Checking Education Records

Educational credentials are frequently misrepresented on resumes and job applications, because many employers don't check educational references. It's important to do it, though, to make sure that the applicant has the qualifications and background you want.

Common problems are the applicants' saying that they have a degree that they don't have, saying that they graduated from a particular school when they may have only attended it for a short time, or saying that they have a degree in one field when they really have a degree in another field.
Checking Driving Records

If your job opening requires any driving of a vehicle on company business, the applicant's driving record should be checked. By checking with the motor vehicles department, you'll not only get information about the applicant's driving record, but you can use it as a chance to verify the applicant's identity.

Where do you get driving records? Driving record information is available from a state's Department of Motor Vehicles. Generally, they keep records of:

    * all traffic violations
    * driving-related offenses
    * identifying information contained on the license

What information do I need to provide? Usually, the DMV will ask for:

    * full name
    * date of birth
    * address
    * license number

Be aware that sometimes the DMV will charge you for checking these records. The cost can range anywhere from $2.00 to $10.00 or more per record. Your DMV may require that you complete a certain form for the request. Before you send a request for a record, call your DMV to find out what is required.

How can I use driving records? While it may not matter that an applicant had a speeding ticket, a driving record check can reveal other more serious offenses. If an applicant's license is suspended or expired, how can that applicant legally perform a job that requires driving?

 
Checking Criminal Records

 
You'll need to protect your business from liability by doing criminal background checks on applicants who will:

    * be bonded because of access to money or valuables
    * carry a weapon
    * drive a company vehicle
    * have access to drugs or explosives
    * have access to master keys
    * have a great deal of contact with the public, patients, or children
    * be filling a position that requires a criminal record check under state law

 
Checking criminal records is a sensitive issue.

    * There are legal restrictions under federal law and under many state laws as well.
    * Checking conviction records is generally permitted.
    * Checking arrest records is generally not permitted, except for special circumstances.
    * Our case study illustrates the reasoning courts may follow when evaluating whether a denial of employment based on criminal records was proper.

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Your company can be legally liable for negligent hiring if you fail to uncover a job applicant's incompetence or unfitness by checking their references, criminal records, or general background. You can be sued for negligent hiring for failure to become aware of an employee's unfitness for a particular position, or for subsequent failure to take any corrective action, such as training, reassignment, or discharge, to remedy the problem once you find out about it.

Particularly if you have employees who have or will have significant contact with the public, customers, patients, or children, you'll want to investigate these topics:

• What is negligent hiring?
• How can you avoid negligent hiring claims?

In order for a customer, employee, or other third party to prevail in a negligent hiring suit against an employer, the following must generally be shown:

• the existence of an employment relationship between the employer and the worker
• the employee's unfitness
• the employer's actual or constructive knowledge of the employee's unfitness (failure to investigate can lead to a finding of constructive knowledge)
• the employee's act or omission causing the third party's injuries
• the employer's negligence in hiring the employee as the most likely cause of the plaintiff's injuries

If you are ever served with a negligent hiring lawsuit, the first step you should take is to call your lawyer. In fact, that's the first step you should take any time you receive legal papers. But it's especially important when you're sued to call a lawyer immediately because you have a certain number of days to file an answer to the lawsuit. The number of days that you have will vary depending upon where the suit was filed, but you could have as little as two weeks to respond.

If you are served with legal documents and you don't have a lawyer, you should find one right away. Once you have a lawyer, he or she can tell you more about your chances for winning or losing the lawsuit.

Reasonable investigation duty. You have a duty to make a reasonable investigation of an applicant's fitness before hiring. The extent of the duty may vary with the circumstances.

You can be held liable if:

• You didn't do a background check.
• You hired an employee you should have known (through proper checking) was incompetent or unfit.

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1. Why check?

Criminal record checks can help to establish that a person is free from any serious prior wrongdoing. Criminal record checks are becoming more and more common as people from all walks of life discover that there are can be unpleasant things in the background of someone they might be thinking about employing, allowing to rent their property, entering into a close personal relationship with or in some other way giving their trust to another person.

2. What are the major issues with criminal record checks?

Also, in some jurisdictions, criminal record checks will not show the juvenile criminal record of a person, because they are considered to have reached an age of majority and their record is wiped clean. In some jurisdictions, privacy is a concern for agencies releasing criminal records although these restrictions are often not a strong for records such as health, financial and employment records because it is recognized that there is a strong public interest reason for allowing the general public to access criminal records.

3. How do I do a criminal record check?

However, these days, there are a massive number of online legal services which offer access to police criminal records. Before the advent of the internet, this was a time consuming and sometimes expensive process which only large organisations could really afford to do.

Sites such as these offer a cheap and effective way to look out for the most pernicious and threatening types of offenders which can reenter the community. A good example is Family Watchdog which is a site that offers access to a national database of registered sex offenders.

Also, many Courts now offer free technology which allows the public to lookup judgments, which can assist you with finding out if there has been any legal action brought against, you can simply use the search function in the court website.

Criminal Records Check - Protect Your Family, Your Assets, and Your Business Before it is Too Late!

Have you heard of what can happen if you hire the wrong nanny or contractor? What about if you hire the wrong person to be your accountant or handle money at your business? There are many stories of how someone was taken advantage of because they did not do a criminal records check on someone they hired. Here are a couple of those stories….get out the tissues for the last one.

That is the main reason that I write about Criminal records checks and how important they are. I was running a wholesale business that involved fragrances. The first one actually happened to me and my business. My sales people would go from business to business selling and if they were good they could make over $1,000 a week. Plus I always had room for advancement.

This was exciting until I gave him a little responsibility to take a sales trip for 3 days to another state. He never came back and ended up stealing nearly $4,000 worth of merchandise. Anyway, I hired a man that just had an excellent resume and great interview. His first week he shatters sales records and was making himself and my company a lot of money.

Had I checked his criminal background I would have known this and never hired him. Needless to say doing a criminal background check is a requirement for hiring now. Come to find out he was a criminal that had a warrant out for his arrest for doing something similar to another business.

It is about a man that I knew a while back that did a lot of traveling for business. The second story is quite sad and I almost feel bad writing it, but it must be put out there. His wife had passed and he had a little boy and little girl so he had to have a nanny to help him while he was on the road. Originally he had a very sweet older woman that had taken care of the little ones for nearly two years, but just could not do it anymore.

She had a good resume and a lot of experience with children. However, he never checked her references and did a very poor check on her past employment. Plus there was no criminal records check done. He had to hire a new nanny and this presented a problem because he really did not have the time to interview them. He hired a woman that was in her late 30s.

However, if you get a criminal records check done on any new hires you will have less to worry about. This woman ended up letting her boyfriend into the home. The dad came home one day to police vehicles in front of his house. The little girl had been raped and the little boy had witnessed it all. Now imagine this happening to you. Don't think it can't because it could.

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