To download the white paper entitled The Importance of Policy Guidelines for Fair Use of Criminal History Checks and Vendor Access Programs in Avoiding Litigation, please visit www.carcogroup.com.

consumer reporting agencies provide to consumers, and to users and

furnishers of credit report information under the Fair Credit Reporting

Act (FCRA). The FCRA requires the FTC to publish model notices for

several forms that must be provided by consumer reporting agencies. The

proposed changes are designed to reflect new rules that the FTC and

other financial regulators have enacted under the Fair and Accurate

Credit Transactions Act of 2003, and to make the notices more useful and

easier to understand.

In addition to revising the general Summary of Rights notice, which

informs consumers about their FCRA rights, such as how to obtain a free

credit report and dispute inaccurate information in credit reports, the

FTC also is proposing improvements to the notices that credit reporting

agencies provide to users and furnishers of credit report information.

The User Notice and Furnisher Notice inform users and furnishers of

their obligation to provide certain protections to consumers. The model

notices were originally issued in 1997 and revised in 2004. The FTC is

accepting public comments on the proposed changes until September 21,

2010.

The link to the FTC website is http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/08/fcra.shtm

Signed into Law on: August 10, 2010

Effective Date:  January 1, 2011

Illinois has become the most recent state to react to the effect of the impact on the economic downturn on employees’ credit histories by restricting employers from using credit information in employment decisions.

Details of the Act:

• Prohibits most employers from using an applicant’s or employee’s credit history as a factor in any employment decision, including hiring, discharging and terms of employment.
• Prohibits employers from inquiring into an applicant’s or employee’s credit history or obtaining a credit history report from a consumer reporting agency.
• Restricts use of a broad range of credit information regardless of the source of such information; it is NOT limited solely to information obtained from a consumer reporting agency.
• Applies to employers of any size.
• Employers may not retaliate or discriminate against a person for exercising rights under the Employee Credit Privacy Act.
• Employers who violate the Act may be sued and ordered to pay damages including attorneys’ fees.
• Does not allow waivers of the Act’s rights and invalidates any such waivers that exist.

Specific Exclusions:

• Many government employers
• Banks
• Savings and loan associations
• Other financial institutions
• Debt collectors
• Insurance companies
• Surety businesses

Limited Exceptions:

• Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ):  The Act provides limited exceptions that allow employers to use credit information where such information is related to a bona fide occupation qualification for a particular position or group of employees. This exception applies generally to those positions involving money-handling or other confidential job duties, such as:
  •  those that require bonding by state or federal law;
  •  employees who have unsupervised access to cash or certain assets valued at $2500;
  • employees who have signatory power of $100;
  • employees who are in a managerial position which involves setting direction or control of the business; and
  • employees who have access to confidential information, financial information or trade secrets.

Note:  The Act includes other limited exceptions and contemplates that future administrative regulations may define additional categories of bona fide occupational requirements permitting exceptions of this Act. Notably, the Act specifically incorporates BFOQ definitions from either the state or federal Departments of Labor.

To review the entire Bill:  http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=09600HB4658sam001&GA=96&SessionId=76&DocTypeId=HB&LegID=48740&DocNum=4658&GAID=10&Session=

This information is being provided to you for informational purposes only.  It should not in any way be considered legal advice.  Please consult with your legal department for all matters concerning employment and labor decisions.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security published a final rule amending an interim final rule on the electronic signature and storage of the Form I-9. This final rule makes minor changes to the interim final rule to clarify:

Time to Complete Form I-9: 

• Employers must complete a Form I-9 within three business days (not calendar days).

Electronic Storage Options:

• Employers may use paper, electronic systems or a combination of paper and electronic systems.
• Employers may change electronic storage systems as long as the systems meet the performance requirements of the regulations.

Audit Trail Requirements:

• Employers need not retain audit trails for each time a Form I-9 is viewed electronically, but only when the Form I-9 is created, completed, updated, modified, altered, or corrected.

Employee Receipt:

• Employers may provide or transmit a confirmation of Form I-9 transaction, but are not required to do so unless the employee requests a copy.

The Final Rule can be viewed in detail at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-17806.htm .

A study released by the US Department of Justice suggests that the long-held belief that FBI information is perfect is less than disserved. Among the surprising admissions, the FBI system which is known as the Interstate Identification Index (III or Triple I) system, is, “missing final disposition information for approximately 50 percent of its records.” The result is that even if an employer were to get this information, the responsible party would need to locate the original record and determine if the record was a conviction or not. Even more stunning was the admission that, “State records are also more complete and up-to-date than the FBI-maintained records.” The report reaches that conclusion that, “The fact is that there is no single source of complete information about criminal history records. A check of both public and commercial databases and of primary sources of criminal history information such as county courthouses would, perhaps, provide the most complete and up-to-date information.”

For More Information or to Read The Full Article Go To:

http://www.justice.gov/olp/ag_bgchecks_report.pdf

Fred Giles, CARCO’s VP of Research, is an industry expert on vendor screening.  He recently wrote an informative article on the subject for Security Mangement Magazine. The article, “Checking from a Distance”, explains why companies should ensure that contract employees undergo background checks, but they must not control the process as an employer would.  As Fred states in the article, “screening contract workers is as important as screening direct hires. But the challenges of doing so without creating a co-employment situation  must be carefully addressed.”

Click the above link to read the entire article or visit www.carcogroup.com.

The SHRM Annual Conference is always a great event and we look forward every year to seeing our friends and colleagues there.  Although we are excited to discuss all of the services we offer to make your applicant screening process easy, efficient and compliant (pre employment, executive and vendor screening, I-9/E-Verify, drug testing, and fingerprinting)  we are showcasing our Onboarding Solution this year.

We’ve listened to what our HR colleagues had to say about their pain points and developed a robust solution.  We are aware that the “new” HR departments are leaner as the country slowly moves out of the economic recession.  We also realize that HR departments need to focus on being more of a strategic business partner to their companies rather than solely in the “people business”.  In order to help our clients accomplish this, we have built a state-of-the-art web based HR workflow and document management system to completely encapsulate the on-boarding process. This system ties together into one unified environment all of CARCO’s HR service offerings.

Please come by and see Jerry, Sal and myself at booth 2953 to learn about our offerings or just to say hello. If you have any suggestions about what to see and where to eat in San Diego, please let me know!

In the meantime, visit our website at www.carcogroup.com to learn about CARCO and our full suite of service offerings, view our on-boarding demo, read our White Paper on the new HR Department, and see our CEO interviewed by Fred Thompson on Inside Business regarding the importance of background screening.

See you in San Diego!