Horror Stories
Why It's Critical to Screen
"The mother of a 14-year-old Detroit girl has filed a $40-million lawsuit against the Cherry Hill School of Performing Arts in Inkster after her daughter was raped by a janitor in May 2002. The suit says the girl's rape could have been prevented if school officials had not hired William Vaughn, a four-time convicted felon, as a janitor at the charter school which serves students in kindergarten through 12th grade." – Detroit Free Press (09/01/2004)
"... The Indianapolis Star reported that the (Indiana Public Employees Retirement) fund's Chief Benefits Officer had been convicted of identity theft. A state investigation found that Walter Kevin Scott, who later resigned, had used another person's Social Security number to pass a criminal background check." – The Courier Journal (09/05/2004)
"... they discovered that a security guard at the state fair was a convicted felon after running a background check on him. New Mexico Department of Public Safety officials said ... "(the felon) was convicted of theft and burglary in Arkansas. His employer, Akal Security said he lied on his application and his convictions never showed up." – KOAT-TV, The New Mexico Channel (09/09/2004)
"Woman Accused of Stealing More than $500k from Work. When she was hired, she failed to tell her new employer she was already on probation for 20 years. She was on probation for grand theft. A year before she was hired, she was convicted in Bradford County for stealing nearly $100,000 from her former employer. But her new boss failed to perform a background check and prosecutors say she found the opportunity to steal again." – WJXX TV, First Coast News (08/26/2004)
"A former accountant whose embezzling nearly toppled a Medford software company will spend less than a year in jail. Following the theft, N'Lightning was forced to lay off its 11 employees and only started re-hiring in May, Bagley said. Had company representatives investigated Acton's past, they would have uncovered felony convictions for theft in Clackamas and Multnomah counties." – Oregon Mail Tribune (08/13/2004)
"In Chicago last month, a man went to the auto parts warehouse where he formerly worked, shot six people and then died in a gun battle with police." The former employee "... had been arrested 12 times and convicted in 1989 of unlawful use of a weapon." – St. Louis Post-Dispatch (09/2003)
"In East St. Louis, St. Mary's Hospital was sued for hiring a social worker who later went to prison for stealing $92,000 from a disabled woman who was a patient there." It was later revealed that "... the social worker had been convicted earlier of defrauding another disabled person and was on probation wearing a court ordered tracking device on her leg at the time St. Mary's hired her without doing a background check." – St. Louis Post-Dispatch (09/2003)
There have been "... several recent Bay Area (California) incidents in which workers with prior criminal convictions entered private homes to provide a service but then committed crimes." – San Francisco Examiner (01/2000)
"The vast majority of transactions (of in-home services) occur without trouble. But a growing number have ended in tragedy, civil suits and court decisions holding employers liable when they have failed to reasonably check employees' backgrounds. Other incidents have happened in schools, businesses and churches." – Seth Rosenfeld, San Francisco Examiner
"We've had an increase in the number of negligent hiring suits in all states in the last couple of years," said Wendy Bliss, a Colorado Springs lawyer affiliated with the Society of Human Relations Consultants. "You have cases of people coming into homes, committing robberies or physical assaults. We see a lot of that." – San Francisco Examiner (01/16/2000)
"There's the guy who covered a three-month stint in the county jail as a 'sabbatical' from his job." – Sam McManis, San Francisco Chronicle (10/99)
"Firm Liable for Rape by Employee; Texas Supreme Court rules vacuum maker should have required its distributor to do a background check before hiring salesman." – Associated Press (01/99)
Did You Know?
- 90% of respondents to a survey conducted in 1998 by the Society of Human Resources Management reported some type of falsification in regards to applicants' past employment, duties, employment length, and salary history
- 67% of all job seekers falsify or exaggerate their managerial or supervisory duties on resumes, according to The American Psychological Association.
- 10% of all applicants have a criminal history relevant to the job that they are trying to obtain.
- The Personnel Journal estimates that more than 500,000 people are claiming a bogus college degree.
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