Week of May 28, 2012
As always, internet safety for children and teens is a pretty big deal and things seem to be getting more serious. Statistics show nearly half of U.S. children ages 10-17 say they visit online chat rooms, a significant uptick from the 30% who did so in 2005, according to the Crimes Against Children Research Center (CACRC) at the University of New Hampshire. In direct relation to this; the exploitation of minors has also seen an uptick, and I’m sure everyone has heard about the suicides that have occurred due to cyber bullying. The Detroit Free Press recently released an article about the vulnerability of kids to sexual exploits on the internet.
The Association of Premier Nanny Agencies helped drive a very serious point home on their blog in a recent article about a convicted felon whose record was caught almost accidentally. I personally have run into a number of employers who are too cheap to utilize county records verification, and instead rely on nationwide background checks for their needs. Well, this story should literally scare you into taking the appropriate screening measures, because even very serious felonies sometimes (or often) don’t make it into the national NCF and NCIC databases.
As most business owners will know by now, the EEOC updated their criminal background check guidelines for employment. While everyone was busy trying to explain the guidelines to everyone else, The Heritage Foundation was more interested in estimating the impact this will have on hiring, and they have raised a number of great points that deserve air time. Personally, I think the guidelines definitely have their place as many people weren’t even being considered for a job because of bad decisions earlier in life. I have received a number of complaints from people that claim to have been denied a job because of a DUI conviction 10 years prior. They have been clean for a decade, without even a speeding ticket, yet employment was denied. The article on the other hand poses the question: What about the lawsuits that will almost certainly begin to crop up in the not-too-distant future?
Categories: Weekly Register
