Background Checks a Smart Step

Nation’s Restaurant News, August 15, 2005
By Dina Berta

Conducting background checks on job candidates for security and legal reasons is common practice these days for restaurant operators, notes Barry Nadell, president of InfoLink Screening Services Inc., based in Chatsworth, Calif. And it's a good thing, he adds.

InfoLink reviewed thousands of applications it had screened for employers across industries and found 8.4 percent of job applicants had some type of criminal conviction in 2004, but foodservice had the highest percentage — 12.4 percent — of job seekers with rap sheets. For the first six months of this year, 11.7 percent of foodservice applicants had criminal records, compared to 8.3 percent for all industries. Convictions ranged from felonies such as assault with a firearm, sexual abuse and forgery to passing bad checks, dealing cocaine and attempted murder.

Since founding InfoLink 11 years ago with his wife, Leslie, Nadell has become a noted speaker on background checks and is the author of Sleuthing 101: Background Checks and the Law.

Why did foodservice have the highest percentage of "hits" when it came to job applicants with convictions?

I'm not sure exactly. The higher percentage may be because you are hiring more people as a result of high turnover, and you're dealing with a more transient group or a younger group.

Do you think the high percentage is affected by the Work Opportunity Tax Credit [a federal program that offers employers tax credits for hiring people from certain economically disadvantaged groups, including ex-felons]?

I don't think so. It may be more that more restaurants are doing background checks.

What is driving more companies to do background checks?

With the threats of terrorism, companies are more security-conscious. And there are more issues in the news of companies being sued for negligence in hiring. Courts have said the company is liable if it hires someone who has a propensity toward violence that was demonstrated through a conviction for a violent act. It's also a proven fact that today you cannot just call a past employer and find out everything you want about an employee. Employers have a fear for being sued for defamation.