EmployeeScreenIQ

One St. Louis area school district is changing its criminal background check policy for volunteers.

The Francis Howell School District recently adopted a policy that will require volunteer workers who have lived in Missouri for the last five years to undergo a state criminal records check instead of a national FBI background check.

The in-state check, which is based on a person's name, does not require volunteers to be fingerprinted, making results available faster. However, volunteers who recently moved to the state will still be required to undergo FBI background checks.

In addition, all volunteers will have to undergo a background check every four years, and the district will continue to verify that all volunteers are not sex offenders, according to an article by Suburban Journals.

Officials at Francis Howell School District evaluate the background check of each volunteer depending on different parameters. For instance, someone convicted of child endangerment or drug possession would not be allowed to volunteer at all, while someone convicted of driving while intoxicated may be able to volunteer as long as they are not transporting children in their vehicle.

There is some controversy over the new policy, because while an in-state background check will reveal any open criminal records in Missouri, it will not show if a person was arrested and no charges were filed, if a person was found not guilty or if a person completed a sustained imposition of sentence.

On the positive side, the new policy has the potential to save the district a good amount of money, as the FBI background checks cost $52.50 per person and the Missouri checks only cost $9 per person. The district paid for 700 FBI background checks this year alone.

Labels: Criminal background check

Are temp agencies failing to perform proper criminal background checks on nurses? Visit http://employeescreen.com to learn more.

A recent study from the Los Angeles Times and ProPublica found that dozens of staffing agencies are not performing background checks on nurses, while others are ignoring warnings from hospitals about insufficient nurses on their payroll.

The study - which examined disciplinary records, personnel files, court documents and interviews - found that some agencies hire nurses without even interviewing them. That can result in poor care, including workers falling asleep on the job, failing to perform critical tests or stealing drugs meant for patients.

Some agencies included in the study hired nurses who had criminal records or left states where their licenses had been restricted or revoked. In California alone, at least three firms employed a nurse whose license had been suspended in Minnesota for stealing drugs. One firm even hired that same worker after he was convicted of stealing drugs at a nursing home in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Even as hospitals complained about nurses, agencies continued to move them from one facility to another, the study found. For instance, one nurse had racked up more than 12 warnings after ignoring patients and sleeping on the job, but an agency continued to send her to various hospitals. It was found that nurse had previously been convicted of 12 crimes, including prostitution, carrying a concealed weapon and possession of cocaine.

Perhaps most surprisingly, workers who found themselves getting in trouble at one agency seemed to have no problem finding work at other agencies. One nurse from Oklahoma was employed by at least four agencies in Southern California during one year, even though she had been accused of stealing drugs at each firm. Before working at the last firm, that nurse was arrested in Oklahoma for posing as a doctor's office employee and calling in prescriptions.

The practice of making bad nurse hires seems to be more common in states like California, where there is a severe nursing shortage, causing almost every facility to rely on temp workers.

According to a 2008 survey from the State of California, about 6 percent of registered nurses are temp workers. Of those roughly 19,300 people, about half live in other states.

Part of the problem in California is that the state's Board of Registered Nursing does not require hospitals or agencies to report nurse misconduct. Further, a previous study from the same two agencies found that there is often a long delay in disciplining nurses accused of wrongdoing.

Instead of taking more serious action after a nurse has been accused of misconduct, several hospitals simply retrain or monitor those workers after the fact. Temp nurses in particular are often exchanged for replacements without receiving further reprimand or guidance.

Labels: Criminal background checks

EmployeeScreenIQ, an Ohio-based background check company, was recently named to Weatherhead's list of the 100 fastest-growing companies in Northeast Ohio.

The company has been named to the list five years in a row, and this year was ranked as the 25th fastest-growing company in the region.

"We are honored to have achieved this recognition for the fifth consecutive year," Jason Morris, president and COO of EmployeeScreenIQ, said. "Even in a tight economy, we have stayed true to our core values of unparalleled service, continual innovation, and steadfast ethical responsibility to both our clients and employees."

EmployeeScreenIQ offers a variety of employment screening services to mid-cap and large-cap organizations throughout the world, including those in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

"This honor is shared with our valued clients and our dedicated EmployeeScreenIQ associates," Chief Marketing Officer Nick Fishman said. "It is their dedication and support that fuel our growth and will help sustain such growth for the foreseeable future."

Weatherhead 100 has showcased the fastest-growing companies in Northeast Ohio since 1987. In order to be recognized, organizations must demonstrate consistent growth during the past five years. The list, which is determined objectively, is considered a testament to hard work, commitment, innovation and success.

The top 25 winners named to the Weatherhead 100 list this year include:

• SageQuest
• Turning Technologies
• E-merging Technologies Group
• Longbow Research
• Military Product Groups, Inc.
• Perceptis
• SecureState
• Expert Construction, Inc.
• Tooling University
• FIT Resources
• E2B Teknologies, Inc.
• Knotice
• Hurricane Labs
• Forest City Erectors, Inc.
• Enger Tire Centers
• SS&G Healthcare Services
• Fidelity Voice & Data
• PartsSource
• ThermaFab Alloy, Inc.
• HMT Associates, Inc.
• Pyramyd Air, Ltd.
• Matrix Healthcare Management Solutions
• Wellington Technologies, Inc.
• EmployeeScreenIQ
  

Labels: EmployeeScreenIQ