By Greg Hazley
The trade group for companies that provide background checks for prospective employees has pushed back against a critical “Today Show” report that highlighted shoddy practices by some firms that have cost people jobs.
Investigative correspondent Jeff Rossen profiled a woman seeking a Red Cross job as an accountant who was rejected after a background check by a large investigative company, Choicepoint, found multiple drug felonies on her record which turned out to be from another woman of the same name.
An attorney said during the segment that consumers are “losing jobs by the thousands” because of bad background checks.
The National Association of Professional Background Screeners, which provided an attorney for the segment, came out swinging via PR firm Stanton Communications after the piece aired Nov. 9.
“NBC’s Today Show and reporter Jeff Rossen have done a disservice to employers and the general public by focusing on a small number of unfortunate instances in an attempt to indict an entire industry that is critical to the safety of our homes and workplaces,” NAPBS chairman Fred Giles said in a statement from the PR firm, which noted fewer than one percent of consumer disputed records are found to contain an error.
The NAPBS attorney said in the “Today” segment that the error rate for checks is less than 10 percent.
The group said the NBC segment did not explain federal law governing background checks and resulted in a “a sensational rush to indict an industry that in fact does more to protect the safety of the workplace than a handful of unfortunate sensationalized anecdotes would indicate.” |