Jacqueline McClure, Genesis Background Screening Services
According to a state audit released early this year, California’s most vulnerable residents are at risk because of poor communication between state departments which prevented the California Department of Social Services Community Care Licensing Division from getting full information about applicants and employees at facilities throughout the state. The Social Services Community Care Licensing Division is responsible for overseeing and regulating nearly 75,000 facilities statewide that serve people with disabilities, elderly adults and children.
During the audit, it was discovered that the state Department of Justice stopped providing Social Services with complete sentencing information in 2016 because state law did not specifically stipulate it as required. Additional information about arrests and convictions were not complete as well.
As a result, there were hiring decisions made without full information about the employee’s background – some with serious criminal histories. In some cases, even after the information was received, it sometimes took months to remove the worker from the facility.
This should be a wake-up call for private business as well. There are lots of reasons to have a comprehensive pre-employment policy for your company, but one of the most important is to hire safely to protect your business, your employees, clients and proprietary or confidential information. It is imperative to make sure every candidate is properly vetted before they have access to the inside of your company.
How do you make sure that you are performing due diligence and beyond? A CRA (Consumer Reporting Agency) can help you establish best practices and the right plan for your background checking, drug screening, and license verification.
Partnering with a CRA (Consumer Reporting Agency) that has the services you need to fill in your HR gaps can be a very economical solution. The right partner can help you recruit, integrate your system, perform background screening, provide education and license verification, drug testing at convenient locations, and support throughout the process. Not only can you feel confident that you are bringing the best hire into your company, but you will know that you have done due diligence both legally and ethically for your employees and customers. In addition to accomplishing this at a price that fits your budget, a professional CRA partner pays for itself by avoiding costly hiring mistakes. For more information, contact Genesis Background Screening Services at 866 944-0041 ext 101, email getstarted@gbsspro.com or visit www.gbsspro.com
Genesis Background Screening is not a law firm and provides our blogs for informational purposes only. These blogs should not be considered as a substitute for experienced legal advice. Any laws or regulations mentioned in our blogs need to be researched by your company and any questions you have need to be answered by your legal counsel to be sure your organization is within the law and compliant with regulations.
