Thanks to the economic downtown a great many states are trying to economize on their budgets by placing state and public workers on unpaid furloughs. New Hampshire is the latest state to implement a furlough system. As the exact date is undecided, the press release says that sometime in late March or Early April the New Hampshire Judicial Branch will be closing the courts for unspecified number of days each month.
The furlough plan is designed to reduce expenses to meet a $3.1 budgetary shortfall the state will be facing by the end of June, 2011.
As with most states and judicial branches, closing the courts may delay any background checks involving county criminal and county civil records. From our experience at Corra Group, the delays, if any at all, are typically not more than a day or so. It’s annoying, I realize. But we are in a severe economic downturn and the states are facing many difficult challenges. I think most states are doing their best to accommodate budgetary constraints. In all, it is a relatively small price to pay for the state and county judicial system that we have and their ability to deliver meaningful background checks for preemployment purposes.
Check them out before you hire.
