International Background Checks Webinar Scheduled for March 31

Lester Rosen, founder and CEO of Employment Screening Resources® (ESR), and Donald C. Dowling, Jr., Partner, International Employment Law, K & L Gates, will present a webinar for Bloomberg BNA (Bureau of National Affairs) titled ‘Background Checks Around the World: Do You Really Know Who You’re Hiring Overseas?’ on Tuesday, March 31, 2015 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. E.T. (11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PT), For more information, please visit http://www.bna.com/background-checks-around-m17179923326/.

 

Employers have long recognized that conducting due diligence background checks on new hires is a mission critical task. Firms cannot afford to be sidetracked by employee problems such as workplace violence, theft, false resumes, embezzlement, harassment or trumped-up injury claims. Employers can be the subject of lawsuits for negligent hiring if they hire someone that they should have known, through the exercise of due diligence, was dangerous, unfit or unqualified.

 

However, with the mobility of workers across international borders it is no longer adequate to conduct these checks just in the United States. With business going global, U.S. firms are having to staff up offices internationally as well. However, when it comes to background checks, the rest of the world is much different than the U.S. The number of countries from which employers may seek additional information about applicants is expansive, and can include India, China, Philippines, France, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Japan, Canada, among others.

 

Among the topics to be covered by Rosen and Dowling, Jr. are international criminal records, terrorist databases, and whether background checks are needed on applicants with a visa. Also covered will be international employment and education verification, and how to protect against fake international degrees. Special emphasis will be placed on data protection and privacy including the rules of the European Union (EU) and Canada. Employers will learn that although international background checks can be challenging, there are ways to help hire the best regardless of the country involved. The webinar will also cover:

 

-Why background checks are so critical for employers internationally.

 

-The legal and privacy framework of checking international credentials.

 

-Laws regulating criminal background checks around the world: Overseas, how much criminal history can you really get?

 

-What does an outside provider’s “all clear/nothing-to-report” background check report on an overseas applicant really mean?

 

-Overseas, how far can you go resume/credential-checking, and job reference checking?

 

-Are rules about Googling applicants, checking Facebook and requiring social media passwords really that different abroad?

 

-What kind of release-to-do-background-check should foreign applicants sign? And what if they refuse to sign?

 

-When can you do pre-hire drug tests, physicals, and written tests outside the United States?

 

This webinar will introduce employers to international background checks, including the legal, practical, and cultural challenges employers face when obtaining information outside of the United States. The live webinar is worth 1.5 HR Certification Institute (HRCI) Credits and the Program Level is Intermediate. HR professionals with global responsibilities, in-house counsel for multi-national organizations, and international employment law attorneys would benefit most from attending this program.

 

Lester Rosen is an Attorney at Law and CEO of Employment Screening Resources® (ESR), a nationwide background check firm accredited by the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®). He is a frequent speaker on due diligence and background screening issues, and the author of “The Safe Hiring Manual,” the first comprehensive book on background checks. He has qualified and testified as an expert in court cases and has testified before the California Legislature. He was the chair of the steering committee that founded the NAPBS and served as its first co-chair.

 

Donald C. Dowling, Jr., is an international employment law partner with the global law firm K & L Gates in the New York office. He is ranked as a top New York employment lawyer in the leading rankings and he is a member of NYU Law School’s Labor & Employment Board. He has taught “International Employment Law” and “European Union Law” as an adjunct law professor, and has published dozens of articles and book chapters on international employment law. He is a Senior Editor of the ABA/Bloomberg BNA Books treatise International Labor & Employment Law.