Posted by
Jeff Garr on Fri, Mar 30, 2012 @ 08:24 AM
Hiring and recruiting are difficult enough, but when you interview a candidate, you may not be getting the true background. There are a number of pre-employment screening checks that employers may make on job applicants and they include reference, background and credit checks.
Reference Checks
The most common check on a potential new hire is the reference check. Candidates should provide both personal references as well as references from former employers. Although a reference check on previous employers may not provide comprehensive insight into the applicant, what it does do is authenticate the” 5 Ws”:
- Who is this person? Reference checks help to confirm identity. In today’s world of identity theft, this is imperative.
- Where was her/his previous job or where did s/he attend school?
- When was s/he employed/ attend school?
- What are her/his specific qualifications or characteristics that make her/him a good candidate for the position?
- Why did s/he vacate the previous position?
Often, you won’t get any more detail from a former employer than confirmation that the person was employed there, dates of hire and termination and salary information. But, it never hurts to inquire about a former employee’s work history, abilities, attitude and attendance.
Criminal Background Checks
Criminal background checks may also be conducted by an employer. It’s an employer’s responsibility to ensure a safe environment for all employees as well as prevent theft and other criminal activities.
Credit Checks
The Fair Credit Reporting Act authorizes potential employers to gain access to a potential employee’s credit report for employment purposes. Credit payment histories are sometimes used in the evaluation of a job candidate. In order to obtain a ‘consumer report’, written authorization must be provided by the job candidate. When reviewing a job candidate’s history, most employers conduct a “look back” review of the past six to seven years. Large companies (500 or more employees) are more likely to conduct a credit check.
What types of references and job screening are you currently doing for potential new hires? Are you comfortable that your process is sufficient?
HR Knowledge is a provider of integrated HR, payroll and benefits services. Our offices are located in the Boston, MA metro area and we service companies throughout the United States.
Recent reports of employers asking prospective employees for Facebook passwords and login credentials have raised alarm by Facebook, the applicants and the legal community.
The Associated Press reportedly asked for Facebook credentials from a job applicant for the purpose of reviewing private information.
There are at least two additional cases where individuals were required to share Facebook passwords and user names as part of the application process for employment. There is also the instance of a city that required prospective job applicants to provide access to their Facebook account as well as their email accounts.
Facebook made a statement that it is a violation of "Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities" to solicit a Facebook password. In face, Facebook notes that this "undermines the privacy expectation and the security of both the user and the user's friends".
Another point made by Facebook is that asking for user credentials in order to gain information about prospective employees could expose employers to lawsuits. Once an employer gets access to information, such as discovering the individual is a member of a protected group, the employer could be exposed to discrimination suits if the employer does not hire that person.
Employers who access private account information can therefore be accused of unlawfully discriminating against otherwise qualified applicants based upon information contained in private Facebook accounts.
Unlike comprehensive background checks for employment in law enforcement, or at highly sensitive infrastructure sites, and where there may be access to vulnerable populations, which is generally accepted, employers may gain information they cannot ask about through a social media profile. This information could be the individual's religion, age, marital status, pregnancy status, or other protected information. The onus is on employers to understand that there are categories of information that are not permitted to make hiring decisions based on. Having access to this through a profile could be deemed sufficient to subject the employer to civil liability.
There is current litigation pending and being drafted to address gaps in federal law that allow employers to require personal login information from prospective employees to be considered for a job. As the situation evolves, HR Knowledge will keep you posted.
HR Knowledge is a provider of integrated HR, payroll and benefits services. Our offices are located in the Boston, MA metro area and we service companies throughout the United States.
Paid Time Off (PTO) which is considered "earned time", has become a more common employee value proposition offered by many employers. Similar to an employee benefit, a PTO program offers blocks of time (hours), as opposed to days off. Vacation time, sick leave, holidays, short-term disability and personal leave are all rolled into one block.
PTO programs help organizations get a handle on absenteeism and the resulting lost productivity by empowering employees and making them responsible for their own time off. Oftentimes, what would have been an unscheduled absence gets converted to scheduled time off.
These programs are advantagous to employees, who have more flexibility and control over their own time, as well as to employers, who are able to attain a reduction in payroll expenditures when compared to traditional time off.
Employees need a break once in a while, and some employers' plans offer a number of days for each form of PTO, and other employers' plans may specify one set amount of paid days off that can be used at employee's discretion.
The way PTO is structured may vary. Some employers base the amount of vacation days on the anniversary of the hire date Some employers have a calendar year anniversary. Regardless of the method, the structure should be documented in an employee manual.
A trend with PTO is that many companies who used to allow employee to carry over unused days are now not carrying these days over from year to year. Some municipal employees used to accumulate PTO for years, but now even public sector policy has changed. While an employee may not be eligible to receive cash for unused days off, if the employee leaves the company, the company may be required to compensate the employee for that time. Some organizations will prorate the PTO for the number of days of service accrued by the associate.
HR Knowledge is a provider of integrated HR, payroll and benefits services. Our offices are located in the Boston, MA metro area and we service companies throughout the United States.
Beautiful weather and employee absences may make inclement weather closing the last thing you are thinking about. However, when the weather changes (and it will), it's important to have an inclement weather policy. Do you have one?
An HR policy on office closing due to natural disaster or weather should include information about alerts. How will you communicate that your office is closed? Do you have a 'dark' website, an email system, a text message system? Be sure that you do have a way to tell your associates what the expectation is, and that the associates understand what that method is.
Even though employees may be grateful that they are not expected to be in the office due to weather conditions, they will want to know whether they can anticipate being paid. It's important to be clear and specific and have a policy created that explains whether the associate should expect to be paid or not.
Although you can establish your own policy, be aware of the FLSA (Federal Fair Labor Standards Act) when creating your policy as well as any specific state mandated compensation. While these laws may change periodically, the responsibility is upon the employer to know what the law is, and to adhere to that standard.
Non-exempt employees must be paid for the hours worked, but not the hours they didn't work. If the non-exempt worker leaves early, comes in late, or decides to stay home they are only paid for the hours they worked. Also, if the company elects to close, the non-exempt employees are only compensated for the time they actually worked.
If your HR policy allows, non-exempts can receive pay for time not worked if they have accrued leave.
State laws vary, and some states do require non-exempt employees be paid a minimum amout of time if they make the effort to come in despite the weather, and as laws do change, it's important to know what legislation in your state dictates. You can create a policy that is more favorable to the employees as a business decision. Again, this is an area that should be covered by HR policy.
Since exempt employees (as defined by the FLSA) are compensated based upon a salary, if they work a partial day or arrive late, their compensation is typically not affected. As an employer, you may debit their accrued leave but be sure to have this stated in the HR policy. If there is no accrued leave available, they are still entitled to their full salary.
If the company closes for a full workweek, exempts need not be paid. Many time employers will not require a deduction from an accrued leave bank in cases of inclement weather/office closings – but this should be clearly defined in the policy.
HR Knowledge is a provider of integrated HR, payroll and benefits services. Our offices are located in the Boston, MA metro area and we service companies throughout the United States.
Job abandonment is an issue when employees are terminated due to not showing up or calling in to work.
Employee attendance is difficult to manage, but easy to spot when problems arise. When employees are consistently late, or fail to show up for work, it creates a dilemma for the other employees who rely upon that person to be there, or rely upon each other. Excessive absenteeism and unauthorized leave must be addressed in a timely manner, before they can impact the morale of the department.
Whether the choice is to discipline the employee or take further action, employees should be held accountable, but if you don’t have a policy in place, you may risk litigation for wrongful termination.
For example, a policy that defines what job abandonment is may suggest that three days of unexcused and unreported absence will result in job abandonment should be issued to all employees as part of an employee policy manual when onboarding new hires. This way, the expectations are clear, and job abandonment is defined.
Another definition of job abandonment may be when the employee has been absent due to illness for 10 consecutive work days, has no sick leave days accumulated and has not requested vacation or a leave of absence. If the employee fails to return to work after an approved leave, that may also constitute job abandonment, however it should be pre-defined.
Having a clear policy that has been disseminated to employees removes much of the risk of post-termination litigation.
Many employers have policies in place that reserve the right to terminate employment if the employee fails to report to work, or fails to notify the employer of absence.
What policies do you have in place, and what policies should you have?
HR Knowledge is a provider of integrated HR, payroll and benefits services. Our offices are located in the Boston, MA metro area and we service companies throughout the United States.