INSIDE BACKGROUND SCREENING
Employer’s Guide to 2014 Workplace Privacy Legislation By Heather Browning, Executive VP, OPENonline
Workplace privacy legislation has seen a substantial increase
in the last few years. New laws about the use of criminal history information, credit information, and social media passwords have forced many employers to reevaluate their hiring practices. Below is a summary of key legislation effective January 1, 2014.
Criminal History: More cities and states are joining the Ban the Box movement, which removes the question, ―Have you ever been convicted of a crime?‖ from initial job applications. The goal of the legislation is to defer criminal past inquiries until later in the hiring process, when the information can be fairly weighed in light of an applicant‘s qualifications.
Credit Information: Last year, Colorado became the ninth state to ban the use of credit reports for employment purposes with the passing of Colorado‘s Employment Opportunity Act. Regulations implementing the legislation became effective January 1. The law prohibits an employer's use of consumer credit information for employment purposes unless the information is substantially related to the employee‘s current or potential job. Additionally, it requires an employer to disclose to an employee or applicant for employment when the employer uses the employee's consumer credit information to take adverse action against him or her and the particular credit information upon which the employer relied. The total number of states with similar legislation is up to ten: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
Social Media: On January 1, 2014, Oregon became the tenth state with a law prohibiting employers from accessing employees' private social media sites. Specifically, the law makes it an unlawful employment practice for employers to compel employees or applicants for employment to provide access to their personal protected social media accounts through user name, password, or other authentication means. Additionally, it is illegal to take or threaten to take any adverse action if an employee refuses to disclose, or provide access to a personal social media account and fail or refuse to hire an applicant because he or she refuses to disclose or provide access to a personal social media account. Oregon joins Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington who have similar social media privacy laws.
Improve Workplace Security with Global Background Checks By Dan Shoemaker, VP, International Business, HireRight
Many organizations are looking outside their countries‘ borders to
help address the current deficit of qualified talent. According to data from HireRight‘s 2013 Employment Screening Benchmarking Report, 55 percent of organizations are actively recruiting individuals who have lived, worked, or studied in another country. These recruitment efforts are culminating in workforces characterized by a strong global influence; in a survey of U.S.-based HR professionals conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), nearly a quarter (24%) of organizations have hired workers from outside the United States, a continued trend from the previous year. These rates are even more pronounced among larger employers (with more than 500 employees) and in the high-tech industry.
With comprehensive immigration reform in the U.S. becoming a pivotal political issue, employers may find even increasing access to a global labor force. Indeed, it may become easier for organizations to recruit overseas for difficult-to-fill positions that require candidates with sought-after skills and experience. Employers have also recognized that hiring workers with foreign experience or backgrounds can engender other powerful benefits, like underscoring commitments to diversity, broadening the horizons of both the organization itself as well as other employees, and adding valuable new perspectives.
A Troubling Gap
There is, however, a cautionary side effect to the trend of hiring employees with foreign residential histories, or work or educational experience. Many employers may be exposing themselves to unnecessary risk by not screening the non-U.S. backgrounds of these employees. According to the HireRight Benchmarking Report, nearly a third (31%) of respondents do not verify the international educational or employment experience of their U.S.-based candidates. The corresponding risks to their workplace safety, security and quality can be considerable.
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Social media legislation has been introduced or is pending in at least 25 states in 2014.
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