Let’s face it. The economy is still a mess and people aren’t finding jobs fast enough.
Given this fact, there are a lot of people looking to place the blame for these developments. And has been the case for the last several years, many are focusing on employment screening and background checks. I won’t say that all who oppose background check are flat out wrong in every instance, but all too frequently they rely on myths, misconceptions and urban legends to support their arguments.
Here is my list of the most commonly held misconceptions about employment background checks:
Many of the nation’s employers are still on the fence concerning the “Play or Pay” question in health care reform.
Some are leaning toward “Play” (offering employees medical coverage that meets the requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [PPACA]), while others are favoring “Pay” (forking over penalties for not offering acceptable coverage to employees).
The law actually calls for two possible penalties for large employers with 50 or more employees: one for not offering “minimum essential” coverage, and the other for offering coverage that isn’t “affordable” and/or doesn’t provide “minimum value.”
This coming fall, the Department of Homeland Security may release its updated version of the Form I-9.
The new form is likely to be 80 percent larger than before, increasing from a five-page document to nine pages and will include several changes over the previous version. While some of the proposed (but not yet finalized) changes aim to improve the employee verification process, others can complicate the process.
Moreover, a few of the changes are even controversial.
