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| Welcome | Welcome to the June 2007 edition of the Credential Check Examiner! This month we look at ways to travel abroad safely, new legislation in Texas regarding deadly force in the workplace, and another hiring tip from Todd Palmer.
As always, please feel free to reply with your comments and suggestions!
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| Safely Traveling Abroad
| Vacations or extended trips abroad can be tough enough to manage even when one avoids getting into a tight spot. Assuming that you already have your passport, visa, customs, and immunizations figured out, you can still do a few things to put you in a good place should worst come to worst: - Get in touch with the foreign embassy or consulate in the country you plan to visit. The U.S. Department of State provides a wealth of information, including "Background Notes" on most countries, which include reading lists, maps, and travel notes
- Be sure to know whether there have been any Public Announcements or Travel Warnings where you are traveling – go here to get the latest information
- If you don’t have adequate health care benefits, or aren’t sure, you may want to consider Travel Insurance. This form of insurance is handy in case you cancel your trip, need emergency medical care, or lose your luggage – not to mention serious incidents such as natural disasters or terrorism.
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| "The Lone Star" State Passes Bill that will Allow Deadly Force in the Workplace
|  Effective September 1, 2007, Texas Senate Bill ("SB") 378 will expand Texans’ legal right to protect themselves in the workplace. Specifically, this new law states that citizens have no duty to retreat from an intruder in the workplace before using deadly force for means of self-defense. In 1995, Texas legislature created an exception to a 1973 statute, which required that citizens’ retreat in the face of a criminal attack. The exception permitted use of force without retreat when an intruder unlawfully entered someone’s home. SB 378 further expands upon this exception by extending citizens’ rights to stand their ground beyond their home into cars and workplaces.
SB 378 allows the reasonable use of deadly force when an intruder is (1) committing certain violent crimes, such as murder or sexual assault, or is attempting to commit such crimes; (2) unlawfully trying to enter a protected place; or (3) unlawfully trying to remove a person from a protected place. The law also protects people who lawfully use deadly force in those circumstances by providing civil immunity in a consequent lawsuit. However, the use of deadly force is not lawful when it is used to provoke or if a crime other than a Class C misdemeanor is committed by the victim.
"It is important to understand your legal limitations and rights in your particular state when it comes to a workplace violence situation. Each state can establish their own laws, knowing these prior to a situation occurring can save your organization liability in the future" states Timothy Whiting, Director of Corporate Services, Credential Check Corporation.
To read more about Texas SB 378, visit here.
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| | Todd's Tips: Candidates Without Direct Experience... Perfect! | Over the nearly 10 years we have been helping clients find employees, one of the typical requests clients make of us is to send them candidates with experience doing a particular job. For many jobs that is a very reasonable request. For example, a candidate cannot be skilled carpenter if they have never worked in construction previously. We are seeing a new trend in hiring for many entry level positions…hire the skill set, train for the position. Some jobs, such as entry level sales, require skills such as determination, ability to handle rejection and persistence. These skills can be measured through behavioral interviewing and through testing such as the Rembrandt Advantage. In this scenario, a hiring manager can quantifiably measure these skill sets, then take the employee and train them how to sell their specific product or service. We have found that it is much more productive, even cost effective, to hire someone for entry level sales who doesn’t have any experience, compared to a sales retread who has bounced from sales job to sales job. This type of hire requires a certain type of sales training and management, including a degree of patience not always seen in sales managers who are under pressure to perform. Here’s hoping all of your hires are "A" players! Todd Palmer, President, Diversified Industrial Staffing top
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| | Cool Fact | Algae in the world's oceans generate two-thirds of all oxygen on the planet. Source: Planet Earth on Discovery Channel top
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| Quote of the Month: "People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character. "
-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)
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| | User-Generated Content Presents Legal Complications for Users, Organizations | The recent explosion in the appearance of User-Generated Content (UGC) has been so sudden and dramatic, that it may be difficult to gain the proper perspective on its implications, especially from a legal perspective. When one considers the popularity of YouTube and the 1.6 billion dollar acquisition of it by Google, as well as the boom in social networking sites, all of which represent tools and platforms created especially for UGC, one can see that this is an area whose boundaries have yet to be defined. Accordingly, UCG carries with it significant legal ramifications.
UGC by definition is content that is created by end-users, as opposed to more traditional forms of content that is created by media producers, licensed broadcasters, or production companies. In the UGC age, and because the technologies that drive it are very accessible and affordable, anyone can become a media producer. Unfortunately, end-users are learning how to produce UGC much faster than they are learning what sorts of legalities can come about from creating UGC.
UCG can appear in so many different types of media (digital video, blogging, podcasting, mobile phone photography and wikis, to name a few) that legal considerations such as intellectual property, defamation, privacy, negligence, and consumer protection (to name a few) all come into play. Given the prevalence of UGC in the workplace (one recent study estimated that 87% of employees access UCG-related sites each week), and the fact that organizations are oftentimes held responsible for the behavior of their employees, we may see a trend of organizations responding to litigation arising from their employees’ production of UGC.
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| | Contact Information | If you are interested in obtaining additional information about these articles or the services offered by Credential Check Corporation, please contact one of the following individuals:
Thank you! We'll see you next month!
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