Over the years, ESS has offered drug screening services, but only on a limited basis. Recently, we've had many requests for a more complete drug screening program. Based on the following items, we agree with your desire for an enhanced offering.

Reasons To Consider Drug Testing Applicants and Employees:

• A recent government survey indicated that 71 percent of illegal drug users are employed; 26 percent are with companies that employ 500 or fewer workers.

• An ongoing Postal Service study reports absenteeism, among drug users, is 66 percent higher, health benefit utilization is 84 percent greater in dollar terms, disciplinary actions are 90 percent higher, and employee turnover is significantly higher.

• In the retail industry, approximately 11 percent of full-time employees admit to using illegal drugs within the past 30 days. Nearly 20 percent indicate that they have used illegal drugs sometime during the past year and almost 9 percent admit to heavy alcohol use.

• Substance abusers do not make good employees. A study conducted by the U.S. Postal Service of workers who tested positive in pre-employment tests, but were hired anyway, revealed the following:

  • nearly 70 percent were involuntarily discharged in less than two-and-a-half years;

  • almost 60 percent were more likely to be heavy users of leave; and

  • by the 33rd month, those testing positive were absent about 66 percent more often than those who had tested negative

In order to better serve you, we have partnered with some of the largest drug screening laboratories in the country. We now have collection sites all across the country. Your employees and applicants can visit a site at their convenience.

In addition to traditional drug screening programs, we offer:

• Self Administered Drug Testing -- a lower cost alternative

• Hair Screening for Drugs -- rapidly becoming the standard

• Oral Screening for Drugs -- another very accurate way to screen

• Alcohol Testing

Due to the amount of information on these topics, we have put together an extensive section of our client website dedicated to drug screening. You should be able to get answers here including sections on Medical and Legal Questions and Answers. Please visit this section at www.essclientservices.com/Drug_Screening.htm for more information. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to call or e-mail us at DrugScreening@employscreen.com.
 

Please take a look at http://www.essclientservices.com/Forms_and_Files/Tips_For_Ordering_ESS_Reports.htm and share it with anyone else who orders from us.
 

We are all familiar with the old saying, “One bad apple can spoil the whole barrel.” Employment Screening Services is dedicated to helping our clients identify bad apples before they enter your barrel.

We recently processed a report request for a client that included a standard Criminal History Search and a Social Security Number Trace. The applicant -- let’s call her Jane -- provided her date of birth as well as her social security number on the release and authorization form. Jane’s name, DOB and SSN were then sent to one of our field agent to check for a criminal record.

Our researcher reported back a felony criminal record that matched Jane by name only. The date of birth on the criminal index was similar but not a match. Neither a SSN nor any other identifiers were available for comparison. (SSN’s are not usually available on public records, and for those courts that do include the SSN, we are seeing a current trend to remove them. The trend is due to increased concerns of privacy protection and identity theft. A person’s SSN is not public information, so most courts take the position that the SSN should not be in a public record for anyone to access).

Upon receiving the criminal record information that matched Jane by name but not by exact DOB, the ESS Criminal Records Department set out to check further into Jane’s submitted DOB. First, we checked the SSN Trace, which often shows a date of birth, although it is not 100% reliable. Oddly enough, the DOB on the SSN Trace matched the DOB on the criminal record. We then consulted with the client and it was decided that before contacting Jane, we would obtain a Motor Vehicle Report on her. The California DMV also showed Jane’s DOB as the one on the criminal file.

Our client left a message for Jane to call them back to discuss a possible irregularity in the date of birth she provided on the background check authorization. To no one’s surprise, she did not call back. Jane apparently had somewhat of an understanding of how criminal records are searched, and she tried to hide her felony conviction by changing her date of birth.

It was a happy ending for our client, but here’s the scary part of the story. There are many court jurisdictions out there that require a correct date of birth in order for the criminal record to be found. In Jane’s case, our researcher was able to run down the list of defendants by the name of “Jane Doe,” and for every name match he could compare date of births. He saw a similar date of birth and forwarded the case to ESS Operations for further examination. In many other court databases, the researcher would not have seen the list of defendant names and DOB’s; instead, he would enter the last name and date of birth into the court database and either obtain a match or no record found.

What can you do to protect yourself against Jane? The best way is to continue using ESS. Here’s another simple practice that is worth the time. When you hire an applicant and get a copy of his/her driver’s license and/or other identification, compare the name, DOB, and SSN on the identification documents to those identifiers submitted for the background check. In many companies the persons reviewing and giving clearance on the applicant’s background report are not the same people asking for identification when the applicant begins work. Make it someone’s responsibility to make the comparison.

What about asking job applicants for date of birth?

Title 29, Volume 4, Part 1625 of the Code of Federal Regulation, also known as the “Age Discrimination in Employment Act” states, “A request on the part of an employer for information such as ‘date of birth’ on an employment application form is not, in itself a violation of the Act. (To view the complete text of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, please visit Internet Links on the ESS website, or Click Here http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/adea.html )

The fact is the EEOC does not prohibit employers from asking applicants for their DOB as long as it is asked for a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason. It should be asked for uniformly and not on select applicants. We contacted the EEOC field office in Los Angeles. A technical assistant responded to the “age question” by responding, “You probably shouldn’t ask for it on the job application itself. The purpose of the job application is different from the background check. You should have the background check information on a separate document. Part of a background check is checking the applicant’s identity, and a person’s date of birth is an essential part of their identity.”

Since the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EE0C) prohibits age discrimination, some employers reason that they are much less likely to be accused of age discrimination if they don’t know the age of the applicant. We respect our clients’ policies regarding the date of birth issue. Some clients elect to ask for a month and day of birth, but not a year. In many instances, this will suffice. Often times we will obtain the applicant’s date of birth through other sources, but then reliability of the source may be a concern. If we cannot obtain a full date of birth, we will attempt to complete the background checks without it. However, there will be times when we report back to you that we cannot complete the criminal search or a motor vehicle report until the DOB is available.

Employment Screening Services, Inc. does not intend to provide legal advice on this or any other matter. As always, we recommend consulting your legal department about the specific obligations of your business.     
 

Question: How long have you known her?
Reference: Too long.

Question: How would you describe his people skills?
Reference: Very good. He can even work with ogres.

Question: How does he work under pressure?
Reference: Pressure? He is a Scorpio. Scorpios do not understand the meaning of pressure. They are usually in the eye of a hurricane before they even admit that it is raining.