Domino’s Pizza Sheds Light on Internet Background Checks

There is a fairly good chance that if you turned on the news, or read the paper this morning (April 16th, 2009), you noticed Domino’s Pizza in the headlines. The last time they made headlines this big was when their drivers were caught going above the speed limit for fear of not delivering on-time and losing their jobs.  This time it is for a few workers that defaced customer’s food before delivering or serving it – and posted that in a video on the Internet.

The main issue in the news is about the food.  The secondary issue which will come to light is the fact that this inappropriate behavior by employees will launch a new interest for companies to scan the Internet and social networking sites for information on their future hires (and maybe their current ones).  This is a controversial issue because that act of doing such a search to determine job eligibility is thought to be a possible strike against freedom of speech.  Some have even called it an invasion of privacy.  Since the information is published on the Internet, it is seen mostly in the law’s eyes as publicly available and usable. In other words it’s a big “gray area” that will probably inspire many legal battles.

A dilemma can arise for an employer thinking of scanning the Internet as part of a background check.  Do they take a chance on a civil suit if the employee does not get hired? Or do they take the chance on not finding something and getting burnt by a bad hire, the Domino’s situation being a possible end example.  Since precedents have not been set regarding the act of scanning the internet as part of an employee background check, doing or not doing it can end up being a difficult decision for some.

Click Here if you are interested in the Domino’s situation from the perspective of workforce.com.

-Lawrence C

It Tech (ciilink.com)

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Getting on the “Nice List”

Most of the time, going to our blog you expect to see a highlight on a story that shows why boards should do better background checks on their CEOs, etc.  Although the hits from stories about corporate figures that everyone loves to hate are wonderful, occasionally you have to give credit where credit is due. Some of the banks that are returning a portion of the bailout money they used are worth that mention. It compares to a person correcting the wrongs in their life.

USA Today has a great article on Goldman Sachs and a few others that are doing just that. Please Click Here to check it out. This is an example of “the bad kid making good”, or even the individual that had a bad credit rating, paying those charge-offs back and rebuilding their credit reputation.  Sometimes you can’t just read everything as “black and white” nor see the past as the definition of an individual or a company.

-Lawrence C

IT Tech (ciilink.com)

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U.N. Wastes U.S. Money

Before you start saying four letter words under your breath, this isn’t about U.N. bashing, so don’t go that way.  It is about looking at mistakes or errors in judgement and using that information to avoid doing it in your own business.  Supposedly the U.N. wasted a $25 million dollar grant on shoddy work (a bridge that is ready to fall, a bank with no electricity, etc).

This brings up the following points:

• When you are hiring someone to do the work, make sure it is someone that will do it right – check them out.
• When you are planning that work, don;t hire the first person, or even the one that is the cheapest … you will end up paying more in the end run.
• Don’t do it for political reasons (even within your own company).
• Make sure you can get the money back is the service is substandard.

Basically the article is summarized by the fact that the U.S. gave the grant to create “quick-impact” programs that would look good (in other words news worthy).  They did this really without the proper checks and common sense.  This is the same as hiring a company for something like elderly care without checking to see if they actually did that and/or even have bank accounts in this country that you would freeze in the event of litigation, etc.  In other words, if you don;t do proper due diligence and background checks  in your company, someone can waste your money too.

Click Here for the USA Today article by Ken Dilanian

-Lawrence C

It Tech (ciilink.com)

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It’s Getting Close To Prom Night

… and wouldn’t you like to be able to run a few background checks on your children’s friends before they go out on the big night, and possibly party hard?  Well, we’d love to offer you that service because we would probably make much money at it … but we don’t do that, and legally we can’t.  We actually advise you to not try to find anyone that does that either … the legal ramifications can probably be more than you want.

There are things you can consider, though:

• Many teens that are prom age don’t yet have enough sense to not brag or announce what they want to do on prom night via the Internet – in other words “Google” your children’s friends names, etc.  Believe me, most Internet-savvy parents are going that now.  If the kiddies put the info on their web, MySpace, or Facebook page – it’s now public information (unless you hack into a protected page … then you are on legal thin ground).
• Be honest with them about any prom night concerns … don’t present your concerns angrily.  You will probably be surprised what they might open up about, since they will probably figure out that you are going to check up on them anyway.
• Don’t act like you “never did that …..” when talking about a possible prom night scenario. If you lie to them, it opens up the option of your prom night children thinking you are a hypocrite and doing whatever they want without regard to consequences.

Here are a few reference links:

• From the Concerned Women for America – Prom Promiscuities
• From Education.com – Senior Prom Drinking
• From Consumer Reports – Tips For A Safe Prom Night

What does this have to do with background checks? Nothing really, except that fact that all companies have people with families and children in them that will end up going to proms.  So, this is our way of reminding those parents within our own company with prom aged children get get to know their children’s friends a little more closely around this time of year.

-Lawrence C

IT Tech (ciilink.com)

PS (and disclaimer) – None of this is “official” advice from CII … we are just passing on what we know other parents do – and no matter how concerned (or sometimes how overprotective) you can be, we can’t state the following strongly enough: Keep anything you do to check up on your kids during prom night legal!

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Spies in the grid

This is both a “found in the news” and a “FYI” post.  The article mentioned is a little technical, so if you are a reader in your company forward it to your I.t. or Tech guys.

Click Here for an article from KDKA Pittsburgh based on information from some former National Security Officials about outside hackers getting into the US’s electrical grid control.  It may give you a hint of whey your I.T. persons grimace whenever you submit requests to open up security holes for application you want to use.  There also some great related story links on the site.

-Lawrence C

IT Tech (ciilink.com)

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Uncooperative tax havens making changes

I’m sure you have heard of certain nations that were blacklisted.  Apparently those nations are making changes to get back into the financial world. Generally these havens are countries that support banking secrecy.  The four main countries are: Philippines, Uruguay, Costa Rica and Malaysia.  They are not completely “out of the frying pan”, but simply moved out of the blacklist status into the gray list status.

• The pro to this is that the more nations we get back into the overall global economy, the better.
• The con to this is the potential for hidden monies, fraud, and the need to check more deeply on those persons dealing with the mentioned nations.

Click Here for a reference article by Emma Vandore of the Associated Press as it appears in USA Today.

-Lawrence C

It Tech (ciilink.com)

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Where are YOU found? Possibly in the EU.

Did you ever wonder where “you” are found?  I’m not talking about you physically – I’m talking about your personal information?

There are many urban legends about how the government and Internet providers capture your e-mails and such on their systems for later use without your consent.  Does this actually happen – to some level, yes (specially if you are conversing outside of the US).  So, should you stop e-mailing friends, and stop surfing the “net”?  No – but you  should be aware that people can obtain information basically anywhere on the Internet (legally or not) — as a company we have to do it legally or go out of business.

A recent thing that happened in the European Union that could set precedents for other countries is a directing that net firms have to store your information (e-mails, etc) for one year.  This is not if you are known to converse with terrorist, or even if you are known to threaten anyone, it’s just because they want to.  the only reason it was pushed through easily was because of the London Bombings.

Keep in mind, if any of your e-mails pass through these countries where directives to hold information are in place, they can potentially be handed over to anyone or any country request that information are part of a terrorist investigation.  Use common sense in what you put in an e-mail.

Click Here for the article from BBC News International to read.

-Lawrence C

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Most Wanted – Are You On This List?

Click Here for an interesting link. It’s the FBI’s Most Wanted page. It feature criminal celebrities that have made the top ten most wanted, terrorists lists, crime alerts, and featured fugitives. For those with criminology, it can be a treasure trove of information.

For businesses, it can be very useful. Have you ever scanned over the names or pictures on this site to make sure a future hire is not on it? If you do not have the time, does the background screening service you are using offer that service. You never know who’s who, and criminals are no longer stupid brainless idiots.

BTW – with people stealing personal information now, did you ever think to check if you ever ended up on those lists in error?

-Lawrence C

It Tech (ciilink.com)

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The AIG Saga Continues

As always, hindsight is a great tool for CYA – especially with the former AIG CEO.  He now says (even though more or less on his watch is when the bonus contracts were created) he would not have paid them.  That is basically authorising fraudulent spending, then saying you wouldn’t have really done that.  I’m sure if you look down his history of actions you may find that well, he would have done that.  It’s easier to take the good-guy side when you are no longer under the pressure of shareholders.

Click Here for the article from Workforce.comto get a run-down on the former CEOs opinion of the current AIG situation as posted on their site.

-Lawrence C

IT Tech (ciilink.com)

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Michael Vick makes a great business decision

… or not.

But he does give us a great example of what not to do.  Basically with defined-benefit plans you are not allowed to use the funds for anything other than the specified use.  As you know, Michael Vick had a little bit of an issue with dogfighting.  Due to the legal costs he pulled funds from his ERISA planfor MV7 (his celebrity marketing firm) to pay the lawyers, etc.  What does this have to do with background checking? It shows a situation you could check for with a prospective management employee.  Proper use of funds at a previous position held be someone you may want to hire for middle or upper management is something you may want to check into (along with any prior criminal convictions).

Click Here for a good reference article from Workforce.com.

-Lawrence C

IT Tech (ciilink.com)

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