Corporate Screening Spring 2010 Newsletter

Posted by admin on May 25, 2010 under CS News | Comments are off for this article

A Newsletter for the clients of Corporate Screening. Read the full newsletter here.

New Hampshire Courts Closed May 28th

Posted by admin on under Client Alerts | Comments are off for this article

All state courts will be closed Friday, May 28th for the second of three furlough days this spring. The shut downs are part of an agreement to avoid layoffs and help patch up a state budget gap. Court workers accepted the furloughs as part of a compromise to avoid layoffs and help the judicial system move closer to a proposed $3.1 million in savings.

Rest assured that Corporate Screening will do everything possible in order to minimize delays that might be incurred due to the closures.

Corporate Screening Wins 2010 Crain’s Leading EDGE Award

Posted by admin on May 24, 2010 under CS News | Comments are off for this article

Corporate Screening has earned recognition for the second year in a row as a 2010 Crain’s Leading EDGE award winner. The award was presented by Crain’s Cleveland Business and the Entrepreneur’s EDGE (Economic Development through Growth & Entrepreneurship) on Wednesday, May 19th, at the InterContinental Hotel and Conference Center.

“We are thrilled that Corporate Screening has been recognized in back-to-back years as an industry leader with the Leading EDGE award,” said Greg Dubecky, General Manager of Corporate Screening. “The metrics utilized in the scoring of this award demonstrate value to the community, so we are grateful to be recognized as a positive force affecting Northeast Ohio.”

The Entrepreneur’s EDGE selected 85 winners based upon a metric that enables the region to measure and track companies throughout the 17 counties of Northeast Ohio that are creating the most value for themselves as well as for the community. Qualifying companies have sales revenue up to $750 million and currently sell some of their goods or services outside the region, or have plans to do so.

Bill would require FBI to fill in gaps in criminal records database

Posted by admin on May 20, 2010 under News Alert | Comments are off for this article

A bill was recently introduced to enhance the otherwise deficient criminal record database maintained by the FBI. While this bill will not do much to increase reporting of new crimes it will work to update the criminal records that do get reported. You see, this database includes approximately 50% of all criminal histories that are available from the thousands of criminal record repositories in the U.S. Further, of the records that are available, less than 50% contain information that can be used in an employment decision. The simple reason being is that the records are incomplete or stale and do not contain up-to-the-day disposition information. Imagine the ramifications of making a hiring decision on arrest information that did not result in a conviction. This occurs more than frequently and opens an employer up to significant risk.

So, if you are an employer that is required to screen your employees through the FBI criminal database, be sure all records reported by the FBI are thoroughly researched at the originating court. It is the opinion of CS that we do not need legislation to require courts to report disposition information to the FBI, we need responsible Consumer Reporting Agencies like Corporate Screening to educate employers on the use and misuse of this information and the wherewithal to update criminal record reports prior to reporting to their customers.

See full article below.

Bill would require FBI to fill in gaps in criminal records database

A bill introduced in the House would strengthen the accuracy of the FBI’s criminal records database by requiring the U.S. Attorney General’s Office to verify that crime data is up to date. Employers rely on the database to conduct background checks on potential hires.

The 2010 Fairness and Accuracy in Employment Background Checks Act would require the attorney general to find out from court offices, including those in state and local jurisdictions, the outcome of arrests whenever an employer requests a background check, and update that record in the National Crime Information Center database. In cases where the attorney general discovers an arrest was dismissed in court, he has 10 days to update the record before responding to the employer’s request.

Employers often consult the NCIC database to conduct background checks on individuals applying for jobs in law enforcement, homeland security or organizations where they’d be working with vulnerable populations, such as children and the elderly. Typically only public sector entities can request FBI background checks, though certain private sector companies — such as those supporting federal homeland security efforts.

Bobby Scott, D-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, introduced the bill on May 13 in response to a June 2006 report from the attorney general that showed nearly 50 percent of criminal records maintained in the NCIC database failed to note court decisions to dismiss arrests.

“In the current economy, neither employers nor workers can afford employment background records that are inaccurate or incomplete,” Scott said in a statement e-mailed to Nextgov.

The legislation would give job applicants the opportunity to obtain a copy of records provided to a potential employer and challenge their accuracy and completeness. If the records are challenged, the attorney general would have 30 days to complete an investigation, make changes or deletions, and report those changes to the applicant and the employer.

“An incomplete and error-riddled criminal database cannot be the reason qualified workers don’t earn a paycheck,” Edward Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO’s transportation trades department, said in a statement. “This problem must get fixed. Workers and businesses — as well as our economy — suffer when qualified employees are kept off the job by uncorrected database errors.”