Rising workplace crime. Economic crime cost

Litigation Intelligence Services, LLC

76 Pleasant Pond Rd.

Warner, NH 03278 jhealy@conknet.com

Phone 603-746-4994 Fax 603-746-4994

( Please see last page for resume/short form)

BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS AND PRE-EMPLOYMENT INQUIRIES STATEMENT

"AN APPLICANT WILL ALWAYS PUT FORTH THEIR BEST FOOT - DON'T LET THE OTHER FOOT

CREATE PROBLEMS. A THOROUGH BACKGROUND CHECK WILL LET YOU KNOW PRECISELY

WHO YOU'RE HIRING"

NEGLIGENT HIRING

It is amply clear, on well-established legal precedent that an employer will be held responsible for the on-duty, or job related, negligence/conduct of employees. There is also growing legal precedent for holding an employer liable for the intentional misconduct of employees, if it can be shown that the employer knew, or should have known , of any history, on the part of employee, which would suggest that they might engage in such misconduct.

A trade article in the New York Times reported that more than 40% of resumes and applications submitted for employment in today's marketplace have either untruths or misrepresentations of previous employment, education, criminal history, address history and other misstated qualifications. Conducting a thorough pre-employment screening investigation may reveal some unforeseen facts:

A simple state criminal check is NOT enough, if the applicant lived in other jurisdictions, and NOT all improper behavior is uncovered in a criminal record check.

It is important to consider civil/bankruptcy and judgment filings as well, (at the State and Federal level) as they often contain information, regarding character and/or behaviors , found in lawsuits, that point toward fraud, financial problems, domestic assault/abuse issues, and other serious personal/character and behavior issues not uncovered as part of a criminal investigation.

Not every victim presses criminal charges, and many, under certain circumstances, opt for civil action instead. This is most often true in cases of sexual misconduct. www.litigationintelligence.com 1




Phone 603-746-4994 Fax 603-746-4994

Landlords have been held liable for hiring former convicts, who attacked residents of their property. Employers have been held liable for hiring persons, with criminal histories, who then injured fellow employees, in conduct of a type related to prior convictions or civil problems.

The dilemma posed by increasing liability limits for improper hiring, and increasing difficulties in obtaining comprehensive background information, is a source of anxious concern for most asset protection professionals.

This same information, and other pertinent information, such as medical or family history, if it pertains to executives, and other high level officials and if uncovered by outside parties, can be used for blackmail purposes, to put pressure on executives engaged in sensitive business issues such as sales/contract negotiations, patent and copyright issues.

Due to current economic conditions, the job market is highly competitive. Falsifying applications, enhancing job experiences and misrepresenting salary has become commonplace. A great deal of money is spent in the advertising of job openings in industry today. Very little, if anything at all, is spent on pre-employment, or post-employment, screening. Critical facts relating to an applicant’s education, and prior employment, character and behavior can be developed, and verified, through a background investigation.

JUSTIFICATIONS

Rising workplace crime. Economic crime cost business, and ultimately consumers,

$120 billion in 1993. At 2 percent or more of the gross domestic product, economic crime is on the rise and seems to be out of control.

Job candidate deception. Several studies indicate that application and resume fraud, including false or exaggerated educational claims, are at all-time highs . Those applicants with serious flaws in their work history or with criminal histories often look for ways to cover them up.

The need to cut losses. Especially in hard economic times, employers cannot afford the losses that result from poor hiring decisions. Higher turnover rates, internal theft, insurance claims, loss of trade secrets, and losses due to employee-related litigation can sharply increase as a result or incomplete or ineffective screening. www.litigationintelligence.com 2




Phone 603-746-4994 Fax 603-746-4994

Criminal Records.

According to the Department of Labor, 36 to 40 million people have a criminal record. That is 1/4 to 1/3 of the entire U.S. workforce.

Traditional screening pitfalls . A job application, resume, and interview are not enough.

Using these tools effectively can screen out many people, but those best at deceiving also make the best first impressions. Even calling the applicant’s previous employers is usually not enough. Scared of a defamation lawsuit, many employers will not usually oblige the prospective employer with useful information.

A thorough and competent approach is required. The depth of the screening is dependent upon the employee’s role and position within the company any the company’s level of risk tolerance.

For higher-level executives, researchers and those entrusted with financial obligations, and proprietary information a more in-depth approach is called for. A combination of both an inductive and deductive profile of the employee is a necessity.

In the case of executive protection, a detailed principal assessment including family and personal current and past history, work and non-work related activities, travel and personal behaviors allow the team leader to develop a more effective EP and travel scenario.

All individuals have interests and behaviors they prefer not to make public. In some cases these things can compromise not only their safety but also that of the company and it’s resources. There can be habits a family may not be aware of, or previous problems not reported or discovered during a cursory screening.

If an executive is vulnerable to extortion, or other outside influences, this can be detrimental to the company.

The Korem method is the industry standard for inductive profiling of an employee by way or an oral interview. The Art of Profiling , Dan Koren (1997)

This should be backed up a thorough deductive profiling of the employee by verification of his personal information, identifying information, background, history, and a thorough screening of all sources of public records that could contain information relative to the process. www.litigationintelligence.com 3




Phone 603-746-4994 Fax 603-746-4994

Court decisions.

The courts are increasingly upholding the Negligent Hiring and

Retention Doctrine. They are taking the position that the employer should make every effort to ensure that the employee selection process is a reasoned and useful exercise, not a process that culminates in an “intuitive guess.” Many employers have learned the hard way about the liability they incur. when putting an unknown entity in contact with the public.

PURPOSE

Background investigations of employment applicants, or incumbents being considered for significant promotion, or transfer, are appropriate and useful to:

1. Verify the accuracy and completeness of statements made by the candidate, or on an application, in connection with the position.

2. Develop additional, relevant, information concerning the candidate, necessary to an informed decision. The value of an objective and competent investigation is that it will permit determination of facts not otherwise susceptible to reliable verification. In effect, a properly conducted employment investigation assures that what the candidate has said about his personal history, address history, and personal identifying information, and qualification, is truthful and sufficiently extensive to allow fair evaluation of the candidate’s suitability.

TYPES OF JOBS REQUIRING SCREENING

1. When the job involves fiduciary responsibility, such as purchasing, accounting, and health care, handling of children or handling of money or trade secrets.

2.

3.

4.

When the annual salary for the position is over $35,000.00.

When the job requirements requires a college degree.

When the job requires important decision-making responsibility that could have a profound effect on the overall well being of the company.

5. When the job requires the employee to represent the name of the company before the public in an unsupervised setting, or the operation of a company owned or leased vehicle.

Traditionally these are the areas that most employers consider when they decide to perform background inquiries. It is my professional opinion, that any applicant, no matter the level of responsibility, the amount of his/her salary, whether he/she has contact with people or customers etc. should have a basic background check performed on them. www.litigationintelligence.com 4




Phone 603-746-4994 Fax 603-746-4994

Performing a through background check shows due diligence on the part of the employer.

We recognize that companies, large and small, from the sole proprietor to the large corporations that have Human Resource Departments, are performing background checks.

The questions is? Are they reasonable, thorough and complete, and do they show due diligence ?

LIS is your resource to assist you in accessing information. We offer the tools required to assist you in the building of your background check, customized to meet your individual needs. Utilizing the information gathered from the inquiries, made by LIS coupled with your information, will show that every reasonable effort was made in verifying the information provided by the applicant. www.litigationintelligence.com 5




Phone 603-746-4994 Fax 603-746-4994

PRE-EMPLOYMENT SEARCHES

Driving Record/ Access varies by State

County Criminal Conviction History

Local Court Criminal Convictions

Federal Criminal Convictions: U.S District Court

Federal Civil Search

Federal Bankruptcy Search

Statewide Criminal Conviction History (Where available, not publicly available in all states)

Worker’s Compensation Record

Education Verification

Professional License Verification

Address History /SSN/DOB Verification Report

National Address Locator

Civil Records Check

RECOMMENDED SEARCHES

Where the employer:

“Knew, Or Should Have Known”,

are the five key words that could have the potential to come back in a liability suit, when addressing third party injuries, as previously mentioned, and there has been prior criminal or other improper behavior on the part of the employee. The only accurate way to ascertain this information is utilizing the very basic searches listed below.

Address History/SSN Verification Report

Driving Records

State Wide Criminal Checks

County Civil /Criminal Checks

Federal Criminal/Civil Checks www.litigationintelligence.com 6




Phone 603-746-4994 Fax 603-746-4994

RED FLAGS

When viewing an applicant’s application form, there are times when RED FLAGS come up. A RED FLAG is an inconsistency, such as missing time periods in employment history or address history, in the information the potential employee has put down on his/her application, or in the resume.

This is when additional searches should be conducted to verify the information. The investigator will make recommendations to the client after reviewing the application.

Alternatively, if the client notices RED FLAGS LIS will assist in making reasonable recommendations on the type of inquiries to be performed.

STATEMENT ANALYSIS

See lsiscan.com for details

SCAN , The S cientific C ontent AN alysis of written statements can easily be applied to employment applications with a few minor alterations. This will help to identify applicants who may have been less than truthful on the application. Mr. Healy has extensive training in this area. A simple Questionnaire will be supplied, to be filled out by the employee as part of the application process. $25.00 www.litigationintelligence.com 7




Phone 603-746-4994 Fax 603-746-4994

COMMITMENT

LIS makes the strongest commitment in performing professional and confidential inquiries to assist our clients in the background investigation process. We are very flexible and willing to meet in person, communicate over the phone/fax, or via the U.S. mail. We will provide our clients with the most comprehensive and accurate information available.

PRICE LIST

The price list lists price, and the COS (cost of search), in several areas. Because of frequent changes in state and county repository fees there is an established rate and COS for some state and county criminal checks, driving records and worker’s compensation. All other searches are listed in a flat rate, with no cost of search.

Administrative Cost: Per Individual..................................$25.00

Recommended for every background investigation, to verify information on application and show “due diligence”.

SSN Verification, address history only: $15.00 www.litigationintelligence.com 8




Phone 603-746-4994 Fax 603-746-4994

NH State Criminal Record*

Other State Criminal Record**

County Criminal Record Search

$20.00+COS

$25.00+COS

$25.00+COS

Driving Record (History Only)

Driving Record (Certified Copy)

$35.00+COS

$40.00+COS

Worker's Comp Record (Waiver required)

Education Verification

$35.00+COS

$35.00 per institution

Professional License Verification $35.00

Federal Records (Civil/Cri minal/Bankruptcy

$35.00

Check Parties Excluded From Federal

Programs For Misdeeds or Fraudlent

Activities, and the US Patriot Act.

$55.00

A pre-employment waiver must be signed by the applicant

*New Hampshire requires a written release form that has to be notarized.

The form can be supplied by this office.

** Not available in all states, if available may require waiver.

***Generally available everywhere, alternative to statewide search.

Criminal Records are most accurate when searched at the Court level . Most states have a multi-tiered system, minor crimes, and misdemeanors being heard in a District Court and

Felonies being heard in a Superior Court.

Violations of Federal Law are prosecuted in the Federal Courts.

Not all indicators of improper behavior appear only in the criminal Court system.

Problematic events, not prosecuted as crimes are sometimes litigated in civil courts:

Domestic violence, Sexual Harassment, negligence, and liability and financial issues.

Additional Individual Searches and business Searches are available upon request. www.litigationintelligence.com 9




Phone 603-746-4994 Fax 603-746-4994

Statewide Criminal Records are only available from the following States, without a waiver.

Alabama

Colorado

Connecticut

Maryland

North Carolina

New Jersey

New Mexico

Oregon

Rhode Island

Texas DPS

Washington

Wisconsin

Criminal Records can be obtained, statewide, in New Hampshire and the above states only.

All other criminal records must be searched at the County level in each state. We strongly suggest an address history be run and not relying on the information provided by the applicant alone.

This will only search the jurisdictions where the subject lived and you should consider all contiguous jurisdiction if the applicant warrants it.

The FCRA states that criminal records can only be searched for the preceding seven years for employment screening purposes. www.litigationintelligence.com 10




Phone 603-746-4994 Fax 603-746-4994

Recommendation for a basic NH employee screening “package”

1. Identifying Information verification and address history $15.00

2. NH Statewide Criminal Record (covers 36 District/10

Superior jurisdictions

3. Federal Court (Nationwide) criminal check

3. Scientific Content Analysis of Application, using additional

questions supplied by LIS

4. Administrative Fee: Per individual

$25.00

$25.00

$25.00

$25.00

We strongly recommend a Driver History, if the subject will operate a company vehicle.

The address history, in # 1 above, will provide previous addresses. If any of those addresses were out of state I recommend checking the jurisdiction where the subject resided. www.litigationintelligence.com 11




Phone 603-746-4994 Fax 603-746-4994

BILLING

Invoices for investigative services are due on receipt.

We require a pre employment waiver to begin.

POST EMPLOYMENT SCREENING

If question arise about an employee in the performance of his/her job, character, veracity, life style or the need for further inquiries becomes apparent, these inquiries can be performed in a confidential manner.

This is an area regulated by Federal Law. You MUST have a waiver on file, from the employee, allowing for post-employment inquiries .

In order to initiate an investigation of an employee AFTER he/she has been hired you

MUST obtain that employees permission, unless this is accomplished in your pre employment waiver. Your pre employment waiver should contain the words:

….consent to an investigation now or at any time during my employment

TURN AROUND TIME

Turn around times vary depending on they type of search, and the state in which it is made.

Qualifications

John M. Healy is a licensed, bonded, and insured, investigator. He retired from the NH

State Police at the rank of Lieutenant. He has extensive experience in the background and pre employment investigation of sworn and civilian law enforcement employees.

Mr. Healy is the President, of the New Hampshire League of Investigators. He is a member of the National Association of Investigative Specialists, and has received certificates of achievement, from that organization, in Background and Pre-employment

Investigations. Mr. Healy has over thirty years of investigative experience. www.litigationintelligence.com 12

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