2011 May | The PI Company

Kern Housing Authority goes after nearly $1M in old debts

05/11/2011

Filed under: Tenant Database,Tenant PI News — meganb @ 9:38 pm

Kern County’s Housing Authority is going after a lot of money it says renters owe in past debts. Some of the bills go back 30 years. But at least one renter disputes the big bill she got and worries about losing the housing assistance she depends on.

The Housing Authority of the County of Kern now believes it’s owed about $952,000. “Almost a million dollars,” said director Stephen Pelz. “That’s over a 30-year period.” He said HACK found 1,033 clients who owe because they had at one time received “over payments” of rental assistance vouchers. “That’s usually a participant not reporting a change, either in income or in their household size,” Pelz said. “And then we found out about it, and it becomes an over payment.” Pelz said the voucher program in Kern County serves about 3,500 households. The total budget is now $18 million, and the funding is getting squeezed. They need more help for participants in this tough economy, but there isn’t an increase in the federal funds.

“The federal funding is declining because of the deficit,” Pelz explained. “In fact, we’ve stopped issuing vouchers. We won’t issue any this year because we can only afford to pay for the people that are on the program.” Pelz said HACK will now try to get back the overpayments they’ve now identified. For participants who are no longer getting assistance, the agency can try to capture state income tax refunds. If a participant still getting vouchers is found to owe, Pelz said their assistance could be terminated. “That’s the last thing we want to do is terminate someone in the program, but we have to have to collect these funds,” Pelz said. He added that participants could make “reasonable” monthly payments.

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Source: BakersfieldNow.com

Social Media and Background Screening!

Filed under: Credit Screening,Criminal Background Checks,Employee PI News — meganb @ 7:20 pm

45% of Employers Now Screen Social Media Profiles
35% of employers reported they have found content on social networking sites that caused them not to hire the candidate.
53% won’t hire you for Provocative photos and info found
44% won’t hire you based on shared content with booze and drugs
35% won’t hire you because of bad-mouthing former employers

Is your company using social networking and Web search services to conduct background checks? If so, it might want to review the following information to help safeguard your business.

Social Media Tools for Conducting a Background Check – What to Remember?

Using these sources might provide an employer with information relating to an employee being in a protected category (for example, race, religion, age) for which the employer cannot base its employment decisions.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), an employer cannot use this information, which essentially constitutes a consumer report, without providing written notice to the candidate, obtaining consent and obtaining the information from a credit reporting agency that uses reasonable means to obtain the information and verify its accuracy. Often times, employers have also been known to violate the terms and conditions of social media sites by using the information they obtain for purposes other than as authorized in those terms,” such as using them for hiring decisions.
The laws that apply to social media and human resources are the same as what exist in the physical world. However due to the vast amount of publicly accessible data that exists on these sites, the risks are heightened.”

Companies should educate their hiring managers and ensure that social media profiles are addressed in a policy. A social media policy should cover what is allowed by employees on company time as well as what human resources and hiring managers can and can’t do in terms of social media searches.

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Filed under: Tenant PI News — meganb @ 8:54 am

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Philadelphia to Impose Restrictions on Use of Criminal Record History by Employers

05/10/2011

Filed under: Criminal Background Checks,Employee PI News — meganb @ 4:45 pm

Finding a job today is tough, but even tougher if you have criminal past. That’s why several states and cities are looking to push legislation throught called “Ban the Box” that imposes restrictions on employer inquiries into, and use of, criminal records. Its a growing trend for many States and Cities! Stronger restrictions and laws on what information can be used to deny an applicant employment with a company. Employers have always been told use Arrest Records with caution and to consider the following when using them during the hiring process.

Did the applicant actually commit the offense?
What is the nature and gravity of the offense?
How long ago was the offense?
What is the nature of the job being applied for?

However, with more and more states “banning the box”, your state might be next.

Philadelphia now joins cities such as Boston, Massachusetts, and Madison, Wisconsin, in implementing “ban the box” restrictions on employer use criminal record history. States including Massachusetts and Hawaii have enacted similar legislation restricting employer use of criminal records of private sector employers while Minnesota, New Mexico, and Connecticut have laws for public sector employers.

The Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards Act creates three basic restrictions on the use of criminal record histories:

Employers may not ask job applicants or employees about any arrest or criminal accusation that is not still pending and did not result in a conviction.
Employers may not require job applicants to disclose any criminal convictions during the application process through the first “interview.” Employers that do not conduct interviews are prohibited from gathering any information about criminal convictions of job applicants during the hiring process.
Employers may not take any adverse action against job applicants or employees because of past arrests or criminal accusations which did not result in convictions.

While the new ordinance does not prohibit Philadelphia employers from using any criminal record history information entirely, employers may only conduct background screening that includes a criminal record history or ask about an job applicant’s criminal record history only after the initial “interview,” broadly defined to include any direct contact by an employer with a job applicant – in person or by telephone – to discuss the job or qualifications of the applicant.

Employers violating the new ordinance’s provisions will be subjected to a $2,000 fine for each violation.

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