In this day and age with 24 hour news, internet and all the horrific stories that we hear it can be very hard to trust people, let alone find someone that you would trust to leave your children with.

Yet, the facts are with the economy and high price of mortgages it is more difficult than ever for one parent to stay at home and look after the children and family. So when you are looking to get a nanny or babysitter, do you look in the local newspaper or online? The choices are endless and even when you find someone how do you know if they are safe; a background check for a babysitter or nanny is a must.

Here is an interesting and informative article on how to find a qualified babysitter or nanny for your family. http://marblehead.patch.com/articles/babysitting-bonanza

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) told the EEOC that implementing the Equal Employment for All Act could be detrimental to employers and their companies who would not be able to check the credit histories of potential hires. Many companies only conduct credit background checks in the final phases of a new hire.

“SHRM believes the ability to obtain reliable and accurate job performance information about prospective employees has a direct impact on critical business concerns such as quality, workplace safety and customer satisfaction,” Christine Walters, a human resource professional and lawyer.

A recent SHRM survey showed that:

SHRM

Ralston, Nebraska Police arrested a man who had a felony warrant for dealing cocaine because of the job application he submitted to a prospective employer. The warrants have been uncovered by a company that screens job applicants for local businesses which mostly uncovers petty offenses like unpaid traffic tickets. However over the past 3 years has uncovered 50 felony warrants ranging from drug, assault, and murder. One job application turned up a Atlanta man wanted on a murder charge applying for a job in Omaha.

Source

The EEOC plans to have a hearing on Oct. 20th 2010 with others to determine if employers use of credit checks in job screening processes are valid. A house committee earlier this month was discussing the Equal Employment for All Act;

H.R. 3149, a bill that would make it unlawful to base adverse-employment decisions against prospective and current employees on consumer credit reports.

Pamela Devat a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP has been asked by the EEOC to advise them on the matter had this to say “Employers are also extremely cognizant about possible claims of negligent retention and negligent hiring – a main reason they conduct employment screening in the first place.” via original source.

It seems as though that there are many more people being affected by the extensive job interview process that employers are using now that they have a larger pool of potential employees to choose from.

a growing number of job seekers are being systematically weeded out by criminal background checks and personal credit histories, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

as reported by the original source.
The EEOC is attributing the rise in extensive background and credit checks to employers using websites like the one your on that enable easy and affordable background checks. This has led to a number of class action lawsuits against certain companies because they are using a blanket policy against people with a criminal record of any kind whether it has any relation to the job or not therefore unfairly eliminating them from a job.

In this current economic environment many employers are being bombarded with more prospective job applicants who are vying for fewer jobs, and as a result many people are embellishing job applications and job histories. Seventy three percent of employers actively looking for employees conduct background checks on potential job canidiates as oppossed to fifty five percent using drug tests and forty percent using credit checks to determine the applicant’s character. Yet many are using a combination of all three when hiring final candiates for the job. A great write up with a lot of good facts worth reading.