By Jon Parton
Starting July 1, background checks will be performed for all new employees before they can be hired at the college. The school already requires background checks on certain jobs, including those positions involved with children and handling of credit information. This change marks the first time that all positions will require a background check.
Becky Centlivre, executive director, Human Resources, said that the school passed the policy late last year. Centlivre said that the move is in response to a committee that recommended it to the college.
“It’s something that has been considered over the last few years,” Centlivre said. “As an employer, it’s considered the best practice.”
The school will make use of a company called HireRight to conduct the background checks. Centlivre said that the entire process is very secure in the way it handles potential employee information.
“It was important to us to make sure it’s confidential,” Centlivre said. “It’s an automated process that they use.”
Centlivre said that the college has already been testing the service for the past few months. She added that the background check does not include a credit check. As for the price to the school, Centlivre said that it varies depending on the position.
“A position with a lot of responsibility may take more time and resources,” Centlivre said. “In general, it runs $100 for a check.”
Background checks vary on the sort of information they pull, which can be anything from work history to legal residency status. Most employers use background checks to determine any discrepancies between the check and the information provided by the potential employee. Background checks can also determine any criminal history.
The most common background checks look at criminal records, employment verifications and education verifications for the past seven years. According to HireRight’s own website, a background check typically reveals whether or not a potential employee told the truth on their application and in any interviews.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), access to an individual’s file is limited to employers, landlords, creditors or other businesses with a valid need. Employers must require consent from the individual before a background check can be performed. Individuals have the right to know what is in their file and the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information.
Terrissa Ford, student, works at the Food Court and believes the new policy is a positive thing.
“It’s a good thing because it shows the college is thinking about safety,” Ford said.
Jeremiah Washington, student, agrees that the school needs to implement background checks for all new hires.
“I believe it’s a good idea because of so many safety issues,” Washington said.
Contact Jon Parton, news editor, at jparton@jccc.edu.
Joe, I never knew you during my time on the staff, so I cannot speak to what your involvement in the decision making process here was. But if your leadership considered this story to be sufficient coverage of a measure that will affect literally every employee on campus, or if they just didn’t care to notice what’s wrong with it, then that says a lot about the Ledger today.
You’ve got three quoted sources here, one of whom is the executive director of HR and thus is *required* to give an opinion which is in favor of the new background check initiative. That’s facially inadequate when the measure concerns everyone who will ever work for JCCC at any point in the future. Your editor (I will go ahead and assume that the Ledger has maintained a system where the news editor does not edit his own stories) should have rejected this story for that reason alone. At the very least, your adviser should have strongly recommended that it not be published as is. They did you no favors by not doing this.
On the contrary, they hurt you. Being on the Ledger is supposed to be a learning experience, and you’re learning that this is adequate coverage of a story. That is absolutely not the case.
At the very least, if you’re going to have three sources, one of them has to be a dissenting viewpoint, or at least express some degree of uncertainty about the new measure. A student, an employees, somebody. Otherwise the story reads like a promotional press release for the college. Perhaps that is exactly what the Ledger’s readership wants. If you have students or employees hesitant to talk about it, remind them that retaliation for speaking their mind to the press on matters they are not officially required to remain confidential about is illegal.
I hope you guys can do a lot better next year and resurrect the Ledger’s legacy as independent watchdog for the students and faculty. I don’t have much hope, but it’s there.