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Ryan
Howard
Editor
Support@Verifirst.com
www.Verifirst.com
NEWS
School
Safety Checks Lagging; Backlog Delaying Scrutiny of Educators'
Criminal Histories:
Hundreds of longtime
Ohio educators whose criminal histories haven't
been examined in years, if ever, will return to their classrooms
in the next few weeks without background checks, the state says.
The state didn't even require fingerprints to be submitted until
Sept. 5, after the start of school in most districts, but a backlog
in federal background checks means it could take much longer before
the Ohio Department of Education examines the results. In addition,
the department's priority is to check the background of new licensees
before looking to see whether longtime school workers have criminal
records. All school workers must be fingerprinted for state and
federal background checks under a state law enacted last fall.
The new law, the first of two enacted in response to the Dispatch
series "The ABCs of Betrayal" about the state's educator-discipline
system, requires checks of both licensed employees, such as teachers,
and unlicensed workers such as secretaries, bus drivers and food-service
workers. "When you're doing 100,000 (checks) a month, there's
always going to be instances where it takes longer," Potts
said, noting that most FBI results are now complete within 30
days. The backlog didn't solely stem from teachers, she said.
Medical workers, foster-care workers and camp employees all must
undergo checks, too.
For More Information
Go To: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/08/17/slowchecks.ART_ART_08-17-08_B1_KFB22ON.html?sid=101
LEGAL
ISSUES![](http://www.workplaceviolence911.com/docs/spnssep.gif)
Data Breach Notification Laws, State By State
Five years
after California's landmark SB 1386, our interactive map shows
you which 38 states have passed laws requiring companies to notify
consumers whose personal information has been compromised. [UPDATED
7/28/2008] This map will help you sort them out the varying requirements
of these laws. Click on any state to see highlights from that
state's law. (The gray states do not yet have disclosure laws
- exceptions noted above.) For more explanation, see the text
below the map.http://www.csoonline.com/article/221322/CSO_Disclosure_Series_Data_Breach_Notification_tate
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Justice
Issues Guidance on Discrimination During Employment Verification
The Department
of Justice’s Office of Special Counsel (OSC) warns that
an employer who receives a no-match letter from the Social Security
Administration and terminates employees without attempting to
resolve the mismatches, or who treats employees differently “or
otherwise acts with the purpose or intent to discriminate based
upon national origin or other prohibited characteristics,”
may be charged with discrimination.
(Get additional
guidance on the Justice Department’s discrimination policy
from the OSC
web site. Employers may contact the agency at 1-800-255-8155
(1-800-237-2515 for the hearing impaired).
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California
AB2918 - Employment: Usage Of Consumer Credit Reports.
This bill would prohibit
the user of a consumer credit report, with the exception of certain
financial institutions, from obtaining a consumer credit report
for employment purposes unless the information is (1) substantially
job related, meaning that the information in the consumercredit
report relates to the position for which the person who is the
subject of the report is being evaluated because the position
has one or more specified characteristics is a highly compensated
or managerial one, or (2) required by law to be disclosed to or
obtained by the userof the report. The bill also would extend
the exemption from liability for the maintenance of reasonable
procedures to ensure compliance with the provisions specified
in state law to encompass the new prohibition.
For More Information
Go To: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/ab_2901-2950/ab_2918_bill_20080626_amended_sen_v95.pdf
DRUG
TESTING ISSUES
US
Transportation Workers Face Tougher Drug Testing Procedures: Observed
Collections Designed
More than
8 million regulated workers in the transportation and pipeline
industries face more stringent drug testing collection procedures
that went into effect August 25, 2008. The new rules, which are
included in and modify 49 C.F.R. Part 40, address "specimen
validity" and seek to deal with what appear to be widespread
efforts by workers to "beat" drug tests. The new final
rules include various mandatory laboratory-based tests intended
to improve the detection of samples that have been adulterated
by masking agents or diluted by water. Concern about the proliferation
of mechanical devices designed to be worn by an individual to
simulate the act of urination while delivering a "clean"
urine sample has also triggered new, broader requirements for
observed collections. Commencing with the rule's effective date,
all return-to-work and follow-up urine collections must be observed
collections. Affected workers will be required "to raise
their shirts, blouses, or dresses/skirts above the waist, and
lower their pants and underpants, to show the observer, by turning
around, that they do not have a prosthetic device on their person.
After this is done, they may return their clothing to its proper
position," and produce a specimen "in such a manner
that the observer can see the urine exiting directly from the
individual into the collection container." Observed collections
will continue to be monitored by same-gender collection site personnel.
To Read The
Full Article Go To: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=64574&email_access=on
(The new regulations can be found in the Federal Register at 73
Fed. Reg. 33735 (June 13, 2008) and are effective August 25, 2008.)
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To
Test or Not to Test: The ADA and Pre-Employment Drug Tests
Today’s
business professionals, well aware of the high costs associated
with employee turnover, know that they can ill afford to make
hiring mistakes, especially in a volatile business climate in
which belt-tightening is the norm. Thus, organizations are pulling
out all the stops to vet applicants properly, even as fewer dollars
are allocated to recruiting and training new employees. Verifying
experience and educational credentials, as well as confirming
employment histories and checking references, have been staples
of the recruiting process. However, in light of some disturbing
revelations about illicit drug use in the workplace, many employers
demand that applicants submit to pre-employment drug tests. OSHA
found that 12.9 million (74.8 percent of illicit drug users) were
employed either full or part time and employees who abuse drugs
bring their problems with them to work in the form of lower productivity,
increased absenteeism and turnover, increased health care costs,
and a higher incidence of workplace theft and violence. However,
before instituting a drug testing policy employers should be aware
of how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) views pre-employment
drug tests.
For More Information
Go To: http://www.hrtutor.com/en/news_rss/articles/2008/08-14-ADA-Pre-Employment-Drug-Tests.aspx
DATA
PROTECTION, FRAUD & THEFT
5
Steps For Stopping The Insider Threat
The threat
of insider fraud appears to be increasing. Insider data theft
accounted for nearly 16 percent of all data breaches in 2008,
up from 6 percent a year earlier, according to a study by the
Identity Theft Resource Center. And perhaps more alarming, customer
data stolen by an employee is misused more frequently than data
obtained through an external breach, a recent study by ID Analytics
reveals. Phil Neray, VP of database security company Guardium,
says there are two main reasons for the rise in the insider threat:
Demand for sensitive corporate data has increased, and there is
now a thriving black market where fraudsters can buy and sell
this type of data. "Also, most corporations have spent the
last 10 years focusing on tighter controls around the perimeter
of networks," Neray adds. "It's getting harder to break
into firms from the outside in traditional hacking attacks, so
the bad guys are focusing on how to use insiders to get to the
data." So what can companies do to prevent the insider threat?
Neray offers the following five steps:
For More Information
Go To: http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/advancedtrading/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=NCFYCZLN
3UDOUQSNDLPCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=210004190
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Gangs
Get Into Identity Theft
Identity theft
is soaring in California, and street gangs are angling for a piece
of the action. Recent cases point to an interest in identity fraud
by organizations as diverse as a Long Beach chapter of the Crips,
the Armenian Power gang and the prison-based Mexican Mafia, according
to law enforcement officials and fraud experts. Gang members sometimes
recruit corporate insiders, said Linda Foley, co-founder of the
Identity Theft Resource Center, a San Diego nonprofit group. They
visit restaurants and other hangouts, listening for people complaining
about money troubles, then offer cash in exchange for information
they can use in identity theft. Credit card fraud is the most
common form of the crime in California, as it is in the nation.
Employment-related fraud is No. 2. In California, that category
tops the U.S. rate, which the study attributes to undocumented
workers using stolen Social Security numbers. The value of that
nine-digit identifier has risen, because new laws are making it
riskier for businesses to employ illegal immigrants.
For More Information
Go To: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/valley/la-fi-idtheft12-2008aug12,0,5321183.story
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INTERNATIONAL
NEWS![](http://www.workplaceviolence911.com/docs/spnssep.gif)
Can
You Be 80% Ethical?
A recent report shows
trends that reflect today's values. The report was based on a
study conducted across twelve Indian cities and the respondents
were executives at the entry and middle levels.· About
55% said it was OK to fudge expense accounts. · Another
60% found nothing wrong in carrying office stationery to their
homes· 62% considered offering someone a bribe "normal
and ethical" behavior.These findings along with others from
several major cities and across different industry sectors, inevitably
lead to the question, "Are we witnessing the downside of
ethics in the workplace?" More worrisome is the rationale
of the respondents - when top management can charge millions on
the expense account, what's wrong with our doing it at the level
of hundreds or thousands? Thus, the effect of leadership on organizational
culture is also brought into sharp focus.
For More Information
Go To: http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/krishnamurthy/2008/08/can-you-be-80-ethical.html
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Background
Checking And Job Applicant Testing Outside The US: A Guide To
Multinational Pre-Hire Screening
Applicant screening
methods in the US have proven helpful for keeping firms from hiring
a criminal, someone with a bad work or credit history, an uncredentialed
resume liar or an applicant whose skills or aptitudes don’t
meet our needs. Perhaps our business case for screening out these
bad applicants is every bit as strong overseas, where terminations
are so complex and expensive. And if our business case for screening
is global, why not align our practices globally? There is good
news and bad news for US-based multinationals striving to align
pre-hire screening globally.13 The good news is that multinationals
can indeed craft a globally-aligned approach to pre-employment
screening. The bad news is that doing so requires clearing some
high legal and cultural hurdles, and adapting American methods
for use abroad. Laws overseas that reach pre-employment screening
are complex and varied. They reach background checks and written
applicant tests in surprising ways. To craft a workable, globally-aligned
approach to applicant screening, a multinational should take four
steps: (a) Choose tools, (b) get local guidance, (c) adapt aspirations
to foreign realities and (d) launch proactive Speaking broadly,
the lesson here is that US-based multinationals might well be
ahead of their overseas counterparts in appreciating the need
to screen applicants by gathering information going beyond what
the applicants themselves volunteer. But laws abroad, especially
data privacy laws, erect compliance hurdles. Launching a global
background-checking or pre-hire testing initiative takes patience,
resources and a carefully considered strategy. In the end, though,
the effort will quite likely produce valuable results.
To view all
formatting for this article (eg, tables, footnotes), please access
the original here. http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=15b96adc-a907-47ec-8254-d73a320782f0&l=6J3E6N2
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