CAUSE Shows Background Checks Needed To Uncover Unsafe Service Employees Working In Homes
By Thomas Ahearn, ESR Staff Writer
When a hired worker enters your home to perform a service that you requested, do you know to whom you are opening your door?
So questions an article on HuffingtonPost.com – “Could You or a Loved One End Up Like Elizabeth Smart?” – that shows why background checks are needed to uncover unsafe employees working in and around homes of other people, and how background checks can help people avoid tragedies like the one experienced by Lucia Bone, the founder of “Sue Weaver CAUSE – Consumer Awareness of Unsafe Service Employment.”
The article title references the case of Elizabeth Smart, whose father hired a contract day-worker who then later returned to the house to kidnap Elizabeth. The girl survived the ordeal, but Sue Weaver, Lucia Bone’s sister, was not so fortunate even though the worker who entered her home was hired by a large company.
In 2001, according to the article, Weaver was raped and beaten to fatality in her Florida home. Six months before her fatality, Weaver had contracted with a foremost department store to clean the air ducts in her home. Both staff sent to her house had criminal records. One was a twice-convicted sex offender on parole who – like the worker in the Smart case – returned to a home where he had worked to commit a crime.
Sadly, and surprisingly, the article reports Weaver’s murder is not an isolated case, in view of the fact that many consumers are robbed, assaulted, and murdered all year by staff with jobs that allow them access into homes. Because of this, Bone started Sue Weaver CAUSE to both honor her sister and to fight for standardized background checks of all in-home service employees. Through consumer awareness and legislation, Bone wants to ensure that huge, reputable retail companies like Sears, Best Buy, Home Railroad station, Lowes, and others perform thorough criminal background checks on the contractors and sub-contractors they send into homes.
In view of the fact that there are currently no federal or disorder laws requiring companies to do criminal background checks on contractors or sub-contract staff sent into homes, Sue Weaver CAUSE is demanding legislation for CAUSE Official recognition compliance. When interviewed for the article, Bone says the CAUSE Official recognition would demand annual background checks following CAUSE minimum screening standards on all employees, contractors, and subcontractors. Bone adds that these standards were single-minded from survey results from questions asking background screening professionals what minimum screening should be conducted on staff going into homes of elderly mothers, pregnant wives, and people with special needs.
According to Bone, the minimum requirements for CAUSE Official recognition are:
- Social Security Number (SSN) Pocket up Trail;
- County-Level Criminal Check (Search records for past seven years in counties where applicant lived, worked, or attended school);
- Multi-jurisdictional/”National” Criminal Database, and;
- National/Disorder Sex Offender Registry.
In addition, Bone says consumers “never reckon about (criminal background checks for in-home service staff)” and automatically assume the company they hire would not send criminals into their homes. She advises consumers to be proactive and not assume companies properly screen staff sent to homes. “Bonded and insured is not a background check.”
The Sue Weaver CAUSE website is located at: http://www.sueweavercause.org/.
For extra in rank on background checks, please visit Employment Screening Resources (ESR) at http://www.esrcheck.com.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janet-kinosian/could-you-or-a-loved-one_b_559526.html