Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine February 2018

S tate, National, Chapter News State national Chapter News

PAY NOW OR PAY LATER 5 REASONS FOR BACKGROUND CHECKS (By Trey Hickman, CourtHouse Concepts.) Why do background checks? A great question, especially when you live in small town, rural Arkansas. After all, don’t you already know everyone? Well may you do, maybe you don’t. One thing is sure, if you know everyone or don’t know everyone, you and your company is still on the hook for potential liability issues that may be caused by your employees. Doing background checks at least gives you the argument of reasonable doing “due diligence” should something occur. Here are 5 reasons with numbers to back them up as to why you should consider doing back ground checks on all your employees, at least new hires. 1. False Information • 53% of all job applications contain inaccurate information. • 34% of all application forms contain outright lies about experience, education, and ability to perform essential functions on the job. • 11% of job applicants misrepresented why they left a former employer. 2. Employee Theft • $50 billion in cash and inventory stolen yearly by employees. • 30% of all business bankruptcies are attributed to employee theft.75% of American employees have stolen at least one item from their employer • Only 16% of the crimes are reported to the police.

3. Drugs • More than 75% of substance abusers are employed • Drug abusers cost 2x as much in medical and worker comp claims as drug-free workers. • Substance abusers change jobs as frequently as 3 times a year. • Substance abusers are at least 33% less productive 4. Firm I-9 Audits and Penalties • In 2017, ICE audited 1,360 U.S. based businesses, resulting in 71 indictments and 55 convictions of business owners and managers. • ICE’s worksite enforcement actions resulted in $97.6 million in fines and forfeitures in 2017 • Tom Homan, deputy director of ICE wants to see a 400% increase in work site operations. 5. Negligent Hiring • The average settlement of a negligent hiring lawsuit is nearly $1 million. • Employers have lost more than 79% of negligent hiring cases. • UBER is currently being sued through multiple cases by passengers whose claims include: sexual assault, rape, drunk driving and attempted murder.