Welcome! The VeriFirst News is a monthly newsletter, researched and developed to provide you with the most relevant background screening compliance, regulatory news, and industry related headlines. If you have any questions regarding the information or updates referenced in this newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact our client support and development office for additional information. Please enjoy this edition of The VeriFirst News.Keep Safe, Keep Safe, Ryan M. Howard Vice President, Business Development VeriFirst Background Screening, LLC If you would like to add a colleague or other recipient to our newsletter distribution, or if you have a suggestion for an article that others will find informative, simply send an email address to support@verifirst.com | subject line: Newsletter with the appropriate information. In This Issue: TENANT SCREEENING NEWS: Fair Tenant Screening Act – SB 5922 Dead in the Water EMPLOYEE SCREENING NEWS: Its Time To Take Your Screening Program To The Next Level Pennsylvania Employers Who Don't Hire Convicts May Soon Be Assumed To Be Guilty Of Illegal Discrimination UN Issues Call For International Privacy Agreement EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK Confidence At 18-Month High Among US Executive Recruiters Hiring Conditions Get Stronger in March for Manufacturing and Services LEGAL ISSUES Maryland HB175 Seeks to Limit Use of Credit Reports by Employers EEOC Sues Over Use of Credit Checks, Criminal Histories TENANT SCREENING Fair Tenant Screening Act – SB 5922 Dead in the Water SB 5922 – Tenant screening reports. It protects consumers from unfair practices by establishing criteria for the dissemination of credit and court record information contained in a consumer's tenant screening report. (Kohl-Welles) For More Information Go To: Click Here EMPLOYMENT SCREENING Its Time To Take Your Screening Program To The Next Level Recruiters are focused on talent acquisition and getting the best talent on board as fast as possible. Preemployment background screening has become not only an accepted, but essential part of the pre-hiring and selection process. However, with the advent of technology tools the opportunity to perform Infinity Screening on current employees has extended background screening beyond the on-boarding process to the full employment period for employees. The primary reasons that Infinity Screening is getting more popular is due to many of the challenges that organizations are facing regarding employee theft, identify theft and fraud. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners 64% of fraud is committed by employees and the FBI, adds that virtually every company experiences losses due to pilferage; from “the removal of products, supplies, materials, funds, data, information, or intellectual property” to the filing of falsified employee expense reports.” In order to implement an Infinity Screening Program, you will need to address the following: To Read The Full Article Go To: http://www.securitymanagement.com/article/taking-screening-next-level?page=0%2C2

Announcements: BYL (VeriFirst’s parent company) releases a new corporate website and announces its latest service offering, “Virtual Accounts Receivable Outsourcing” (VARO). To learn more, visit www.BYLcompanies.com. VeriFirst will be exhibiting at the InterFace Student Housing Investment & Finance Conference in New York City on Thursday, April 8th 2010 Moving On When 904 workers in North America were recently asked : “Do you plan to pursue new job opportunities as the economy improves in 2010? They responded: Yes, I intend to leave 60% Maybe, so I’m networking 21% No, I intend to stay 13% Not likely, but I’ve updated my resume 6% Source: Right Management Background Checking of Professional Hires A large, well-respected law firm recently learned the hard way that you cannot always accept at face value the qualifications of those who apply for employment as attorneys. Law.com reports that Brian Valery passed himself off as a Fordham Law School graduate and an attorney admitted to practice law in New York. He had worked for Anderson, Kill & Olick, PA since 1996. The problem? He never attended law school and was not admitted to the bar of any state. The incident has caused problems for Anderson, Kill, which has engaged special ethics counsel to help it deal with the situation. The lesson here applies to all professional service firms. How many law firms, accounting firms, engineers, architects, and medical practices actually take the trouble to confirm the training and licensure of those who apply for jobs as professionals? For More Information Go To: http://employment.lawfirmnewjersey.com /archives/hiring-issues-background-checking-of-professional-hires.html Send to a Colleague

Pennsylvania Employers Who Don't Hire Convicts May Soon Be Assumed To Be Guilty Of Illegal Discrimination

"An employer's policy or practice of excluding individuals from employment on the basis of a prior criminal conviction has a disparate impact on blacks and Hispanics," says the proposed Policy Guidance issued by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC). "Given this position, when investigating complaints of alleged unlawful disparate impact discrimination presented by black and Hispanic [applicants], the PHRC will presume [illegal] discrimination." Although the new rule equates rejecting a black or Hispanic convict with illegal bias, an employer may overcome the presumption by proving a "business necessity." Generally, this means that the refusal to hire a particular applicant is justified when the individual's conviction indicates the applicant poses "an unacceptable level of risk" for a particular job.

For More Information Go To: http://pihra.lawroom.com/Story.aspx?P=B&STID=2165

UN Issues Call For International Privacy Agreement

A UN watchdog has called for a new international agreement on privacy following a review of the expanding global array of surveillance measures and databases advanced by governments in the cause of counter-terrorism. The special rapporteur on human rights, Martin Scheinin, said the UN should create a "a global declaration on data protection and data privacy" in response. His report, delivered to the UN's Human Rights Council, describes the expansion of watchlists, border checks, financial data sharing, interception of communications, biometrics and ID registers in recent years. "States no longer limit exceptional surveillance schemes to combating terrorism and instead make these surveillance powers available for all purposes," he added. "Most worrying, however, is that these technologies and policies are being exported to other countries and often lose even the most basic protections in the process."

The full report is here. ®

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/20/un_terror/

EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK

Confidence At 18-Month High Among US Executive Recruiters

Economic recovery is beginning to take hold in the US, according to ExecuNet’s latest Recruiter Confidence Index (RCI) data.Based on January’s survey of 214 executive recruiters, 64% are ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’ the executive employment market will improve during the next six months, up 10 points from December 2009 and the highest confidence registered since May 2008.Executive search firms themselves will increase hiring to meet new assignment growth — 33% report hiring in contrast to massive layoffs in January 2009

For More Information Go To: http://www.recruiter.co.uk/confidence-at-18-month-high-among-us-executive-recruiters/1004172.article

Hiring Conditions Get Stronger in March for Manufacturing and Services

As the long recovery continues for the labor market, more manufacturers and service-sector companies are expected to add to their payrolls in March, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey for March 2010.

Hiring is up on an annual basis for the fifth month in a row. In March, the percentage of companies that are hiring in manufacturing will reach a level not seen since June 2008; in the service sector, the percentage of companies that are hiring is the highest since July 2007.

Recruiting difficulty still not widespread, but it is on the rise.
Though not many employers in both sectors reported increased recruiting difficulty inFebruary, it rose from a year ago.

The LINE Employment Report examines four key areas: employers’ hiring expectations, new-hire compensation, difficulty in recruiting top-level talent and job vacancies. It is based on a monthly survey of private-sector human resource professionals at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 service-sector companies. Together, these two sectors employ more than 90 percent of the nation’s private-sector workers.

For More Information Go To: http://www.shrm.org/Research/MonthlyEmploymentIndices/line/Documents/LINE%20March%202010.pdf

LEGAL ISSUES

Maryland HB175 Seeks to Limit Use of Credit Reports by Employers

Maryland House Bill 175 would prohibit an employer from using an applicant's or employee's credit report or credit history in determining whether to deny employment to the applicant, discharge the employee or determine compensation or terms, conditions, or privileges employment; authorizing an employer to request or consider an applicant's credit report or credit history under specified circumstances; authorizing an applicant or employee to bring an action for injunctive relief, damages, or other relief for a violation of a specified provision of law; etc.

Source: NAPBS.com

For More Information Go To: http://mlis.state.md.us/2010rs/billfile/hb0175.htm

EEOC Sues Over Use of Credit Checks, Criminal Histories

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed a complaint in the U.S. district court in Maryland against Freeman Companies, a Dallas-based corporate event-planning company. The EEOC claims that Freeman’s use of credit histories and criminal background checks discriminates against black, Hispanic, and male job applicants in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If the EEOC prevails in the Freeman case, employers that use credit reports in the hiring process will have to establish specific job-relatedness and consistency with business necessity. The EEOC has long held the position that arrest and conviction records are subject to the disparate impact job-relatedness and business-necessity requirement. Thus far, however, there have been no validated studies that relate credit history to job performance.EEOC v. Freeman Cos. , D. Md., No. 09-CV-02573, filed September 30, 2009.

For More Information Go To: http://employmentlawpost.com/diversity/2009/12/13/eeoc-sues-over-use-of-credit-checks-criminal-histories/