New Book Helps Employers With Background Checks

By Phil Rooney
The Daily Record, Nebraska's Business & Legal News
November 29, 2004

Barry Nadell makes his living helping employers avoid problem hires. Now he’s touring the country, promoting the idea of background checks and his new book that helps employers know what they can, and can’t, do.

Sleuthing 101: Background Checks and the Law, was published in October. After looking around for a publisher, Nadell said he decided to do it himself. It’s available on the Internet at www.greathire.com and other websites.

As president of InfoLink Screening Services, Inc., one of the nation’s largest employment background screening companies, sharing his expertise at human resources and security conferences was nothing new to Nadell. The company’s clients range from small firms to members of the Fortune 500.

"I’ve been speaking all over the country on the legal issues of background checks," he said.

After those talks, it seemed there were always requests for a book. Finally, his wife, who co-owns InfoLink with him, convinced Nadell to do the book. A frequent guest on national radio and television broadcasts, Nadell said he hired a research assistant about two years ago and they began the detailed and exhaustive task of going through all the state laws.

"That book could have been ten times thicker than it is," he said. But, wanting something people would read, he came up with a 163-page book that sometimes details code sections in certain states, but also provides a guide on where to find additional relevant material. "Something that everybody could find a lot of value in," Nadell said.

After the book was finished, he went to a class for writers and publishers. That is when he was convinced to publish Sleuthing 101 himself. "I literally handled the whole thing from start to finish. Even the cover design." Nadell said. "It’s been fun. Don’t ask me to do it again."

While he is selling the book from a website, he’s already found it online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Marketing is just getting underway, Nadell said. The week of November 15 he spoke to a conference of background screeners in Tampa and took half a dozen copies. He said a vendor convinced him to leave them on a table, and they were sold in a flash.

"It’s the only book of its kind, dedicated to background screening," Nadell said. Background screening is not something to be taken lightly, he said.

What’s the worst that can happen? "The worst that can happen is what happened to a home health agency. ...They hired a young man, sent him out to a family. The upshot of it was he murdered the patient, who was a paraplegic, and the patient’s grandmother to cover up a theft," Nadell said. Trusted Health Company was sued and the jury awarded the family $26.5 million, Nadell said. The company then filed bankruptcy.

A $15 to $20 background check could have avoided that, he said. The book has a special section for health care because the laws are different in some states, he said. A section on Nebraska laws shows that employers may not access information on arrests that do no lead to a conviction. However, anyone who works with people who have developmental disabilities and does not hold a professional license must undergo a background check.

"There’s not a lot of law in Nebraska," he said. Workers compensation records can be checked after an employment offer is made, and can’t be rescinded because of what the employer finds out in that area, Nadell said. InfoLink can find out much of the information that employers don’t have the resources to seek out. There are plenty of success stories.

One person his company checked out was found to have five workers comp claims, but only listed one employer on the application, Nadell said. Some people go from employer to employer filing workers comp claims, he said.

A search on an employee for a home health agency uncovered a record for theft and she wasn’t hired. Two weeks later she was in the newspaper for the kidnapping and murder of a child. "Talk about a company dodging a bullet," Nadell said.

The practice of background checks is growing, he said. WalMart recently began the practice, Nadell said, and that has seemingly grabbed the attention of a lot of employers. "Many companies that are background screening are realizing there are more services they can use," he said. Criminal records are one obvious area that needs to be checked. While arrests that lead to trial can’t be reported, if people are out on bail or out on their own recognizance, that can be reported, he said.

In California, businesses can’t ask about marijuana convictions, Nadell said. In Massachusetts, people can’t be asked about misdemeanors that are more than five years old. In North Dakota, employers can’t ask potential employees about misdemeanors at all, Nadell said. In 12 states only convictions in the last seven years can be reported. In Washington, an employer can’t ask about anything that is more than seven years old, he said. "They [employers] do the best they can. Sometimes seven years is enough," Nadell said.

Nadell says background screening is a good investment. "It may cost them less than $25 to see if a person has a propensity to steal from them," Nadell said. The National Association of Professional Background Screeners, of which he is a board member, is not saying don’t hire criminals, Nadell said. "What our industry is about is giving employers critical information that is accurate that they can’t get anywhere else," he said.

Employers who simply search the Internet are not doing enough, he said. Still, they need knowledge about the person they are considering hiring. In the past people could call past employers, but many now fear being sued for defamation, he said. "The only way is to do a background check," Nadell said.

More than 20 percent of the applications checked at InfoLink Screening are incorrect in some manner, he said. Sometimes the differences are in relatively minor details, but these are different times.

"After 9/11, with the concerns about terrorism, employers need to protect themselves," Nadell said. Background checks provide information on the nature and gravity of past offenses, he said, and employers would be wise to hire a background screening company.

Sleuthing 101 provides information on the privacy acts and the steps employers need to go though to protect themselves. Seven simple steps are listed, and while he wants people to buy his book to get them all, Nadell did offer a few tips.

One tool is to put signs up in the company’s human resources office indicating background checks will be done. That will turn a lot of people away, he said. Signs indicating drug tests are required also will be a deterrent. When taking out ads for openings, simply add three words, he said: Background checks required. "What a great deterrent," Nadell said.

"And the people who do apply get a safer place to work." Nadell also offers help to companies that may lack a strong employment application. InfoLink Screening Services has developed an application that helps with background checks. It can be purchased at www.greathire.com, where the book is offered for sale, and includes 204 open-ended interview questions and job denial letters. "It’s just jam-packed," Nadell said. The CD, with the application and questions, is $29.95. His book is selling for $19.95. More information is available from Nadell at 800-990-HIRE, or www.infolinkscreening.com. In addition to Sleuthing 101 being available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and through PI magazine, the book has been submitted to the Society for Human Resource Management and the American Society for Industrial Security.

"Employers need to know the laws surrounding the background screening process, and must implement basic steps to protect their company," Nadell said.