Ohio Camps Aren't Checking Up On Employees

Just 42 percent of summer day camps surveyed by the state's Department of Job and Family Services have completed mandatory background checks of employees, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

But camps that fail to carry out the checks have little to fear. The state's Department of Job and Family Services has little recourse, since there's no real punishment provision in the state law that requires the checks, department spokesman Dennis Evans said.

LIcense to Prey On Kids?

For most kids, the biggest danger associated with the neighborhood ice-cream truck is the brain freeze they get from gulping down their purchases.

Columbus officials want to keep it that way, so they're vowing to change the way they screen and monitor ice-cream truck drivers and everyone else required to get a peddler's license from the city.

How Bad Credit Can Affect Job Prospects

We all know that our personal credit history affects our ability to secure a home loan or open an account at a department store. But most Americans are unaware that bad credit could cost them a job. Employers can refuse to hire applicants because of their credit history.

Many employers use credit history as a tool in their pre-employment screening as just one measure of judgment and character. If you can't manage your financial obligations, they wonder if it's a sign of irresponsibility. If your monthly debt payment is higher than your salary, some employers worry that it may distract from your performance.

Schools Fail to Check Record of Bus Drivers, Montee Says

School districts are not always meeting requirements for bus driver drug testing and criminal record checks.

And even if they did, state Auditor Susan Montee said it would not be enough to protect child passengers.

A state audit released yesterday finds that about 3 percent of bus drivers and aides never had a fingerprint criminal record check.

Victorians on Both Sides of Issue

Some local gun shop owners support the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Second Amendment, while other residents think more, not less, gun control should be enacted locally.

The shop owners emphasized that safety should be stressed in gun ownership.

Safety is the key issue, said Darrell Hester, owner Victoria All Sport, of Mission Valley. He takes the time to explain the step-by-step procedures in handgun use and connects novices with safety instructors. In addition, “every gun goes out with a lock, that’s the law,” he said.

Background Checks: What You Need to Know

Most jobs nowadays, from cashier to a senior executive, require a background check. And more employers are vetting longtime employees, too. These investigations are done increasingly by outside screening companies. Here's some things applicants and employers need to know:

Check prior background reports. Under federal law, you are entitled to a copy of any background report that had been done on you, for a minimal fee of $10 or less. In three states, California, Minnesota, and Oklahoma, they're free. You need to know which screening firm out of the nearly 2,000 nationwide did the report.

State Lags on School Background Checks

People with criminal histories have been able to work in area schools for several months because of delays in state-managed background checks of new hires.

Total backlog in Albany right now: Close to 800 cases.

The issue hit home for the Utica City School District, where it was discovered May 19 that an unidentified part-time lunch monitor at Proctor High School failed to clear the fingerprinting check.

Foreign Care Workers Escape Background Check

Tens of thousands of immigrants are working with vulnerable elderly people and children without undergoing full criminal record checks, it has emerged.

Senior police officers have warned the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith of the scale of the problem in a report examining the affect on the UK of immigration from Eastern Europe.

It warns of the huge costs to police forces of having to carry out checks on behalf of a new watchdog to vet care workers, and says the authority will not redress the problem.

Many of Britain's care homes, which are currently home to 400,000 elderly people, rely on foreign staff because British workers are reluctant to take the jobs.

Waiting Part of Hiring Process

The hiring process can grind to a halt for many reasons, including vacations, shifting priorities, slow approval processes, changing business conditions, or a million other things.

To an anxious applicant, the waiting seems interminable. But on the hiring end, time is passing much faster.

The only real reason to worry is if something unpleasant may have been unearthed by the background check. Otherwise, just be patient. Frequent calls and e-mails will only annoy your prospective employer.

Foster Care: A Home Away From Home

Henry and Tasha Wertin’s indoctrination into parenthood wasn’t quite what they thought it would be.

For three years, the Lawrence couple had tried to conceive. Doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong. And the cost and uncertainty of an adoption agency didn’t seem worth it. So they decided to become foster care parents.

They took the classes, made the necessary changes to their home and went through background checks.

Red Cross Backs Off Intrusive Background Checks

The American Red Cross in 2006 announced that it would perform intrusive background checks on volunteers, including credit checks and mode-of-living checks. ARRL, supporting many hams who were Red Cross volunteers, protested. And like many others, I'm sure, I started finding other disaster-relief organizations to send money to rather than Red Cross.

ARRL now says that ARC's background-check policy has been moderated. There is a permission form, and it allows a check of name, SSN, and criminal background, and nothing else.

Application Asks for Your Salary, But Is It Better to List a Range?

Many candidates still try to get away with falsehoods on applications, says Mr. Morris, president of Background Information Services Inc. in Cleveland. Of job applicants it has screened during the past seven years, 56% have misstated their salaries by $1,000 or more, were a month or more inaccurate about their employment dates, or listed positions different than the ones they actually held, he says.

Besides using screening firms to check on candidates' backgrounds, some companies ask for final pay stubs or W-2 tax forms to verify salary, adds Jim Pappas, manager of corporate staffing for the Barnes Group Inc., an international diversified manufacturing-and-distribution company based in Bristol, Conn.

Study Finds Troubling Gaps in Volunteer Screening by Nonprofits

One in three U.S. nonprofit organizations conducts no background checks on volunteers, and roughly one in eight does no screening at all, says a report released today by the National Center for Victims of Crime, the nation's leading advocacy group for crime victims. Although the majority of surveyed nonprofit human service organizations conduct some screening, most agencies that serve vulnerable populations could benefit from more thorough and comprehensive volunteer screening practices.

Who's Lending a Hand? A National Survey of Nonprofit Volunteer Screening Practices sought to identify the characteristics of organizations that regularly screen volunteers, the screening methods used, and the role of these screening results in organizational decision making. The urgency of such questions has risen in recent years, as millions of volunteers (61 million in 2006)(1) donate billions of hours, sometimes serving in roles previously reserved for paid staff. Thorough security practices, according to the National Center, play a critical role in protecting vulnerable clients from harm and nonprofit organizations from liability.

Update: Gun Dealer Aims Sale at Making People Safer

A Green Bay-based online gun dealer linked to deadly shooting rampages on two college campuses today announced he’ll sell guns at cost for two weeks in an effort to arm citizens and prevent future tragedies.

Eric Thompson said his company TGSCOM will offer guns to customers April 23 through May 7 for the same price he pays for them. That could mean a savings of $100 on a $500 gun purchase, he said.

Background-checks settlement would divvy up $20.7 million

A complaint about improper background checks at a Newport News call center has triggered a settlement exceeding $20 million with the company that owns the checking agency.

The lawsuit accused LexisNexis Risk Management Inc. of failing to give employees sufficient notice of problems it had uncovered and, later, of creating too many hurdles when workers requested reviews.

Trans Woman Can Sue

US District Judge Nancy F. Atlas in Houston has ruled that a transsexual Texan, Izza Lopez, can pursue a sex discrimination employment claim against River Oaks Imaging & Diagnostic Group.

Use Auto Refinancing to Ease the Family Budget
The sex discrimination claim is based in the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act.

School Background Checks

The Medford School District has an extensive background check process for prospective employees and volunteers. The district has a long list of crimes that cannot be on your record if you want to work for or volunteer in the district.

While the district demands applicants disclose their criminal history, Medford School District employee Susan Galpern says the district relies on police, the sheriff's office and the FBI for confirmation, "We run finger print checks on all of our employees, we have forms they fill out here that they take to the sheriffs department and those forms are sent to the state and the FBI."

Background Check Irritates Election Worker

As a city election official, Tom Fredericks Jr. says he doesn't have anything to hide.

Even so, he was irritated to learn that the city was going to perform a background check on him - and all election judges - prior to this May's school budget election.

Who Regulates Background Checks

All companies performing background checks on behalf of another business are subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which establishes rules regarding what information that screeners are required to provide to the people they are checking.

Many states also have their own laws regulating companies that provide criminal background checks. In Arizona, a person must be licensed as a private investigator through the Arizona Department of Public Safety or be licensed as an employee of a private investigator to conduct such work.

Check Your Credit Before the Boss Does

It's no longer enough to go to a job interview with your CV. A growing number of employers are checking a candidate's credit history before making an offer.

While your credit history may not be the determining factor, employers use it to fill out the picture for many candidates - and not just in the finance field.