U.S. economy adds 243,000 jobs in January

Last month, the unemployment rate decreased to 8.3 percent and the number of unemployed persons fell to 12.8 million, according to  ‘THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION – JANUARY 2012’ report released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The report showed the unemployment rate declined by 0.2 percentage point in January 2012 to 8.3 percent and has fallen by 0.8 point since August 2011. Other key points include:

• Professional and business services employment added 70,000 jobs in January 2012, with nearly half of the increase, 33,000 jobs, occurring in employment services.
• Manufacturing employment added 50,000 jobs in January 2012, with nearly all of the increase occurred in durable goods manufacturing, which has added 418,000 jobs over the past two years.
• Leisure and hospitality employment increased by 44,000 jobs in January 2012, with food services and drinking places adding 33,000 jobs. Since a recent low in February 2010, food services has added 487,000 jobs.
• Health care employment added 31,000 jobs in January 2012, with hospitals and ambulatory care services each adding 13,000 jobs.
• Construction employment increased by 21,000 jobs in January 2012, following a gain of 31,000 jobs in the previous month. Over the past two months, nonresidential specialty trade contractors added 30,000 jobs.
• Retail trade employment continued to trend up with a gain of 19,000 jobs overall in January 2012 and has added 390,000 jobs since an employment trough in December 2009.
• Wholesale trade employment increased by 14,000 in January 2012. Since a recent employment low in May 2010, wholesale trade has added 144,000 jobs.
• Mining employment added 10,000 jobs in January 2012, with 8,000 of those jobs in support activities for mining. Since a recent low in October 2009, mining employment has expanded by 172,000 jobs.

What does this mean for background screening?

As is always the case – when employment levels rise, so do background checks. With more applicants being hired, there is ever-more need to ensure that those hired pose no risk to employers, current employees or the business.

If you are in need of employment screening assistance, or have any questions about the process, get in contact with us today – we’d be happy to help.

New payroll tax deal would increase drug screening

Under the payroll tax deal sought by congressional negotiators, drug screening for those on welfare would see a significant increase. States would be permitted to screen claimants who lost their jobs because they failed or refused a drug test and people seeking new jobs that generally require drug tests.

According to a 2006 survey cited by Republicans, 84 percent of employers required new hires to pass a drug test. Federal law currently does not allow states to deny benefits for reasons other than misconduct, fraud or disqualifying earnings – so this move is a significant one.

I’m glad that it’s in there,” Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) told HuffPost in an interview. Kingston was the first Republican in Congress last year to propose drug testing for those collecting unemployment. “I think that it will be a helpful tool for states.”

The drug screening proposal is part of a larger bill, in which the maximum duration of unemployment insurance would gradually fall from 99 weeks to 73 weeks. While that does seem like quite a drop, if no bill was passed the the longest time people could claim benefits would abruptly drop to 26 weeks at the end of February when federal unemployment programs are set to expire.

This could affect nearly 1 million people who have been out of work for six months or longer.

The drug screening legislation will no doubt be a welcome addition for many, who are justified in claiming that welfare recipients should not be an exception to the drug screening rules that many employed taxpayers are subjected to.

Nonetheless, there will always be critics. Particularly when it comes to such a controversial topic. Critics claim that drug testing welfare recipients is simply not a cost-effective measure and not a valid use of taxpayers dollars – with money saved being only a fraction of that which is spent on the tests.

What do you think? Should welfare recipients be drug tested?

Employee fraud increases by 41% in twelve months

Annual data from fraud prevention service Cifas showed there was a 41 per cent spike in the number of dishonest actions by staff to gain a benefit by theft or deception in 2011.

Here is some of the data that the report provided:

While the spike seems shocking at first, Richard Hurley, communications manager for Cifas, said the increased trend could be due to more awareness of fraudulent practices and techniques.

He said: “The damage done by fraudsters who sit within an organisation is not just upon a balance sheet but also on staff and customer morale, reputation and can even result in regulatory and legal sanctions.

“While the 14.5 per cent increase witnessed in 2011 demonstrates that some organisations are increasingly aware of, and looking out for, fraud committed by insiders, the surge must also underline how prevalent the danger actually is. To assume that staff committing fraud will not affect your organisation is pure folly.”

Many are suggesting that the economic downturn is a reason for the increase, and rightly so. Nonetheless, suggesting that company’s are simply being more vigilant these days is also a fair comment.

One thing all business owners ought to take from this is the importance of running background checks on staff. Risks are high anyway, and to increase that risk by forgoing the correct employment screening would be a mistake. For more information on employment screening and background checks, reach out to Mind Your Business today.

Background checks run on just 5% of Nevada daycare workers

Mind Your Business came across some shocking news earlier this week regarding daycare workers in the US. News4 reported that only 5% of new daycare workers in Nevada have their background checks for abuse and neglect completed on time when they start work.

That was just one of several scary facts uncovered in a recent investigation by the Legislative Auditor of Nevada. That report reads: “there is an increased risk to the health and safety of children at child care facilities.” Out of 50 case studies of state inspections of child care facilities, the auditors found state inspectors were late at conducting checks 14% of the time – with some site visits running eight months behind the legal requirements.

14% of the time? Eight months behind the legal requirements? Are these figures that parents would want to hear? Ultimately, as News4 says: “You may not know who is taking care of your children.”

Auditors did a random check of 20-employees at facilities around the state. They discovered of those 20, 19 were not given timely background checks. While it would therefore be unfair to attribute the 5% figure across the whole state – in this small sample, it was a 95% failure rate.

Government Response

Wendy Simons,  Chief of the State Bureau of Healthcare Quality and Compliance, said: “An agency can’t catch everything, but a parent placing a child in care can say, I’d like to see your records of notification and the fact that your employees have been checked.”

Simons also says that she is going to ask lawmakers to create tougher penalties for facilities failing to report new employees on time. She believes that will cut down on a lot of this problem.

What we can take from this is the hope that this is not an epidemic across the county, and was simply an anomaly in the Nevada criminal background screening process. For more information on daycare background checks, or employment checks as a whole, get in touch with us today – we’d love to hear from you.

How to perform an applicant background check

When hiring a new employee, one of the most important parts of the process will be an applicant background check. This form of staff testing will provide you with a better understanding of whether the individual will be an asset or a hindrance to your business.

So how do you get started? 

Firstly, I would decide which types of background checks you would like to perform.  There are various different types of background check that can be performed, and it will depend on the job role you are performing the check for.

In order to do this correctly, I would suggest hiring a background screening service. A background screening service will provide you with reliable results, ensuring that you know any information regarding applicants or employees that could put you at risk. By helping you obtain such information, you are in a better position to make any hiring decisions.

What type of background screening service should you consider?

There are many different types of background screening service, so this can be a difficult decision. I would avoid any company which claims to be able to provide a “free” or “instant” background check. This type of information about an individual is neither free nor easy to obtain, so those that claim it is are unlikely to provide you with the results you are looking for.

While hiring a trustworthy background screening company may be more expensive, it will be a cost-effective decision in the long run. To make a mistake at this stage in the hiring process could cost you a significant amount down the line in regards to possible litigation and loss in productivity.

What do you do once the applicant background check has been completed?

When you have the results, if there has been some negative or dubious information returned, it is time to assess whether this is an issue with the applicant that could affect the applicant’s work performance or potentially damage your company.

Additionally, repeat the background check process at regular intervals. If you run a background check on an individual prior to hiring them, and then they work for you for 20 years – is that one check enough? Probably not. It is definitely worth running checks regularly on all employees, just to be safe.

If you have any further questions on the applicant background check process, or would like to find out how background checks could improve your company’s productivity and profits, contact us today – we’ll be happy to help!

FCC warns background check mobile apps may be illegal

Employment checks in North Carolina faced a potential hurdle this week as the Federal Trade Commission said it sent letters to six unidentified mobile applications makers warning them that their background screening apps may be violating federal statutes.

Specifically the FTC said if the app makers have reason to believe their background reporting apps are being used for employment screening, housing, credit, or other similar purposes, they must comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act which is supposed to protect consumer privacy and ensure that the information supplied by consumer reporting agencies is accurate.

Fair Credit Reporting Act

Under the FCRA, operations that assemble or evaluate information to provide to third parties qualify as consumer reporting agencies, or CRAs. Mobile apps that supply such information may qualify as CRAs under the Act, according to Network World.

CRAs must take reasonable steps to ensure the user of each report has a ‘permissible purpose’ to use the report; take reasonable steps to ensure the maximum possible accuracy of the information conveyed in its reports; and provide users of its reports with information about their FCRA obligations.

For example, in the case of consumer reports provided for employment purposes, CRAs must provide employers with information regarding their obligation to provide notice to employees and applicants of any adverse action taken on the basis of a consumer report.

According to the letters, the FTC has made no determination whether the companies are violating the FCRA, but encourages them to review their apps and their policies and procedures to be sure they comply with the FCRA. Future actions against those firms weren’t ruled out if violations are found.

Conclusions?

While there is no doubt that the background check process will transfer into the mobile world at some point in the future, only time will tell how the process can be completed in a legitimate way.

NC Attorney General unveils sex offender app

North Carolina now offers a phone application that allows people to find out if sex offenders live near them and their children. This is no doubt a welcome move by parents, who want to use mobile technology to ensure the safety of their children.

The Department of Justice on Monday released a free mobile application that utilizes the GPS mapping feature built into the Apple iPhone and iPad to show the names, photos and homes of registered sex offenders living nearby. Users can search for offenders within a 1, 3 or 5-mile radius of their present location and receive alerts whenever a registered offender moves in nearby.

Police computer checks downed for five hours in Virginia

A network outage crippled Virginia State Police for five hours Thursday, leaving the force unable to perform background checks, run fingerprints or register sex offenders, according to Hampton Roads.

State police reported the problem to the Virginia Information Technologies Agency around 1:30 p.m., spokeswoman Corinne Geller said. The network remained down until around 6:30 p.m., when most features were restored.

In the meantime, troopers didn’t know if the person they pulled over was wanted by police, if the car was stolen or if the person was a known criminal. It also meant those who went to purchase firearms were turned away because dealers couldn’t perform the necessary background checks.

It’s said to be the latest in series of outages involving the state’s computer system, which is run by VITA through a 10-year, $2.4 billion contract with Northrop Grumman Corp.

It is certainly a worrying situation, particularly considering it’s not a one-off situation. It’s vital that police are able to perform checks on any vehicles, specifically due to the fact that traffic stops are often not ‘routine’.

According to NBC Washington, a Northrup Grumman spokesman deferred questions to VITA, which said the outage was the result of a network switch failing at State Police headquarters.

“Anytime something in public safety fails, it’s all hands on deck,” state computer chief Samuel A. Nixon Jr. said. While he said he was not making any excuses for the disruption, he said the computer network’s “footprint is enormous. There are literally hundreds of thousands of pieces of equipment from one end of the state to the other that we are responsible for”.

The outage crippled the Virginia Criminal Information Network, which serves nearly 700 agencies in Virginia and outside the state. It stores information relating to wanted and missing persons, sex offenders, stolen vehicles and protective orders, among other information. Last year, the network completed more than 416 million transactions.

Update on NJ school district background checks

Earlier this month we reported how 350 school board members across New Jersey were told to resign their positions immediately after failing to complete a criminal background check now mandated by state law.

In an update on this story, the New Jersey Department of Education is still holding off releasing information related to all of the 4,702 board member and trustee background checks that were performed at that time. Under state law, board members have 30 days to submit a criminal background check or face removal from their elected position. The state extended the criminal background check deadline this year to January27th  in light of confusion with the new law.

According to the law, board members with prior convictions including, but not limited to Reckless Endangerment, Criminal Restraint, Criminal Mischief, Burglary, Usury, Threats, Resisting Arrest, Escape or Bias Intimidation would be deemed ineligible to serve as a school board member in the state of New Jersey.

“There are no exceptions for board members/trustees to continue to serve without having submitted to the criminal history record check,” the state said in a statement.

For now, the state has granted a temporary reprieve for those board members who either refused or did not submit to a criminal background check. So far, at least 12 board members in New Jersey have been disqualified for previous criminal convictions.

The legislators and governor in the state of New Jersey acted quickly on the new school board criminal background check legislation, which is the cause of the current confusion and delays, but the NJ Department of Education said today that the final list of board members deemed ineligible should be released in the coming weeks.

The department would not comment on any board members or school districts at this time.

Mind Your Business is now on Google+

Continuing to build our online community, as we did last year by creating MYB profiles on Facebook and Twitter, we have decided to take the next step by entering the world of Google+. You can now find our Google+ page here.

With Google+ recently passing the landmark of 90 million users, it’s an important place to be – both in terms of reaching customers, users and in terms of it’s SEO value. We are hoping to capitalize on our success so far on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn by extending our reach into the Google+ community and driving employment screening conversation there too.

With this in mind, here are ten fun facts on the Google+ platform:

• There are now over 90 million people using Google+
• It was rolled out in June 2011, and brand pages became available in November
• Google+ has a video chat feature, known as hangouts, in which users can chat with each other. This is a great tool for brands to optimize their customer service capabilities
• The Google+ Hangouts work with Google Translate to make multi-language communication possible instantly
• Google+ was developed under the code name ‘Emerald Sea’
• There is a 5000 maximum friend limit on every Google+ profile
• Google+ cost $585 million to build
• 500 employees helped to build the platform
• Google+ has now been integrated into Google search – meaning that the more social you are the more visible you will be in their search results
• Mark Zuckerburg, founder of Facebook, is one of the most followed users of Google+

Mind Your Business, Inc. really has taken the next step into social media, and we’re loving it! Become a fan of us on Facebook, Circle us on Google+ or follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter and join in the conversation.