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©
1999-2001
STAT America
All Rights Reserved
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WHO WE ARE
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HRPLUS
and STAT America are partners who provide our clients with risk-management
solutions. We provide quality, cost-effective, pre-employment background
reports and drug-testing programs. Through this newsletter, we will
provide information about our services and about the employment-screening
and drug-testing industries in general. This information includes
new product and service offerings, event listings, legislative and
legal updates, press releases, and more. Enjoy! |
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ATTENTION ALL CALIFORNIA EMPLOYERS:
NEW CALIFORNIA LEGAL REQUIREMENTS REGARDING EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND CHECKS
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The
2001 California Assembly Bill 655 (AB 655) significantly amended California
Civil Code §§ 1785 and 1786, existing California law applicable
to employment background checks. These new legal requirements are
effective January 1, 2002. The new law significantly affects all California
employers who conduct employment background checks and provides for
serious penalties for non-compliance. |
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If
you are a California employer and have not received detailed information
and documents from HRPLUS regarding these new
requirements via e-mail or fax, please contact your HRPLUS
sales representative or HRPLUS customer service
at (303) 670-8177 to request this information and documentation. |
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NEW SERVICE IN THE SPOTLIGHT: CALIFORNIA
COMPLIANCE PROGRAMS FOR CALIFORNIA EMPLOYERS
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HRPLUS
is offering three new California Compliance Programs in response to
recent changes in California law regarding the delivery of background-check
information to the person who is the subject of the background check.
HRPLUS can help ease the administrative burden
brought on by these changes in the law. For more information regarding
our California Compliance Programs, please contact your HRPLUS
sales representative, or call HRPLUS customer
service at (303) 670-8177. |
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QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN REVIEWING
CRIMINAL RECORDS
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Now
that the results from an applicant's criminal record are on your desk,
what is the next step in interpreting them? According to the EEOC,
an employer may lawfully consider arrest records, non-conviction records
and conviction records in its hiring process, provided the employer
considers certain factors. The EEOC requires and HRPLUS
recommends asking and answering the following questions with respect
to each criminal record reported by HRPLUS: |
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Was
the employment application falsified or was there dishonesty in the
employment interview with respect to the reported criminal record(s)? |
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Is
the offense a conviction or a non-conviction? Was the offense charged
actually committed? |
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What
is the nature and gravity of the offense? |
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Is
the offense recent? |
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Is
the offense job-related? |
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Other
questions to ask and answer include: |
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What
was the age of the applicant at the time of the offense? |
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Has
there been any offense-related rehabilitation (e.g., counseling, therapy,
etc.)? |
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What
is the nature of any subsequent employment history (subsequent to
the offense)? |
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Is
there any pattern of similar offenses or escalating offenses? |
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Is
there a business necessity that prevents the hiring or retention of
the individual based on the offense? |
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This
list of questions is not exhaustive, rather it is meant to provide
a structured starting point as you begin to analyze criminal records.
Based on the answers provided in the criminal report, you can review
applicants and employees from an objective position and make informed
hiring decisions that complement corporate policy, comply with the
law and ultimately result in the best decision for your workplace.
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Please
note the EEOC prohibits any employment policy or practice that operates
to absolutely or automatically bar an applicant from employment based
on any criminal record. An employer must consider each criminal record
on a case-by-case basis. |
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This
information is provided by HRPLUS as general
information solely for the convenience of HRPLUS
clients. This document is not intended as legal advice or opinion
and should not be construed as such. HRPLUS
recommends that clients seek the advice of an employment law attorney
when establishing hiring guidelines or any employment policy. |
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WEB-BASED REPORTING REMINDER!
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If
you are not signed up for Web-based reporting, now is the time to
call customer service to receive your assigned username and password.
HRPLUS will e-mail you when a report is ready
and provide a link to our Web-site, where you can access the report.
If at anytime you lose your username and password, contact customer
service for help at 303-670-8177. For more information and your password
assignment, call Cathey at 303-670-8177, ext. 631. |
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COMING SOON, ENHANCED SERVICES ON THE
STAT AMERICA WEB-SITE
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STAT
America is improving account management options on the client services
section of its Web-site. Now, users can save time by making simple
account changes quickly and easily online. Account managers will have
access to an Online Contact Management feature, which provides multiple
tools for managing account information and setup. All STAT America
clients will receive a letter this month updating and detailing users
on the enhanced service options coming to the Web-site. |
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NEW SERVICE IN THE SPOTLIGHT: HAVE YOU CONSIDERED
THE ADVANTAGES OF HAIR TESTING?
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Hair
testing is increasingly becoming the testing technology of choice
for many corporate drug-testing programs. Studies comparing positive
rates in hair versus urine indicate that employers can detect nearly
twice as many drug users at the door, before they are employed. For
some drug categories, the positive hit rate is much higher. Some additional
advantages of hair testing over urinalysis include: |
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Increased
Window of Detection - One of the biggest challenges to an effective
urine-testing program is the limited window of detection. A standard
hair test provides a 90-day history as opposed to the typical 1-5
day detection period with urine. Differences between the two technologies
for detection of marijuana use are less significant, although detection
is still greater with hair than urine. Drugs with relatively short
half-lives like cocaine and heroin are much more likely to be detected
in hair than urine, typically two to four times more likely. The heroin
metabolite has an extremely short half-life in urine, only several
hours, while it is detectable in hair for months. In one study, hair
testing was shown to be 16 times more effective than urinalysis in
detecting the presence of cocaine. |
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Lower
Likelihood of Adulteration - Another significant challenge in
urine testing is the relative ease of dilution, substitution and adulteration.
Advertisements for products to "beat the drug test" are commonplace
on the Internet, at retail locations and in magazines. Many of these
products can be effective, especially if the laboratory or company
program does not include validity or adulterant testing. Hair-testing
laboratories have tested all commercially available hair-testing adulterants
and found none to be effective. Additionally, hair collection is a
simple, non-intrusive process and every collection is observed. The
collector is never separated from the specimen once it is collected,
and therefore the applicant cannot tamper with the specimen during
collection, as is possible during urine collection. Treatment processes
such as hair coloring and permanent solutions are not of significant
impact due to washing and extraction methods during the testing process. |
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Specimen
Availability for Retest Procedures - Unlike with urinalysis, with
hair testing, another specimen is available for retest procedures
for detection of drug use during the same time period. |
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Hair
testing is appropriate for use in pre-employment situations and is
increasing in use for random testing or post-treatment monitoring.
However, due to the fact that hair testing detects drug use over a
longer period of time and not during the most recent weeks of use,
it is not an appropriate method of testing in post-accident or reasonable
suspicion situations. Specimens that screen positive are confirmed
via GC/MS or GC/MS/MS testing comparable to urine specimens. Turnaround
time for hair-test results is also comparable to urinalysis. Hair
testing can accommodate the five-drug panel most commonly used for
workplace drug testing: amphetamines (methamphetamine and amphetamine),
cocaine, opiates (heroin, morphine, codeine), phencyclidine (PCP)
and marijuana (THC). Additionally, hair testing can recover MDMA,
more commonly known as Ecstasy - a club drug of increasing concern
- at the same testing price. This test is often considerably more
expensive when offered in urine testing, if it is available at all. |
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STAT
America is now offering complete hair-testing programs to our clients,
including collection site location and medical review. These programs
can be established with hair testing alone or in combination with
other testing programs. For a more detailed packet of information
on hair testing, please contact STAT America via e-mail at marketing@statam.com,
or call us at (303) 679-0010, extension 3. |
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The
information above was provided by American Medical Laboratories. |
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EMPLOYMENT
MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION'S 33RD CONFERENCE AND EXPOSITION
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 HRPLUS
and STAT America will be exhibiting at Employment Management Association's
33rd Annual Conference and Exposition in San Francisco, California,
April 17-19, 2002. Come by booth 316 to visit with Anna Sauer and
Marion Bellamy. |
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SHRM
54TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXPOSITION
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 HRPLUS
and STAT America will be attending the Society for Human Resource
Managers (SHRM) 54th Annual Conference and Exposition in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, June 23-26, 2002. Maureen Plotke, Marion Bellamy, and
Debbie Estes-Hamilton from our sales division will be there and look
forward to meeting with you. Visit us in booth #420. For more information,
call 800-283-SHRM or visit their Web-site: www.shrm.org/conferences/ema. |
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CONTACT
HRPLUS & STAT AMERICA
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Request
Additional Information - Use the following Web-site links to request
more information about items in this newsletter or to request information
about HRPLUS and STAT America: |
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Offer
Feedback - Use the feedback@hrplus.com e-mail address to send
us your feedback regarding this newsletter or other issues concerning
HRPLUS and STAT America. |
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