your ethnicity is, religion or age they face a barrel of troubles. These questions and questions like them are grounds for discrimination lawsuits and are not appropriate to ask, and especially to act upon. No employer has the right to make a hiring decision based on the answers to questions like these.

But these questions and questions like them often do come into play when making hiring decisions. There are laws and protections designed to keep the playing field fair when it comes to job competition, but let's face it, recruiters can't help themselves. Which is why some 40% of employers turn to social networking websites like Facebook and Myspace to aid their "decision-making."

Most important, of those hiring agents that do look at the sites a huge 80% use what they find there to make hiring decisions!

Currently, there is no specific prohibition, law, or protection that says employers can't use social networking to make hiring decisions, but that doesn't mean there aren't dangers to using them.

State and federal discrimination laws do discourage using "too much information." Once you find information out, it is hard to backtrack and erase it from memory. If you discovered a serious and chronic health problem plagued your latest applicant and then denied them the job, they have grounds to questions the reason for the denial. If you can't offer one, expect a discrimination lawsuit on your hands.

Searching an applicants background without authorization is illegal, but if you're searching their Myspace profile, do they need to be made aware? There are currently no laws on the books, but people are taking notice and it's sure to become a hot topic sooner rather than later. FCRA laws do not affect it, but expect to see some action to protect applicants in the near future.

Many states prohibit discrimination against applicants behavior when off-duty.

Some Facebook or Myspace profiles are just for fun and don't really represent the person who owns them. Making judgements based on profiles on which not everything might be true, or information might be skewed is an unfair hiring practice, especially considering applicants are not typically aware they are being looked at.

When making a decision it is important to understand your applicant, but be aware of the dangers of judging their character off their profile on Facebook. The laws are not clear enough to assume you'll be safe doing so.

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MySpace Ejects 90,000 Sex Offenders

Sex offenders have long been known to lurk on social networking sites like MySpace, and recent estimates by the North Carolina Attorney General put the number at about 29,000.

After a subpoena by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, MySpace successfully identified 90,000 sex offenders - a staggering number. They immediately terminated the accounts and have begun implementing procedures to keep the numbers down.

Blumenthal said, “That these convicted, registered sex offenders are creating profiles under their own names unmasks MySpace’s monstrously inadequate countermeasures."

Age verification, restrictions against older users searching for minors on MySpace, an an outright ban on sex offenders registering for accounts in the first place are among the measures being taken to stop predators.

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E-Verify Measure up for Debate

As the negotiations for Obama's economic stimulus plan continue on Capital Hill, proponents of the E-Verify system are taking a stand.

E-Verify is a government program that checks a worker's immigration status against the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. Immigration advocates believe using the E-Verify system lowers the rate of illegal immigrants becoming employed. Federally contracted workers, and several states across the nation, are already required to use E-Verify and face steep penalties if they are found to employ illegal workers.

The House version of the stimulus bill includes a provision for all companies or banks receiving funding from the federal government that requires them to participate in the E-Verify program.

But opponents of the provision insist that reporting errors from the SSA or Department of Homeland Security could result in thousands of wrongful terminations and essentially slow down the economy as a result.

However, proponents of the measure believe that any jobs available in the market should go to legal immigrants or American citizens, and using E-Verify will be a tool to insure that happens.

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Mortgage Loan Officers Face Stringent Background Checks

Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions began a new online program that allows mortgage companies and loan originators to apply for and manage their licenses electronically. Under the Secure and Fair Enforcement Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008, every state will have to participate in the program.

The program seems to make it easier to obtain and maintain a mortgage license, but starting January 1, 2009 fingerprint-based background checks also became a requirement for all new mortgage loan officer applicants. The managing principals for the companies in which the applicants work are also affected.

With so many fingers pointing at the mortgage lenders as the catalyst for the economic crisis we are facing, ensuring that they are the right person for the job.

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Making Cash off Criminals

One way to make some fast cash during an economic slump: turn in felony criminals!

Crime stoppers has long been known as an organization that offers cash rewards for tips that lead to an arrest or grand jury indictment for felony crimes. In a typical year they receive just over 400 tips that lead to such an arrest or conviction for Crime Stoppers of Ouachita, LA.

Record numbers of tips received in 2008 totalled 578, up 31% and a record high since 2000. Coordinator Jeff Gilbert attributes the rise in legitimate tips to the economic slump. More and more people are willing to give up those they know have comitted crimes so they can pay their rent.

Crime Stoppers, in operation in Ouachita Parish since 1984, gives rewards of up to $2,000 for tips that lead to an arrest or grand jury indictment for any felony crime. Crime Stoppers informants will not be asked to leave their names, will never go to court and all information remains confidential.

Gilbert said a tip that leads to an arrest on a failure to appear warrant could get a $100 reward, while a tip in a homicide case could merit a $2,000 tip.

"I think people are more aware of the organization, and we have done a good job of publicizing it," said Darlene Cusanza, executive director of Crime Stoppers of Greater New Orleans and president of the Louisiana Crime Stoppers Association.

"With the economy the way it is, we certainly expect an increase in tips this year," she said.


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When Your Background Report Contains False Information

Every system is prone to error, and the US court system is no exception. On occasion here at Liberty, we receive distressed phone calls from applicants whose failed background checks cost them their new jobs but they have not committed any crimes.

The woman in the video below, Julia Hernandez, experienced the same situation. Watch the video for information on how to clear the record, and to see the negative effects of such an error:

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Drug Tests for Food Stamps

A new bill is set to take effect in the state of Texas in September 2009. The bill requires that all applicants undergo a mandatory drug test for food stamps. Any test that is returned positive for illegal substances or for un-prescribed prescription drugs will disqualify the candidate for food stamps, making them ineligible for 1 year.

As many more Americans are losing their jobs, there is good indication that there will be a rise in demand for food stamps. Using tax dollars to supply them, its nice to know that there will be some accountability for those who apply for them.

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Indiana Senator Earline Rogers revives bill to help those with criminal pasts.

State Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, doesn't think a mistake has to plague someone forever. Rogers has revived a bill that was sponsored in the past by the late Sen. Anita Bowser, a Michigan City Democrat.

The legislation would provide the expungement of criminal records based on particular circumstances, meaning minor criminal charges or victimless crimes could be removed from an individual's criminal record.

The individual would have to apply to the court in which they were sentenced to have the record expunged.

Key to the bill are safeguards that don't allow an individual to have his record wiped clean the day he walks out of prison or gets off probation.

The individual has to wait five years and not have an additional criminal charge pending.

Sen. Rogers believes that because a record follows a person for life, he can have a difficult time gaining employment. And if one can't secure a job to support himself, additional criminal activity is likely to follow. This is a compassionate piece of legislation to help those who have had problems to make something of their lives. 

Indiana Senate Bill 0392

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Timothy Geithner Under the Microscope

Congress takes the appointment of cabinet members seriously. As seriously as managers and owners take the placement of new employees in their offices, factories, and shops. Just as applicants backgrounds are examined for any sign of trouble, Congress uses a fine tooth to comb through the background of suggested cabinet members.

Timothy Geithner is under scrutiny as he applies for the coveted Secretary of Treasury position in the Obama administration. His appointment was expected to be swift and easy, most of the members of Congress, republican or democrat supported him.

Geithner has long been the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a position unlike any other in the country. Geithner is said to have performed in this role "brilliantly, non-politically, ethically, firmly, and quietly," qualities many have much admiration for.

However, it came to attention that Geithner had not submitted payment for his 2001 or 2002 tax returns until Obama and his team began looking at him for the role of Secretary of the Treasury. He submitted some $30,000 to the IRS after the statute of limitation had already passed.

Geithner admits "These were careless mistakes. They were avoidable mistakes. But they were unintentional," he said. "I should have been more careful." But some members of Congress don't see it as a mistake at all, rather a deep smear on his nearly impeccable record.

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Drug Testing Facilities Need Regulation

Starting a drug testing company is easy. There are no federal regulations and most mis-read drug test results are due to an error in reading at the lab level. Liberty Screening sends nearly all positive results to our MRO who reviews the findings at the lab, but for those who rely solely on the drug testing lab, watch out, nobody is looking after those who operate it.

In a recent report by KFDX3, Steve Cooper, Vice President of S&A Services, vowed to bring legislation to the courts to demand regulation. S&A is voluntarily certified by a federal trade organization. “A person can be working at McDonald's or Walmart today and decide to open a drug testing business tomorrow – and there's nothing to stop them,” Cooper said.

Watch the report here.

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Homeless Face Background Checks

Doing their part to protect the homeless, a shelter in Harrisonburg, VA is running background checks as well as alcohol and drug tests on the many people lining up outside their door. The measure is to protect those who are living a life of sobriety on the streets from the potential threat of those who are not.

The recent cold that's been ravaging the United States these last few weeks have many of the nation's homeless scrambling to save their lives. Though temperatures have moderated somewhat in the last week, Harrisonburg, VA still faces single digits. Executive Director of Mercy House, Twila Lee said the doors are open to anybody, but they must meet certain requirements.

Anybody not eligible for shelter in Mercy House will be accepted at the Salvation Army.

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Immigration and Obama

Immigration reform has been a hot topic for the past few years and government programs such as EVerify are working toward ensuring employers are able to remain in top form during audits by the government. As the economic crisis wages on, however, immigration and reform have been pushed to the back burner.

Our nation's capital is gearing up for an unprecedented inauguration for the first black president who promises of change have inspired millions, many questions are lingering in the air. His plate is fuller than any other president inaugurated before him and at the bottom of the piles lies immigration.

During his campaign days, Obama said, "we are a nation of law, as well as a nation of immigrants." His dedication to representing both sides of the issue is clear, what is not clear is how he will change or support policies that are already in place.

Until that unforeseeable time, employers should sit tight with laws already on the books:

• Verify. Complete I-9 employment verification forms for every employee hired after November 6, 1986. Periodic audits are advisable to ensure that the forms are properly completed and updated if necessary.

• Document. Document. Document. Ensure all reasonable and lawful efforts to resolve any employment verification issues are documented, such as a new hire's failure to produce documents within the first three days of work, receipt of social security mismatch letters, or confirmed reports of unauthorized workers. Employers must follow-up to resolve the issue within a reasonable time period, or the employee must be terminated.

• Follow for one, for all. Stick to the same employment verification policies and procedures for all employees, regardless of national origin or citizenship status.

• Keep tabs. Set reminders on priority dates for employees with pending permanent residency applications, and be on the lookout for H-1B filing dates subject to the quota.

• Sign-up for E-Verify. Consider participating in E-Verify to benefit from certain immigration programs, such as permitting employment of certain post-graduates for an increased period of employment authorization

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Company Drug Tests with Inadequate Methods

Marlborough Lines Ltd, a New Zealand utility supplier used ineffective drug testing methods and is now paying the price. A hefty $12,000 because they failed to use an MRO after a drug test revealed that Warren Bush was positive for amphetamines.

After his supervisor reported that he "didn't seem with it," Bush was ordered to take a drug test administered by an industrial nurse. When the results came back positive he was dismissed, due in part to previous warnings on his record.

Bush told managers he was taking sinus medication and requested another drug test. Though the second test came back negative, he was still terminated.

Marlborough Lines has been charged with failing to understand the drug test results or to take qualified professional advice, such that an MRO might provide before dismissing Bush.

Bush was awarded $12,000, a reduced amount from $15,500 for his contribution to his dismissal.

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