Thursday, December 21, 2006
Confirming Employment Eligibility
Recent large-scale workplace raids have placed the issue of identity theft and fraudulent identification on the front page of newspapers nationwide.
At issue is the legal obligation of the employer to verify the US work eligibility of newly hired employees and apparent widespread document fraud in the illegal alien population.
How is the average household employer to verify the identity of the nanny they plan to hire?
All hiring families should insist on a complete criminal and sex offender background check before hiring and leaving the individual in sole charge of their children. A good background check will start with what is known as SSN Trace, or a Social Security Number Trace. This research relies on credit bureau databases, not the government, and will report all known names and addresses associated with this SSN over the prior 7 years.
An example might be Mary Smith, who was married two years ago.
Mary Smith 999-99-9999
Mary Smith, 123 Main Street, Leesburg VA, Loudoun 02/2006
Mary Smith, 321 Chestnut Street, Fairfax VA, Fairfax 01/2004
Mary Russell, 987 Oak Street, Bethesda MD, Montgomery 05/2002
This report would show both married and maiden names and the address at the time the record was generated. These records are created when there is a query on the individual credit record - such as an application for a car loan, apartment rental, cell phone credit, utility established, etc. They are extremely helpful to the employer not simply to verify identity, but also to verify other information provided on the job application.
The type of record to be concerned about might look like this:
Mary Smith 999-99-9999
John Jones, 123 Main Street, Leesburg VA, Loudoun 02/2006
Sue Johnson, 321 Chestnut Street, Fairfax VA, Fairfax 01/2004
Mary Smith, 789 First St. # 405, Brooklyn NY, Kings 11/2003
Mary Russell, 987 Oak Street, Bethesda MD, Montgomery 05/2002
The example above shows multiple names and addresses associated with the same number. This might indicate document fraud, or that the SSN of Mary Smith is being used for identity fraud. In either event, this is a clear red flag to the prospective employer and requires further investigation before the individual starts work.
As the recent raids on Swift have shown, document fraud is a problem for employers and the consequences of not doing a thorough background check can be severe. In the case of nannies, I would argue that document fraud is a minor reason to do the background check - your children and their safety are the biggest reason to do this!
The 4nannies.com website has an extensive FAQ on background checking, as well as offering the ability for families to order a professional background check easily and economically.
At issue is the legal obligation of the employer to verify the US work eligibility of newly hired employees and apparent widespread document fraud in the illegal alien population.
How is the average household employer to verify the identity of the nanny they plan to hire?
All hiring families should insist on a complete criminal and sex offender background check before hiring and leaving the individual in sole charge of their children. A good background check will start with what is known as SSN Trace, or a Social Security Number Trace. This research relies on credit bureau databases, not the government, and will report all known names and addresses associated with this SSN over the prior 7 years.
An example might be Mary Smith, who was married two years ago.
Mary Smith 999-99-9999
Mary Smith, 123 Main Street, Leesburg VA, Loudoun 02/2006
Mary Smith, 321 Chestnut Street, Fairfax VA, Fairfax 01/2004
Mary Russell, 987 Oak Street, Bethesda MD, Montgomery 05/2002
This report would show both married and maiden names and the address at the time the record was generated. These records are created when there is a query on the individual credit record - such as an application for a car loan, apartment rental, cell phone credit, utility established, etc. They are extremely helpful to the employer not simply to verify identity, but also to verify other information provided on the job application.
The type of record to be concerned about might look like this:
Mary Smith 999-99-9999
John Jones, 123 Main Street, Leesburg VA, Loudoun 02/2006
Sue Johnson, 321 Chestnut Street, Fairfax VA, Fairfax 01/2004
Mary Smith, 789 First St. # 405, Brooklyn NY, Kings 11/2003
Mary Russell, 987 Oak Street, Bethesda MD, Montgomery 05/2002
The example above shows multiple names and addresses associated with the same number. This might indicate document fraud, or that the SSN of Mary Smith is being used for identity fraud. In either event, this is a clear red flag to the prospective employer and requires further investigation before the individual starts work.
As the recent raids on Swift have shown, document fraud is a problem for employers and the consequences of not doing a thorough background check can be severe. In the case of nannies, I would argue that document fraud is a minor reason to do the background check - your children and their safety are the biggest reason to do this!
The 4nannies.com website has an extensive FAQ on background checking, as well as offering the ability for families to order a professional background check easily and economically.
