Month: March 2011

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Background Checks Criminal Records Economy Miscellany preemployment screening

Employment Screening for Violent Job Candidates

There is much controversy about conducting background checks before someone is allowed to purchase a firearm.  There is controversy as well about workplace violence and conducting the type of employment screening that will filter out the undesirable job applicants.   My first thought is background checks can be of great value.  My second thought is there is a first time for everything and therefore even the most intensive employment screening program will not stop certain employees from acting out violently in the workplace.

Take the case in the Los Angeles Times where a young man in training for security positions leaves his class, returns a few minutes later, carrying a gun, and opens fire.   The trainee, the suspect, allegedly kills his instructor.  Thirteen people are standing dumbfounded and frightened in the middle of the classroom.  When he is finished shooting, the article reports he dropped the gun and walked out of the classroom.   When the police caught up with him, somewhere outside the building, the suspect finished his cigarette and then surrendered.

So what is that about?   And yet we can be sure we will see similar incidents.  We have no idea how certain people are wired, and why workplace violence becomes their means of expression.  Sometimes, we just take stock and move on, trying to do the best we can.

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Background Checks Criminal Records Human Resources Miscellany Staffing Uncategorized

College Athletes and Background Checks

According to S. Daniel Carter, in an article in the Huffington Post, college athletes are frequently getting into trouble.  Carter believes it would be prudent for colleges to run background checks on their athletes.

You may have pause, but Carter is Director of Public Policy, Security On Campus, Inc.  He is certainly no novice to the profession.   Carter writes that one out of every fourteen players in the 2010 preseason Top NCAA footballs teams had been charged with or cited for a crime.   This finding was the result of a joint investigation report conducted by Sports Illustrated and CBS News.  A significant number, around forty percent of those cited were for serious offenses, including assault and battery, domestic violence, robber, and sex offenses.  In the majority of the cases the player was either found guilty,  had pleaded guilty, and faced some penalty as a result of the conviction.  So no sweet innocents in football.  Or not many, anyway.

Carter maintains that if the NCAA doesn’t act upon this and start conducting background checks, then law enforcement will ultimately become more involved.

Look, while there have been changes in recruiting athletes and most athletes come under greater scrutiny, I have talked with a few over the years who candidly told me that with all the fawning over them, they started to believe they could get away with just about anything.   Some told me that they were like spoiled children and were programmed with a certain sense of entitlement.  Whether they committed crimes or hurt others in the process was really a secondary concern.

Of course,  with the ones I spoke to, their measure of self-critique as a matter of hindsight.  One such athlete, actually a friend of mine, confided that he was led to believe he had the world on a string.  His promising career collapsed under the weight of scandal.    The mechanics of the scandal, point shaving, had been someone else’s idea.   But, being young and stupid, and thinking himself above the law, my friend went along with the problem  He was bounced out of college sports and consequently professional sports.  So much for that promising career.

Not much time goes by before you pick up the paper and watch on the news that an athlete, usually with an attitude, has been arrested for something violent or stupid.  Or both.  The very nature of privilege and that sense of entitlement just causes otherwise naive young men to commit crimes that are often career wreckers.  But not all that often.  Frequently, as they are considered special and privileged, these athletes are let off with a slap on the wrist.  There is big money at stake here, what with alumni, tickets,  bowl games, endorsements, whatever.   So thuggery gets a pass.  Which in turns encourages others to emulate that behavior.  And so the cycle continues.

I suggest you read Carter’s article in the Huntington Post.   As he makes his case, background checks for college athletes are no such a bad idea.

Categories
Background Checks Criminal Records Economy Human Resources Miscellany preemployment screening Recruiting Staffing Uncategorized

Criminals Avoid Background Checks as Nursing Home Hires

CBS News did a study and found that ninety percent of the nursing homes in the nation hired employees with criminal convictions.   According to CBS News, when the government ran background checks on employees in some 260 nursing homes, 92 percent of them had criminal records.  Pretty remarkable.

This is not some curious group of do-gooders reporting that much of the healthcare industry is populated by convicted felons.  This is the Inspector General for Health and Human Services.   In half the nursing homes, the service found five or more employees had been hired with criminal records.   Additionally, there are reports of abuse of patients, especially the elderly and the children.   Some employees have prior records of abuse with the different reporting agencies.   But they escape detection in the employment screening process by moving from state to state.   Such evasive tactics as well as the documenting of shoddy background checks on the part of questionable healthcare recruiters and staffing agencies was reported in a joint Pulitzer Prize Winning Study, conducted by  media watch dog,  Pro Publica, and the Los Angeles Times.

Public officials are calling for  more comprehensive background checks.  David Capeless, District Attorney for Berkshire, Massachusetts, claimed that background checks are essential. Capeless recently filed criminal charges against three healthcare employees for abusing patients.   Other public officials and critics insist to conduct the proper background checks, the verifying agencies must look across state lines.   Local or regional searches are not nearly enough.   As noted before, it’s a common practice for convicted felons or sanctioned healthcare workers to move around from state to state to avoid detection.

I have blogged about this situation many times.  Once such article is, Fake Nurse Conviction and the Need for Healthcare Background Checks.

Honestly, we are talking about vulnerable people who are easy prey for unscrupulous healthcare workers.   With workers having criminal records and with instances of sex abuse and drug abuse, older patients and younger people are the happy hunting ground for such abusers.

Surely, people deserve a second chance.   Some people commit and unlawful act or fall victim to substance abuse and then clean up their act and lead productive lives.  Others, however, keep committing the same crimes over and over again.   And if they are not vetted through a standardized and comprehensive employment screening program that includes a full complement of background checks, then they will continue to make a mockery of the system that purportedly oversees them.

Categories
Background Checks Economy Human Resources preemployment screening Recruiting Staffing Uncategorized

As Tax Time Approaches, What Job Seekers Can Deduct From Income Tax

Looking for work can be tough work all to itself.   It is slow economy and jobs are scarce.   Some experts predict the job market won’t return for about five years.  Who knows?  Thins change. Stuff happens.  But, meanwhile, a person has to make a living.   And looking for work is tough.

No only does the aspiring job applicant have to content with  the constant searching, the networking,  being rejected, but they have to deal with the expenses of being unemployed.  I am not talking here about the cost of living, keeping a roof over your head, staying fed.  There are the added expenses of searching for work.   You can’t go out there looking for work in your old eighties power suit.     And hair that looks like it’s has gone three weeks past the expiration date, just won’t cut it.  So you need to cut it.  There is the expense for office supplies and  for traveling from one job to another.   Parking.   Printing.   And there are some who are required at their own expense to conduct background checks on themselves.  Personally, I find this a little excessive, but nevertheless some employers insist the job candidate conduct these at their own expense.

It all adds up.    Looking for work is not only an investment in time and energy, but there are financial concerns as well.  The longer your job search drags on, the greater the outlay.  It’s insult to injury in some ways.  But it is also a fact of life.

Here is the good news.  Some of those expenses are tax deductible.  The deductions may not come in the best years when you are flush with cash and can use any deductions Uncle Sam will offer.   But they are something.  An article  in The Work Buzz provides an overview of the expenses most job seekers can deduct from their taxes.  It is well worth reading.  There is also a graph showing what percentage of job seekers know about these deductions and those who don’t.    The full survey, hyperlinked on The Work Buzz is worth reading.  For those who don’t have the time or patience, because they are too busy for looking for work, at least make yourself acquainted with the legitimate tax deductions.  It is well worth knowing