Background Investigation Blogs

For many, the terms “international” and “global” are used synonymously when referencing something outside of the United States (U.S). In regards to background screening, these terms have two very distinct and different meanings.

“International Screening” refers to the process of conducting a background check on an candidate who will be hired and based in the U.S., and some component of the background check requires information in another country. Hiring an individual that is not documented or does not have the legal right to work in the U.S. could place an employer in a very risky and expensive situation, especially if caught. When a candidate is being hired in the U.S., the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) prevails as a regulatory and compliance guideline.

“Global Screening” refers to a candidate being hired and based outside of the U.S. Background screening is not generally accepted in all countries; some countries do not view screening as a common practice or even culturally acceptable. Screening laws, regulatory requirements and privacy regulations need to be followed within the country in which the candidate would be employed.

Employers may encounter the need for international and global screening on a more regular basis. The U.S. census conducted in 2000 discovered that over 11.1% of Americans were actually born overseas (the 2010 census information is estimated to be higher). It is estimated that 11.5 million illegal immigrants currently live in the U.S.

Specializing in domestic, international and global background screening, Employment Background Investigations (EBI), can provide a full range of legally compliant services around the world, such as employment, contractor and vendor screening, compliance consulting, best practice design and enhanced due diligence services. EBI has the expertise and resources to help any employer meet their screening needs in a cost-effective compliant manner. No matter where your background screening needs lie – the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, the Middle East or virtually anywhere across the world – EBI is your One Global Solution servicing over 200 countries.

On June 21, 2010, The Justice Department announced that it has reached an agreement with Morton's of Chicago/Portland Inc. to settle allegations that it required two non-citizens authorized to work in the United States to present more documents than legally required to establish their work eligibility. Morton's fired the workers after it rejected their valid Social Security cards and demanded to see additional documentation establishing their work authorization. In contrast, Morton's routinely permitted U.S. citizens to present their Social Security cards for this purpose.

Under the terms of the out-of-court settlement, Morton's has agreed to provide full back pay of $2,880 and $5,715.62 to the two employees, pay a civil penalty to the U.S. Treasury of $2,200 and train Morton's Portland employees on federal protections for workers against citizenship status and national origin discrimination. Morton's of Chicago Inc., the parent company, has also agreed to provide complete information about properly conducting the employment eligibility verification process to its managers and employees nationwide who have any role in completing the government's Form I-9 process to determine work authorization.

As part of the settlement, the Civil Rights Division's Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) will monitor Morton's for one year to ensure compliance with the settlement agreement. OSC is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which protects work authorized individuals against employment discrimination on the basis of citizenship status or national origin discrimination, including discrimination in the Form I-9 process.

"Our nation's laws ensure that all individuals who are authorized to work in this country can do so without fear of discrimination or retaliation because of their citizenship status or national origin," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. "The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that all authorized U.S. workers, regardless of citizenship or national origin, are afforded equal opportunity in the workplace."

EBI Can Help Keep You Compliant
Start the I-9 process right with every new hire. EBI's Electronic Form I-9 Solution lets you complete, sign and store all the documents electronically, complete with error-checking and guidance.  The system will also guide you through the requirements of collecting proper and compliant documentation to prove worker eligibility.  An E-Verify compliance integration is also available with our electronric Form I-9 solution to make the entire process seamless.   

The screening industry has seen significant changes over the last several months including newly proposed federal and state legislation, updated technologies and new resources. For employers, an outdated background screening program that doesn’t adhere to current regulations or ignores the latest screening tools can substantially increase the chance of noncompliance and put your company at risk for significant liabilities.

A fresh look at your program can save you time and money by leveraging efficiencies from updated services, and keep your program comprehensive and up-to-date. Over the course of the next few business days, we’ll examine a few key areas to focus a fresh look: overall compliance; Form I-9 and E-Verify; employment and education fraud; tax credits; and drug-free workplace programs.

Let’s begin the cleaning with a look at the overall compliance of your background screening program. In these tough economic times, many organizations have been affected with reductions in personnel and monetary resources, and internal screening proficiencies may have been lost. When was the last time you scheduled a meeting with your HR staff and corporate counsel to review your screening processes and protocols? As a standard practice, employers should always conduct a yearly review of their screening program with their HR Legal Counsel to ensure proper compliance.

In addition, you need to review your Federal Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) compliance measures and internal pre-adverse and adverse action process for proper compliance. As a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA), Employment Background Investigations, Inc. (EBI) strictly conforms to federal guidelines as outlined by the FCRA and FACTA (Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003) to protect the rights of consumers. This legislation isn’t restricted only to a CRA. As an employer, you are automatically subject to certain FCRA provisions when you order specific reports as part of the background screening process, and non-compliance with these provisions can result in potential legal action by the consumer (your prospective employee).

EBI is committed to keeping our clients knowledgeable with regard to current state, federal and industry regulations and compliance protocols. The Source, EBI’s monthly newsletter, and periodic Legislative Alerts keep our clients and prospects in the know. EBI’s extensive library of white papers, published articles and other resources are an excellent reference source for employers and their staff. EBI has the right resources, forms, procedures, knowledge and expert advice to help keep your background screening program compliant.

Utah has become the twenty-sixth state to enact some form of E-Verify legislation. Governor Gary Herbert signed the Private Employer Verification Act (HB0431) into law on March 31, 2010 requiring all Utah private employers to use a “status verification system” as of July 1 to confirm their employees are legally permitted to work in the U.S.

The E-Verify program is at no cost to the employer, and is operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA). In the Utah legislation, the “status verification system” is broadly defined to include E-Verify, the SSNVS, or another DHS-approved system. Additional provisions include that the law applies to private employers with 15 or more workers, and new hires on the H-2A or H-2B seasonal visas are exempt.

Although pending amendment(s) to the legislation will make participation in the E-Verify program for Utah businesses strictly voluntary for the first 12 months, and mandatory on July 1, 2011, there are compelling reasons for businesses to comply with the program this year:
• There are no penalties for non-compliance, however, the state will provide positive incentives for compliance, including exemption from penalties under state law should a company using a status verification system inadvertently hire an illegal worker.
• By observing the law, employers will be shielded from civil liability for the unlawful hiring of an undocumented worker as long as the E-Verify systems indicated he or she was work authorized.
• Similarly, an employer may not be held civilly liable for the refusal to hire an individual if E-Verify indicated that he or she was not work authorized.
• And the state will maintain a list of all those who enroll in the program, presumably to encourage the public to monitor which businesses follow the program.

Employment Background Investigations (EBI) provides up-to-date E-Verify legislation information within a state-by-state E-Verify guide. EBI’s Paperless Form I-9 integration with E-Verify allows our clients to access a step by step, easy to use innovative platform to process non-confirmation letters, track results and provide the ability to receive expedient notices and updates from both the SSA and the DHS. EBI’s virtually fool proof process allows corporate administrators the ability to manage the entire verification process while reducing fraud and enhancing overall compliance.

Effective March 29, 2010, Oregon Governor Kulongoski signed new legislation that prohibits the use of credit history information for employment decision purposes unless the information is both substantially job-related and the employer’s reasons for the use of such information are disclosed to the applicant or employee in writing. Please note that Senate Bill 1045 was initially scheduled for July 1st, but the Governor declared the new guidelines effective immediately.

It is Employment Background Investigations understanding that the only exceptions to this rule are:

(a) Employers that are federally insured banks or credit unions;
(b) Employers that are required by state or federal law to use individual credit history for employment purposes; or
(c) The employment of a public safety officer who is a member of a law enforcement unit, who is employed as a peace officer commissioned by a city, port, school district, mass transit district, county, Indian reservation, the Criminal Justice Division of the Department of Justice, the Oregon State Lottery Commission or the Governor, and who is responsible for enforcing the criminal laws of this state, or laws or ordinances related to airport security.

Violation of these new rules is considered unlawful employment practice, and aggrieved applicants and employees may file a complaint with the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor to file a civil action.

Robert E. Capwell, Chief Knowledge Officer of Employment Background Investigations (EBI), will present “Sharing Best Practices Within The Core Areas of Background Screening” at the CUPA-HR 2010 Western Region Conference on March 23rd at 3:00pm in Portland, Oregon.

This interactive roundtable format for HR Practitioners will address critical elements of the background screening process from an in-house screening and out-sourcing perspective; discuss issues and pitfalls employers encounter; share best practices to ensure compliance and quality hires; and provide valuable state and federal resources. The discussion will cover core elements such as identity verification; due diligence criminal records research; properly vetting candidates through employment and education verification; and fraud prevention.

EBI’s “Just One” web-based solutions for background screening, drug testing, occupational healthcare, and electronic form I-9, help Human Resource and Loss Prevention professionals minimize negligent hiring with cutting-edge due diligence and risk management tools. EBI’s innovative proprietary technology provides maximum data security and streamlines HR processes to take the work out of hiring.

The best way to capture a complete criminal history on your candidate is to implement a two tier approach: one tier involves an in-depth look into specific jurisdictions; the other tier is to cast a wider net utilizing electronic databases and resources.

The electronic information age has changed the way government agencies and the background screening industry stores, maintains, and disseminates criminal record information, and has made this information more obtainable. Expand your search parameters by using electronic databases to access millions of records from courts, state agencies, the Department of Corrections, The Public Safety Administration, Sex Offender Repositories, government maintained “Most Wanted Lists” and international terrorist watch lists. Finding a criminal offense committed on a business trip, locating a transient sex offender record, or discovering a driving under the influence conviction in another state is now easily retrievable at a low cost.

Employment Background Investigation’s (EBI) proprietary electronic database, National Criminal Records Database (NCRD), houses over 370 million records from a variety of county, state and federal jurisdictions, government agencies and international terrorist watch lists. EBI uses electronic record resources for background screening as a research tool only. Each record is verified to confirm its accuracy at the original report jurisdiction of record to ensure FCRA compliance.

Employers should never use instant online resources for criminal records as a final decision making tool. A viable Credit Reporting Agency (CRA), such as EBI, can guide you on the proper resources and techniques to optimize your criminal history search while keeping you compliant. Implementing a proper tiered approach to criminal record searches can help keep your screening program comprehensive, your due diligence process compliant, and your workplace safe.