Welcome to the May edition of the ‘SRA Screening Insights’ newsletter.
Our goal is to provide you with insightful news and information about what is happening in the background screening and human resources world to position you to make the best possible hiring decisions.
We hope you enjoy our newsletter and welcome your suggestions, ideas and feedback.
Paxton Caristi – Director, Sales
pcaristi@srascreening.com
Direct: (646) 877-4559
Zulay Moreno
zmoreno@srascreening.com
Direct: (561) 569-8027
Utilization of Oral Fluid drug tests for pre-hire, post-incident and reasonable suspicion is up nearly 60% over the last 2 years. This is mostly due to improved technology, which has improved accuracy to that of traditional lab-based testing.
A forty-three year old Texas truck driver has been charged with criminally negligent homicide for crashing into a school bus, killing a 5-year-old boy and a 33-year-old man in another car.
Records show the driver refused a reasonable suspicion test in September 2020 and follow-up tests in 2022 & 2023 tested positive for marijuana and cocaine, resulting in a prohibited license. However, his CDL was still eligible in Texas due to a loophole.
“… State driver’s licensing agencies are not required to downgrade CDL statuses until 11/18/2024 according to changes in the Federal Register,” the affidavit states.
After the fatal crash, troopers spoke with the driver at the hospital where he initially admitted to using marijuana and cocaine in the past but not during the week of the crash. When asked if he wanted to provide a blood sample, he refused, stating the sample would test positive for drugs. He then admitted to smoking marijuana the night before the crash and using cocaine the morning of, the affidavit states.
On March 14, 2024, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed legislation that would add a new provision to the Massachusetts Consumer Protection law and would bar the use of true credit reports for employment purposes, i.e., for the purpose of evaluating an individual for employment, promotion, reassignment, or retention as an employee.
The only exemptions are for employers (such as registered securities associations) required by federal or state law to conduct credit checks, for employees or applicants who hold positions requiring a national security clearance, and for employees working at financial institutions.
The legislation, entitled An Act Reducing Barriers to Employment Through Credit Discrimination (H.1434), is expected to be adopted by the Massachusetts Senate and promptly signed into law by Governor Maura Healy. Once adopted, the new law would take effect on January 1, 2025, and would be the most restrictive of its kind in the United States.
In the background screening process industry a name is one identifier, however, it is not sufficient as a standalone identifier.
Names are common across gender, race, and ethnicity for about the first 100 most common names and then they drop like a rock. There is vey little difference in commonality from the 101st – 500th most common.
Knowing gender/sex helps narrow the list, but even if an exact full name and date of birth match are rare enough to be in a million, that still means in the U.S., there are 340 of those one in a million perhaps looking for a job and undergoing background checks.
Reporting agencies like SRA are required to have reasonable procedures in place to maximize accuracy when determining the identity of a subject, so agencies are advised to set a point of commonality where additional due diligence is required to be conducted and create a policy document to be followed by researchers.
Stay informed, stay compliant, and streamline your hiring process with SRA Screening.
While you may have heard the terms “hard and soft inquiries” used
Pulling credit reports on a customer makes sense when determining the credit
Introduction: An insurance provider is currently embroiled in a legal battle after
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