Negligent Hiring

Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1008 into law on October 14^, 2017, expanding a section of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to restrict employers’ ability to make pre-hire and employment decisions based on an individual’s criminal history. California’s Ban the Box law is effective January 1, 2018.

AB 1008 applies to all employers in California with five or more employees and restricts affected employers from:

Earlier this summer, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a revised version of the Form I-9 on July 17, 2017. As of September 18, 2017, employers are now required to use the updated form with a revision date of 07/17/17 N. While the changes were relatively minor compared to the one released in November 2016, here’s an overview of what you need to know to ensure I-9 compliance for your organization.

Background check practices in schools have received a fair amount of attention in the last few years. Indiana, for example, is among the 12 states and the District of Columbia to recently receive an F for the screening of their teachers, according to an investigation by USA Today with IndyStar.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a hospital did not violate the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) when it refused to hire two nurses whose licenses were restricted due to past drug abuse.

The laws concerning the use of E-Verify in California changed on January 1, 2016, due to California Assembly Bill 622. E-Verify is a national system to ensure employees are qualified to work in the United States, and this system is jointly administered by USCIS, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Social Security Administration. Here is an overview of what California employers need to know:

In 2015, the PreCheck Blog had another fantastic year covering the latest healthcare best practices and compliance issues. Once more, we were recognized for the quality of our content with multiple awards; and our readership continues to grow year after year. As we begin the new year with our best foot forward, it’s also an opportune time to reflect on the greatest lessons and best practices from 2015.

Here’s a look at the top ten most-read PreCheck blog posts from 2015.

When it comes to employment background checks, there’s a lot that can go wrong. Most healthcare employers use background checks as part of their due diligence process to protect the safety of their patients and staff. With so much at stake, it’s important that healthcare employers have an effective and efficient background screening program. Putting together a thorough employment screening program can be challenging. My colleague Vu Do, Vice President of Compliance at PreCheck, offers the following four tips for improving your employment screening program.

While hospitals and other healthcare organizations generally aren’t required to run time-of-hire or ongoing background checks, they often do as part of their voluntary due diligence procedures and to mitigate their liability risk. Some states do require background checks for candidates for certain healthcare positions, but organizations typically run them on all staff members.

Although there are currently no bylaws instating the requirement of exclusion checks, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE) mandates employers to know the exclusion status of their employees and contractors during their entire lifecycle with the company. According to the OIG, there are over 66,000 healthcare providers that are currently excluded from all federal healthcare programs.

The consequences of negligent credentialing can be costly to a healthcare organization and its medical staff services department. Organizations that want to renew their focus on credentialing can follow several best practices to protect themselves and ensure they’re doing all they can to remain compliant.