Firm Ends Background Checks and Employee With Felony Kidnaps Customer

A man previously convicted of a violent felony worked for an alarm services company as a "promotions representative." After a woman filled out a survey expressing interest in a home security system, the rep came to her home on several occasions. On the last of these, he entered the home without permission and kidnapped the woman, returning her after she promised to pay $6,000. Later, the victim sued the alarm services provider for failing to perform a background check before hiring the felon. The company persuaded a trial court to award it summary judgment, but the woman appealed. Before a state appeals court, the alarm company argued it could not be held liable because the promotions representative acted outside the scope of his employment. The appeals court found enough questions of fact remained on that argument to return the case to the trial court. The appeals court noted that a very basic background check would have uncovered the man's felony conviction. Evidence showed the company formerly performed background checks on all field agents but discontinued the practice due to high turnover.

For More Information Go To: http://www.straffordpub.com/

InfoMart Acquires Advantage Services, Inc.

InfoMart, a national leading provider of pre-employment background screening services, acquired Advantage Services, Inc. (ASI). Atlanta-based ASI offers pre-employment background checks to large and small companies in the U.S. and Canada. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

For More Information Contact: Cherie Smith Homa, Managing Director, KPMG Corporate Finance LLC at csmith@kpmg.com

Tennessee Passes Segregation-Era Pardons

Tennesseans charged with crimes while protesting segregation-era laws can have their records cleared beginning next month. Gov. Phil Bredesen signed the Rosa Parks Act into law, which bill was unanimously approved by the Senate and passed the House 88-6. Last year, Alabama became the first state to pass a version of the Rosa Parks Act. The Alabama law grants a pardon, but the criminal records are kept in the state archives for use in museums or for other educational purposes. A similar measure failed in Florida.

For More Information Go To: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-07-tenn-pardons_N.htm

If MBA Students Cheat on Exams Will They Lie on Their Resume?

The recent cheating scandal involving students in Duke University's MBA program should serve as a clarion call for colleges and universities to wake up, smell the coffee and start emulating the ethics policies of the private sector, according to at least one expert who closely follows ethics-related issues. Yet, another ethics expert says the university's response should serve as an example to colleges and corporations alike -- in that the institution publicized the infractions and its response to them, thereby reminding everyone that it takes violations of its honor code seriously. Both agree, however, that the episode illustrates the tendency by students and business people to cut ethical corners when they're under pressure -- a factor HR must be aware of as it seeks to build ethical cultures in their own organizations.

For More Information Go To: http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=13173175

Pre-employment Test Put to the Test: LAFD Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Given the liabilities that accompany the decision to hire someone, employers are trying to reduce risk by learning more and more about job applicants. Some of the approaches are crude: eliminating any applicant who fails a drug test. Some are more sophisticated: the use of credit and medical histories, psychological testing and physical profiling (no obese people need apply). Ultimately, all screening techniques boil down to a single issue: who is eliminated and why? Firefighter Lima's lawsuit should serve as a reminder: whatever tools and standards employers use to screen applicants, they must strive for transparency. Establish reasonable criteria and apply them uniformly. If the criteria have a disproportionate impact on one segment of applicants, re-examine the criteria carefully. Make sure that your standards are up to standard. This is not easy, nor is it static. Today's accepted standard is tomorrow's act of discrimination. As Lima's story clearly demonstrates, the consequences for doing the "right thing" in the wrong way are severe. His saga is a lesson for us all.

For More Information Go To: http://www.workerscompinsider.com/archives/000700.html or see the article
on the case at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/los_angeles_metro/la-me-discrim9jun09,1,1324937.s
tory?coll=la-commun-los_angeles_metro

Staffing Firms Put Their Business ‘At Risk’ By Not Conducting Background Screening

I am sure that many staffing firms recognize the need to conduct background screenings on employees that are being referred to clients, while the following incidents illustrate that other staffing firms are still not taking it seriously enough and are putting their business at risk.

A 30-year old woman, high on crack, drove her vehicle into a crowd enjoying the Unifest Food and Music Festival in D.C., causing injury to 40 people including 7 kids. At the time of the incident, Ms. Bell was employed by a DC temporary staffing company on a receptionist assignment for the office of former mayor and now D.C. council member Marion Berry. After hearing of the horrific event, Berry’s office terminated the woman’s assignment. They also terminated their contract with the staffing company because “they may not have properly investigated her background prior to placing her in office.”

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,277779,00.html

It appears that an Ohio medical staffing company sent Herman Brown, a nurse aide, on an assignment to a hospital psychiatric ward. While on assignment, he was charged with (and pleaded not guilty to) “rape, kidnapping, gross sexual imposition and sexual battery.” Not only was Mr. Brown alleged to not have the credentials to do the job, the hospital officials are convinced that the staffing company did not do the REQUIRED background checks because “if the temp agency had done so, it would have found (prior) charges of theft, forgery, aggravated burglary and drug abuse.” The Ohio Hospital Association has severed ties with the agency that hired the worker.” The hospital has dismissed the other 15 temporary staff from their duties and severed its relationship with the temp agency.”

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=68746&provider=gnews

The above situations may be useful in helping to influence staffing firms that are not doing background checks. We also came across this webinar which you may want to refer staffing firms too which could help convince them they need to use your services.

For More Information Click Here.

NAPBS Announces Webcast Series: Find out more about webinars by going to http://www.napbs.com/content.php?id=289 Courses are open to members and non members. NAPBS members, in good standing, can participate in the NAPBS Webinars at no cost. The cost for non-members is $99/terminal. Please go to www.NAPBS.com click on Webinar Schedule on left side of screen to see the line up of courses and to get a registration form or contact Tracy Seabrook at info@napbs.com.

• 30 percent of all business failures are caused by employee theft, according to the American Management Association and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. On average, in U.S. businesses, at least half of all new hires "don't work out" according to Fortune.
• Vangent, Inc. reported that according to a recent survey of retail establishments representing over 13,000 stores with combined 2005 annual sales in excess of $519 billion, one in every 26.5 employees (out of 1.8 millions) was apprehended for theft from their employer.
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that approximately half of businesses with more than 1,000 employees have had an incident of workplace violence.

For More Information Click Here

We have launched our newest web site to exclusively promote our Platinum Members that are in our Vendor Showcase

WWW.BACKGROUNDSCREENINGVENDORS.COM

We are committed to finding new and innovative ways to create additional sales opportunities for you.

Stay tune for more exclusive Platinum web sites focused on driving more traffic to you.

Standards Body Drafts Guide On Preventing Data Breaches

The National Institute for Standards and Technology has released a draft of its new guide to better protect federal agencies from data breaches. The 387-page guide is designed to help agency technical teams evaluate whether the security controls they have actually work as intended to protect information systems from being compromised. It is designed as a companion to an earlier publication on minimum security controls for federal information systems. That guide, according to lead author Ron Ross, defines the different security controls required by the federal government -- including encryption, identification and authentication of users, access control to systems, personnel security and physical security. The latest publication lists the different security measures and explains how to test them. For example, for continuity of operation requirements, the report outlines how to determine if an agency really has developed a plan, if people understand it and if it has been distributed to the right people within the organization.

For More Information To Go: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0607/061107tdpm2.htm

Insider Threat Research

This IDC white paper looks at the growing problem of the insider threat. It discusses the regulatory and other drivers that fuel the demand for new security solutions in this area and outlines different approaches towards mitigating associated risks, including the emerging application-level user behavior tracking approach. Bolstering this need is a study published by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) in 2004 which reported that almost 80% of the fraudulent activity takes place on companies’premises and during normal business hours. Company employees are responsible for about 60% of this activity, while authorized partners or contractors carry out about an additional 20%. The study estimates that the typical U.S. organization loses 6% of its annual revenues to fraud (with total GDP loss of $660 billion).

For More Information Go To: http://www.intellinx-sw.com/resources_insider_threat.asp

Double Your Traffic in 30 Days

Three simple actions that doubled My Traffic in 30 Days

Have you started a blog yet? Are you using RSS to the fullest potential? There is a lot more to Blogging for Traffic than just adding a new post every few days. Today the PC Doctor Adrian Kingley-Hughes shares how he uses blogging to sell books and pc repair services. He also reveals exactly how incorporating a blog into your site will give you new online marketing possibilities.

For More Information Go To: http://www.trafficology.com/doublein30days.html

CV Reviews Lead To Resignation of Asia Pacific High Level Executive

Patrick Imbardelli is not the first top executive to leave his employer over his CV and he will not be the last.The chief executive of Intercontinental Hotels Group’s (IHG) Asia-Pacific unit announced his resignation recently following a review of his academic qualifications “as previously presented to the company.” Many have fallen foul of reviews, and surveys suggest that significant percentages of CVs, or resumés, are economical with the truth. The issues at IHG appear to have been what Michael Whittington of Kroll says is the commonest issue uncovered by the risk consulting group’s background screening division – exaggerated or misleading information on educational or professional qualifications. IHG said Mr Imbardelli had told it he had degrees from three universities, but had only attended classes at them without graduating.

For More Information Go To: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d0c56f98-1aaa-11dc-8bf0-000b5df10621.html

Notification on Strictly Carrying Out Background Investigations on Candidates for the Olympics and Performing a Pre-Selection Screening

NEW YORK, NY – In what may be its most audacious Olympic act yet, China’s Ministry of Public Security has issued an incredible directive that lists 43 categories of unwanteds who are to be investigated and barred from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Falun Dafa Information Center has learned. Pariah groups include:

• eerily vague key individuals in ideological fields
• overseas hostile forces
• counter-revolutionary figures
• the Dalai Lama and all affiliates
• members of religious entities not sanctioned by the state (e.g. Roman Catholics)
• individuals who instigate discontentment toward the Chinese Communist Party through the Internet
• and even certain types of “handicapped” persons.

Only at the very bottom of the directive does it identify “violent terrorists” and members of “illegal organizations” as targets for investigation and possible barring.To be investigated are participating athletes, members of the media, Olympic staff members, referees, sponsors, dignitaries, and the International Olympic Committee itself, among others, to determine whether they fall into any of the 43 categories.

http://chinaview.wordpress.com/2007/06/02/43-categories-of-thousands-will-be-barred-from-2008-beijing-olympics/

Background Screening on a Global Basis

Businesses are only as good as the people who run them. The right people with the right skills at the helm can help a company flourish. Conversely, poor – or uninformed – hiring decisions can cost a company not only financially, but also have a negative impact on the organization’s reputation with stakeholders. Apply this principle globally and you have a whole new set of issues to consider each one with the potential to have an exponentially greater impact.

Understand the culture and business environment in each country. Consider the acceptance and perception of background screening programs. Although they are becoming more widely accepted, unique cultural characteristics exist and must be respected.

For More Information Go To: http://www.securitymagazine.com/CDA/Articles/Feature_Article/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000110842

Negligent Hiring:How it Affects Canadian Employers

The latest poll by HRinfodesk indicates that employers are not being consistent in performing background checks on potential candidates. The question asked in the poll was: Do you check employee references? Specifically, 69.11% of respondents indicated that they do check employee references, while 23.58% say sometimes. It's surprising how many employers don't take this basic step to hire the best employees and screen out the bad ones. Employers who conduct reference checks avoid the risk associated with failing to properly screen employees. This legal concept is called negligent hiring.

Canadian Courts have recently recognized that existing employees are entitled to expect employers to subject prospective employee to a thorough reference and interview process so that they are physically, psychologically, and financially secure in their contact with them. Employers are expected to take all reasonable precautions during the screening and hiring process to hire fit and safe employees. If they fail to take these precautions, and an employee commits a crime while on the job or a crime directed at a co-worker or client, the employer may be accused of negligent hiring. As an employer, are you doing enough in your screening and hiring process to reasonably ensure that an employee is competent and doesn't pose a threat to other employees or clients? Here are some guidelines you should follow to ensure your company is protected from negligent hiring claims.

For More Information Go To: http://www.hrinfodesk.com/preview.asp?article=7961&title=Negligent%20hiring-
--how%20it%20affects%20the%20employer

We have greatly enhanced our International Resource Center to be a valuable resource for anyone looking for information on doing international background verifications, vetting or verifications. It includes information on EU countries data protection and other laws, Canada, terrorist searches and much more. Also included is very practical information on time zones, locating cities, etc. Check it out and I am sure you will want to Bookmark it so you can use it over and over. To view the International Section go to www.PreemploymentDirectory.com and look under the line in the middle of the page:

India Gets Offshore Cyber Crime Watchdog

India is to finally get a data privacy watchdog to oversee the country's IT and BPO offshore outsourcing industry and to address international concerns about the security of customer records and data. India does not have any data protection law equivalent to that in the UK but has been under increasing international pressure to address this in recent years due to a spate of high-profile security breaches. The new body, which will be called the Data Security Council of India (DSCI), is a self-regulatory member organisation and is being set up by Indian IT industry group Nasscom. The DSCI will develop common minimum standards for privacy and security policies, offer certification, enforce a code of ethics and best practice, and punish any breaches by Indian IT and BPO companies - which could include expelling members or calling in police. Nandkumar Saravade, director cyber-security and compliance for Nasscom, said the DSCI will help improve security standards across the vast number of companies below the big top-tier outsourcers such as Infosys, TCS and Wipro. He told silicon.com: "The aim is to lift the floor of the Indian IT and BPO companies because the top companies already have best practice."

http://services.silicon.com/bpo/0,3800004865,39167417,00.htm

Indian Job Prospects Rebound as U.S. Hiring Pace is Set to Remain Steady

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released on June 12th revealed that third-quarter hiring is expected to be positive in all of the 27 countries and territories surveyed, with employers in Germany and Norway reporting their most optimistic hiring plans since the survey began in these countries in 2003, based on seasonally adjusted data. Meanwhile, the Asia Pacific labor market is expected to cool from three months ago, with the exception of India, where employer demand has bounced back after a dip reported in the second quarter. In the U.S., job prospects are expected to hold firm in the next three months, but are softer compared to last year at this time. The strongest third-quarter hiring prospects reported globally were in Singapore, Peru, India, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Costa Rica, Japan and Hong Kong. Meanwhile, employers in Italy reported the least optimistic hiring plans. Employers in 15 countries and territories are reporting weaker hiring plans compared to the second quarter; however, year-over Indian Job Prospects Rebound as U.S. Hiring Pace is Set to Remain SteadyThe Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released on June 12th revealed that third-quarter hiring is expected to be positive in all of the 27 countries and territories surveyed, with employers in Germany and Norway reporting their most optimistic hiring plans since the survey began in these countries in 2003, based on seasonally adjusted data. Meanwhile, the Asia Pacific labor market is expected to cool from three months ago, with the exception of India, where employer demand has bounced back after a dip reported in the second quarter. In the U.S., job prospects are expected to hold firm in the next three months, but are softer compared to last year at this time. The strongest third-quarter hiring prospects reported globally were in Singapore, Peru, India, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Costa Rica, Japan and Hong Kong. Meanwhile, employers in Italy reported the least optimistic hiring plans. Employers in 15 countries and territories are reporting weaker hiring plans compared to the second quarter; however, year-over-year those in 14 countries are reporting improved job prospects. The quarterly survey by Manpower is the world's most extensive forward-looking employment survey, with interviews of nearly 52,000 employers worldwide.

For More Information Go To: http://finance.bnet.com/bnet?GUID=2307522&Page=MediaViewer&Ticker=MAN

Indian Companies Are Making Background Screening Part of Their Business Process

The outsourcing wave has necessitated verification for Indian companies who are servicing global clients. Most of the Fortune 500 companies have a formal policy of background screening their employees. "Global players consider outsourcing service providers (Indian companies) as their extension and would like them to have strong business practices including background screening. Background screening has become a part of the standard outsourcing contract and therefore Indian companies have proactively adopted it as a part of their business process," points out Dehade.

For More Information Go To: http://www.expresspharmaonline.com/20070615/pharmalife01.shtml

John Long, Former CEO First Advantage Leaves for Screening Firm in Singapore

John W. Long, former chief executive of St. Petersburg's First Advantage Corp., is joining a company in Singapore that specializes in background screening for governments, investment banks and multinational corporations in developing countries. Long, 51, will be global chief executive of IntegraScreen Group, splitting his time between Singapore and St. Petersburg as he seeks to build the company through acquisitions. Long, who built First Advantage to more than 500 local employees during his four-year tenure, said he expects to add key positions in St. Petersburg. "How many and when is hard to say, " he said. "Although I do have a reputation for growing things fast." IntegraScreen's recent contracts include verifying visas for the British government and health care workers' licenses in Abu Dhabi. Long will also be making a "significant investment" in the company.

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/06/16/Business/Talk_of_the_bay__Scre.shtml

deverus, Inc. Launches LightSpeed Background Check Technology Performance Enhancement

deverus, inc., the leading provider of software, integration technology, and strategic services for the background screening industry, today announced the latest breakthrough in background technology with its new speed performance solution, called LightSpeed, geared towards dramatically improving end user web experiences while ordering background checks. A traditional background check pulls a considerable amount of encrypted data from different sources, compiles them into reports, and then stores them on security protected systems for review. Encryption, web browser protection, and general IP security has made this process slow and cumbersome for the average user. Using the Internet, most end users of the data report slow page loads and long delays in getting the right information to make hiring decisions. It seems like a simple problem to fix. However, due to the amount of data combined with the new strong security measures around background checks, pulling up information in a timely manner has been anything but easy. Large reports have taken anywhere from 15 to 50 seconds to review. deverus has worked diligently to improve the viewing time of reports realizing that with 30,000 HR end users, a few seconds of time can result in enormous inefficiencies in worker productivity.

For More Information Go To: www.deverus.com.

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Zero Tolerance is Not Enough: How to Make Violence Prevention Really Work

The National Institute for Prevention of Workplace Violence has re-released its’ highly acclaimed information packed booklet on Zero Tolerance.

The booklet includes tips on the important steps to take to implement your workplace violence prevention program in an easy to read format and with straight forward language. Some of the subject areas covered include:

• how to create a violence free workplace,
• understanding the importance of treating employees in a respectful manner throughout the employment process
• understanding that how supervisors treat employees makes a difference,
• the early warning signs of potential violence, · tips for handling a potentially hostile situation
• supervisors responsibilities and key steps to preventing workplace violence.

This is an excellent resource to share with your clients.To Request a complimentary copy or

For More Information Click Here

With ‘Continuous Employee Screening’ tools now becoming available we believe this will be an invaluable tool to assist firms to better manager their risk by knowing important information about their employees and will also help to prevent negligent retention. This tool will help firms to be able to identify whether mandatory licenses or professional certifications are current as well as derogatory issues such as DUI’s, criminal warrants, convictions, etc. that could have an impact on an employee continuing to qualify for their position or a proposed one.

Implementing a continuous screening program will require careful consideration by organizations because of a number of potential employee relations, organizational and legal issues that need to be addressed. To begin with it will be critical that firm’s have a comprehensive background screening policy in place that addresses how problem situations will be handled. In addition, the need to have pre-identified ‘sensitive jobs’ with clear qualifications and prerequisites included in job descriptions will become even more important than ever. Each company will need to develop a decision tree regarding how potential issues will impact employees. Because of these issues the National Institute for Prevention of Workplace Violence, Inc. has established Infinity Screening Solutions, a new consulting practice, specifically focused on addressing these issues and helping firms to implement continuous screening

Since overwhelming employers use outsourced background screening firms to conduct their background checks, we have decided to primarily offer this consulting service through background screening firms. This will be a value added service that you can offer to your clients when you are selling them your ‘continuous screening’ tool. We have developed a proprietary implementation process for assisting firms with continuous screening that you can offer to your clients. Contact Barry Nixon at 949-770-5264 or online at wbnixon@aol.com for more information.

Call Barry Nixon at (949) 770-5264 today to find how the Continuous Employee Post Hire Screening consulting can contribute to increased sales, revenue and increased customer satisfaction

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BackgroundScreeningJobs.com A Success in Filling Industry Jobs

Phone Rings on Bruce's Desk

Hi, this is Bruce. Hi Bruce, this is your old buddy, John. I need some help. I am looking for a really strong person to fill a critical job opening as our________________(fill in the blank). Who do you know? Will you headhunt for us? Where can we find this person?.

Well, John, I would love to be able to help you but there is a little problem. Since we consult to everyone in the industry (at least potentially everyone), it would be something of a conflict for me to headhunt a good employee away from a client or potential client. It is just not something that I think will enhance my reputation for neutrality and confidentiality. Yes, I could make some nice fees this way (headhunters usually get 20-33% of the comp package), but it has the potential to taint our reputation.

However, since we get asked to do this so often, we created a web site where people looking for a job and companies looking for industry-experienced talent can contact each other. The web site works like Monster or CareerBuilder but is designed specifically for our industry niche. You can go there and see people who have posted their qualifications and/or you can post a job opening for a low cost.

But Bruce, the web site is great. But I don't want anyone to know it is my company seeking to fill this position and www.backgroundscreeningjobs.com requires me to post my company name.

Find resumes of people with industry experience and
industry employers seeking industry experience.

CUPA-HR National Conference & Expo 2007, November 8-10, 2007, http://www.cupahr.org

http://www.cupahr.org/conferences/conference/exhibitsponsor.html For Details on Regional Conferences go to http://www.cupahr.org/newsroom/news_template.asp?id=1982

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) For Details on State Conferences, go to http://www.shrm.org/conferences/state/CMS_004287.asp

World Federation of Personnel Management Associations (WFPMA), World Congress, For Details on International events by date go to http://www.wfpma.com/dates.html

2007 Events (Click Here to View full list of 2007 Events) – The List is Updated Monthly)