Recently in employment screening Category

by Mark Hebert, Clark Fork Chronicle

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After recently attending a mayor’s conference in Helena, Superior Mayor Michael Wood discovered that the town has not been doing everything it needs to do when hiring volunteer firefighters for the Superior Volunteer Fire Department.

“The Montana Code requires the mayor to appoint firemen with the OK of the council,” Wood said. “We haven’t been doing that. Right now we are in the process of doing background checks.”

Superior Fire Chief John Woodland said that Mayor Wood informed him of the need for background checks, and added that he is currently obtaining Social Security Numbers and addresses for all the volunteers at the department.

BY DEBORAH LAVERTY, The Times Online

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HOBART | A request from the city to provide criminal background checks on employees comes as no surprise to a LaPorte-based carnival owner.

Sterling Crown Carnival owner Robert Johnson said he has no problem accommodating the Hobart Board of Works and providing information on the 25 to 30 employees who will be working at the Lakefront Festival from Aug. 14 to 17.

"It's nothing out of the ordinary," Johnson said.

He said his business, which was started by his father in 1970, holds more carnivals in Illinois than Indiana.

And, starting this year, the state of Illinois requires criminal background checks each time he and his employees do business in a community.

News Channel 5

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By Elia Powers, Inside Highered

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An increasing number of colleges are conducting full background checks on potential new hires. But verifying a degree and searching for a police record are two very different exercises.

Whether the latter should be common practice is a hot question in human relations circles. So is the question of whether employees should have to disclose prior criminal convictions.

The University of Pennsylvania’s Faculty Senate executive committee weighed in this week, opting to reject the idea of developing a uniform policy that would require prospective faculty to come forth with convictions. The vote comes at a time when the university is taking a broad look at its hiring practices. In the past several years, Penn professors have been the subjects of high-profile cases involving sex crimes and voluntary manslaughter.

By Tom Joyce, The Mount Airy News

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In what one official described as a sign of the times, Reeves Community Center has announced plans for criminal background checks on facility volunteers for the first time in its 57-year history.

“We're definitely not at the forefront on this - I don't mean that in a bad way,” RCC Executive Director Catrina Alexander said Wednesday during a meeting of the city Parks and Recreation Commission, when the effort was discussed.

By Dan Barker, The Fort Morgan Times

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Volunteers for Wiggins schools will not have to pay for a background check or fingerprinting, although the option will be there if there are any questions about an individual.

Also, students involved in the National Art Honor Society at Wiggins High School will be able to go on their trip to Italy and Greece at the end of the month.

Each of those issues had been tabled at last month’s Wiggins School District Board of Education meeting.

By: Shannon Peluso, News 14 Carolina

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CHARLOTTE -- This time of year, many parents begin signing their children up for summer camps. But before you do, there is one very important question that needs to be asked. Does the summer camp conduct criminal background checks on its employees?

There is no law in North Carolina or any kind of state regulation requiring background checks on summer camps. Because of this, many camps don’t conduct the checks in an effort to save money, even though on average it only costs about $10 per check.

By AMY JOHNSTON, KVUE News

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By Megan Boldt, Twin Cities

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Forest Lake plans to do more background checks on adults working in district schools.

The proposed changes would require independent contractors and community education volunteers to undergo criminal checks.

School board members will discuss the new policy at their Thursday night meeting.

Ron Spies, the district's director of human resources, said more thorough background checks have been a topic of discussion in Forest Lake and across Minnesota as stories about alleged misconduct have surfaced during the past year.