a rather substantial security firm in the Dallas area was just fined $10,000 for hiring unlicensed security guards and not conducting adequate background checks on its new employees. Several of the security guards had criminal histories.
Of course, as with most embarrassing and costly situations, this whole business came to light when authorities accused one of the guards of attempting to steal two safes from a facility. Given that this Security Firm, I usually don’t like to name names, has contracted out with the Dallas Cowboys, the State Fair of Texas, and the Sixth Floor Museum,–the site where Lee Harvey Oswald shot President John Kennedy, for those hazy on their history–any such charges of negligence can prove not only embarrassment but detrimental to business overall.
According to the article on the Dallas Morning News site, the Security Company had previously received citations for not properly registering some 38 security guards who were working on the fairground. Texas law stipulates that security agencies s have five working days from the date of hire to conduct a pre-employment background check. In that same time frame they are mandated to fingerprint new employees and file paperwork with state officials. The company must renew the registration of each security guards every two years. That being said, two companies said they were satisfied with the company’s work and would use them again. So that is definitely a positive note for this company.
However, if you are a business and you have to wait until your are cited and fined, then maybe your customers will not prove so loyal. If your clients expect your to be fully compliant and if they expect you to conduct background checks to assure your employees are qualified and are free of criminal records, then it would make sense to get this all down up front. Waiting can cause pain and damage to your business. In this case, according to the article, the Security Company claims they grew too fast and had such a demand for their services that they could find qualified staff. This is on one hand an enviable situation, a rapidly growing business, but it can also prove a precarious situation. If you are not compliant, and you do not practice due diligence, than that rapid growth can just as easily reverse itself, leaving you with a rapidly shrinking company.
So…check them out before you hire.
