 |
|
This newsletter is sent to clients of Employment Screening Resources (ESR) and employers, HR and Security professionals and law firms who have requested information from ESR on pre-employment screening, safe hiring, the FCRA and legal compliance. If this was sent in error, you can be removed from this list by using the "remove" feature at the end of the newsletter. (Reading
time: Less than 5 minutes) 2. NewCounty Courts Continue to Present Challenges 3. Keeping it Legal--Reference Questions 4. ESR to Present at Five Seminars with the California Association of Employers (CAE) 1. Congress to Review FCRA On May 1, 2003, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael G. Oxley (OH) and Committee Ranking Member Barney Frank (MA) jointly announced their intention to hold a comprehensive series of hearings on continuing the current national standards contained in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Under current law, states are prohibited from passing their own rules on certain aspects of the FCRA until 2004. Although a number of states have their own procedural rules on certain aspects of pre-employment screening, the situation would become much worse if each state is allowed to pass state laws that conflict with the FCRA across the board. In the April 2003 Newsletter, ESR reported that Congressman Pete Sessions (R-Dallas) introduced H.R. 1543, the "Civil Rights and Employment Investigation Clarification Act" of 2003. H.R. 1543 makes a clarification to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to allow employers to use attorneys and licensed professionals to investigate current employees suspected of misconduct, wrongdoing or harassment, without obtaining the employee's prior authorization. Additional members of Congress have signed on as co-sponsors, which will help the legislation move forward. ESR will continue to follow developments closely. 2. County Courts Continue to Present Challenges County Courthouses continue to present challenges across the United States for employers who are concerned with safe hiring, due diligence and preventing workplace violence. Los Angeles County continues to present issues for employers. Although Los Angeles County has rescinded a plan that called for the periodic closure of courthouses in order to save money, the shortage of court clerks continues to impact the ability of employers to obtain court record checks timely. Earlier this year, Santa Clara County in California announced a policy of restricting date of birth information, which would have lead to substantial delays in obtaining records in that county. ESR was very active in lobbying Santa Clara county officials to retract this policy, noting that Santa Clara county already has one of the nation's highest unemployment rates, and obstructing background checks would only serve to hurt employers and job seekers, and at the same time benefit applicants with criminal records. The policy was changed so that employers will not be impacted. Other
courts across the
3. Keeping it Legal--Reference Questions Asking reference questions carries a certain risk if the question is not legal. How can you tell if a reference question is legal? Generally, a legal reference question will have the following characteristics: 1. It is a valid predictor of job performance (i.e., job related) 2. It is not discriminatory on its face (i.e., it does not violate federal or states' discrimination rules by inquiring into impermissible areas such as marital status, national origin, religion, etc.) 3. It is not discriminatory as applied (there are some pre-employment tools that although neutral on their face, can have a discriminatory effect in the manner in which they are used) 4. It
does not violate any specific state or federal law in terms of the subject
matter, procedure or any release that is required (such as FCRA rules) For more information on reference checking and hiring, ESR will be presenting two workshops in June on: "Background Checks and Reference Checking: A Catch-22 for Employers." See the ESR Speaking schedule below. If you have a question about reference questions, please feel free to send them to Custserv@ESRcheck.com and we will get right back to you to discuss your concern. 4. ESR to Present at Five Seminars with the California Association of Employers (CAE) ESR will participate in a series of five seminars sponsored by the California Association of Employers (CAE) to be held throughout the state of California. Locations will include: May 13-Irvine Hyatt Regency; May 14-Emeryville Four Points Sheraton; May 15-Sacramento Holiday Inn; May 22-Fresno Ramada Inn University; May 29- Redding Shasta Builders Exchange. Contact the CAE for further details at 916-921-1312 or see www.employers.org The seminars will have two sessions. Session One is wage and hour law, provided by attorneys from the law firm of Seyfarth Shaw. Session Two will focus on Hiring and Firing, with speakers Les Rosen from ESR and Kim Parker, Executive VP for CAE. The CAE is a non-profit organization that has been assisting California employers since 1937 by providing personalized and cost-effective human resources and labor retention benefits to members across California. Additional ESR May/June/July Seminar information: May 9, 2003--Oakland, CA-Conference on "Uniting Privacy and the First Amendment in the 21st Century." ESR President Les Rosen will participate in a panel discussion on the "Investigative Uses of Personal Information," concerning the present legal and regulatory schemes for controlling the use of personnel information for investigative purposes. Sponsored by the California Office of Privacy protection, Electronic Privacy Information Center and the First Amendment Project. See www.epic.org/events/unitingsymposium/ June 3, 2003-San Francisco, CA- "Background Checks and Reference Checking: A Catch-22 for Employers." Sponsored by the NCHRA (www.NCHRA.org). NCHRA Training Center, 9-12 AM June 4, 2003--University of California at Riverside Extension: Legal Issues in Human Resources series: "Safe Hiring Practices Audit--Review of 28 steps and best organizational practices that can be taken during the recruiting, hiring, training and post-hiring stages to minimize any surprises concerning the background of employees." Presented by Lester S. Rosen, Esq., President of Employment Screening Resources, Contact UC Extension--Riverside www.UCRExtension.com June 12, 2003-Sacramento, CA- "Background Checks and Reference Checking: A Catch-22 for Employers." Sponsored by the NCHRA (www.NCHRA.org) Sheraton Grand, Sacramento, 9-12 AM June 18, 2003--San Francisco, CA: "HR Audit-Are You Up To Date?" Sponsored by Lorman Educational Services with Lester S. Rosen as moderator and speaker. Contact ESR for additional information. July 23, 2003-Buffalo, NY--"Crimes, Criminals and Human Resources." New York State SHRM HR Conference at the Buffalo Convention Center. See www.nysshrm.org. Please feel free to contact Jared Callahan at ESR at 415-898-0044 Ext. 240, or jcallahan@esrhire.com if you have any questions or comments about the matters in this newsletter. Please note that ESR's statements about any legal matters are not given or intended as legal advice. Employment Screening Resources (ESR) See: Employment Screening Resources (ESR) Rated Top
Background Screening Firm in First Independent Industry Study |
Safe Hiring Resources
Video clips used by permission of Kantola Productions The ESR Advantage
 The advantages of having ESR as your Safe Hiring Partner » The ESR Joint Commission Hospital Compliance Database » ESR Global Service — International background checks » Testimonials »» ESR Resources
|
|
|
