Tag Archives: Ban-the-Box

Background Screening Trends to Watch

Ban the Box: According to the National Employment Law Project “American workers are treading water in the worst labor market since the Great Depression. To keep afloat, U.S. workers need strong policies and protections to support their ability to find work—their lifeline to economic and social stability. Yet an estimated 65 million U.S. adults who have criminal records often confront barriers that prevent even the most qualified from securing employment”. There is a growing national movement to remove the question "Have you ever been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor?" from job applications – also known as “Ban the Box".  The Ban-the-Box movement will continue to be a trend in 2014 as more states, municipalities, and private sector employers adopt this practice.  The rationale for this is that screening out job...

Benefits of Conducting Background Checks

Our focus is on protecting your business, minimizing your risk, and enhancing your ROI …   Background Screening While there are very real benefits to background screening involving personal safety and company reputation, the truth is a business owner likes to know that the expense of background checks pays off in dollars and cents. Our experience has shown us that the return on investment for the screening process is huge. In fact, you can weigh the cost of screening a new employee against every single potential downside expense and realize a profit in the balance. Consider the potential cost of:
  • Discrimination lawsuits
  • Workplace violence
  • Employee theft
  • Company scandal
  • Training costs of bad hires
  • Lost production
  • Identity theft
  • Intellectual property theft
A single incident in either of these categories can be damaging to a business. While background screenings are a real expense,...

Have You Ever Been Convicted?

Currently there is a growing national movement to remove the question "Have you ever been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor?" from job applications. Otherwise known as the "Ban the Box" movement. In most states employers are permitted to ask about or consider arrests that did not lead to conviction. However, the Ban the Box” movement that is happening across the country, calls for employers to wait until a prospective employee is being interviewed or has a provisional job offer before inquiring whether he or she has a criminal past. The aim here is that ex-offenders will have a better chance at getting a job if they’re not eliminated at the very beginning of their job search. According to...