Post-Hire Background Checks: More Than Trust With At-Risk Populations

Post-Hire Background Checks: More Than Trust With At-Risk Populations

Pre-employment background screening has long been an integral part of vetting a new employee. As part of the “background check”, pre-employment background screening can provide critical information and data hiring managers and HR Departments require in making a well-informed decision on an individual.

Even with recent changes to state and local laws regarding “Ban-the-Box” (legislating the Box on applications to ask about criminal history) and increased scrutiny by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) the use of background screening and public information will remain an important, if not critical tool, in hiring.

But what happens after the hire?

Many companies and organizations only conduct a single criminal background check: At the beginning of the employment term. However, a recent article posted to TheReporterOnline.Com raises excellent questions about whether on-going or “post-hire” background checks should be conducted.

In Doylestown, PA “public schools across the state perform one-time criminal history checks for teachers and other school employees as required by Pennsylvania law, but crimes committed by school staff during their employment may easily go undetected.”http://www.thereporteronline.com/social-affairs/20131211/schools-rely-on-staff-to-report-criminal-history

And they go “undetected” due to a lack of further background checks.

Adam Almeida, President and CEO of CriminalBackgroundRecords.com states: “Post-hire background checks can be a critical tool during times of promotion or position change. And they can be helpful, if conducted under the guise of a well-defined Company policy covering background screening, especially with long-term employees that work with at-risk populations.”

Companies and organizations that do not conduct post-hire background checks are seemingly the norm. However, one must consider the consequence of engaging an individual to work with at-risk populations and commit a crime well after their initial pre-employment background check.

In Doylestown, PA “a 60-year-old Centennial school bus driver was charged with indecent assault involving two young boys. The superintendent said the man passed the required background checks and pointed out the alleged incidents didn’t occur while the 43-year employee was on the job.”http://www.thereporteronline.com/social-affairs/20131211/schools-rely-on-staff-to-report-criminal-history

Almeida states: “One might expect a post-hire background check frivolous considering a court finding may include jail time. Obviously an employer would know if an employee had to report to jail, but what if the court finding was nothing more than a fine and/or parole? Some offenses, even minor ones, if consequential to a specific job, should be reported. If they are not provided voluntarily by an employee, a post-hire background check would certainly discover it.”

While public schools in Pennsylvania do not yet require post-hire background checks for employees, some private schools do.

Leslie Davila, director of office of Child and Youth Protection for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, said Catholic schools in the five-county area go “above and beyond” what is required by law.

“We require renewals of background checks every five years,” said Davila, who added that the policy went into effect when Catholic schools across the country established youth protection offices in 2003. Her office monitors school employee records to make sure employee background checks are current. http://www.thereporteronline.com/social-affairs/20131211/schools-rely-on-staff-to-report-criminal-history

Ultimately a post-hire background check can be a preventative tool. As part of a well-defined background screening policy, post-hire checks may well decrease an individual’s willingness to conduct illegal activities. Risk mitigation is at the core of background screening’s value.

CriminalBackgroundRecords.com is a third-party background screening company that specializes in pre-employment and post-hire background screening. Their highly trained staff can assist a company, organization, or school of any size in developing a fully compliant and legal employment background screening program.

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