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| Welcome | Welcome to the August issue of the Credential Check Examiner! Please feel free to offer your feedback. We appreciate hearing from our subscribers.
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| | Personality-matching software helps companies promote | There are more tools available today than ever before to help business owners and human resources professionals evaluate employees to put them on the right career path. Without some help, figuring out who is right for what job can still be a challenge for those in charge of promotion. "Even the most experienced business people are really poor judges of who will be a top performer no matter how much experience they have and how good they are at reading people," said Steve Waterhouse, president of Orange Park-based Predictive Results, which uses the PI Worldwide-developed Predictive Index. The software is a behavioral and personality assessment tool to help companies better match people with promotions. The development of such new software in recent years has been a benefit to human resources professionals responsible for succession planning.
Source: Jacksonville Business Journal
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| | Wal-Mart sued after employee knifing | The victim of a violent crime in a Gainesville Wal-Mart parking lot is suing the global corporation for damages, alleging the company negligently hired a teenager with a history of violence. The case draws into question the hiring practices of the nation's largest retail chain. Tiffany Simmons, 19, took the stand at the Alachua County civil courthouse, recounting an ordeal that took place almost two years ago when she approached a Wal-Mart cart collector looking for her cell phone. The cart collector, Darius Stacy, was 18 at the time of the incident in December 2006. After a brief altercation, Stacy used a box cutter-like tool to slash at Simmons' throat, cutting her from near her ear to the front of her neck. Simmons’ attorney Robert Stripling said that Wal-Mart failed to run a proper background check when Stacy was hired, which would have turned up juvenile arrest records on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Web site. "Wal-Mart had not requested that service be used," said Stripling of the FDLE Web site. "It would have turned up evidence of a propensity of violence on the part of this individual, who was assaulting law enforcement officers and stealing cars and was arrested for a probation violation." At issue is whether the background check Wal-Mart conducts on new employees is adequate. That check is conducted through a contract with the South Carolina-based company GIS for $6 per background check, Stripling said.
Source: The Gainesville Sun
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| | Lawyers and employers fight 'workplace bullies' | A recent U.S. court case and new research are focusing attention on "workplace bullying," prompting some employers to take steps to curb aggressive behavior. Experts define workplace bullying as subtle, persistent and often nondiscriminatory harassment of co-workers. Unlike sexual or racial harassment, workplace bullying isn't necessarily illegal. But bullying can contribute to absenteeism and turnover and escalate into illegal behavior if left unchecked, experts say. In April, the Indiana Supreme Court reinstated a $325,000 verdict for Joseph Doescher, a former medical technician who had sued Daniel Raess, a cardiovascular surgeon, for assault in 2002. The Indiana decision came amid growing concern about workplace bullying. Garry Mathiason, a senior partner at Littler Mendelson, a leading employment-law firm, says more corporate clients are raising the issue, motivated by legal questions, as well as concerns about the impact on productivity. Littler Mendelson featured bullying among its "breaking trends" in labor law at a conference for U.S. employers this year. Angela Cornell, an associate professor at Cornell Law School who specializes in employment law, says workplace bullying is common enough that employers should "nip it in the bud before it becomes a problem." New research highlights the prevalence and dangers of workplace bullying. In a 2007 survey of 1,000 U.S. workers, 44 percent said they had worked for a boss they considered abusive.
Source: The Associated Press
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| | Retailer agrees to settle suit alleging bias | Video Only, a home electronics retailer in Portland, Oregon, has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of two employees who said they were subjected to repeated slurs and jokes about their race, national origin, and religion. In the lawsuit, the EEOC said two employees at the retailer were subjected to abusive and racially-offensive jokes and epithets by management. The EEOC also alleged that the company retaliated against the employees after they complained. The EEOC alleged that the retaliation included hiring a private investigator to gather information in an effort to discredit their harassment claims. The agency also claimed that company officials also confronted co-workers who supported the complain¬ants by telling them they were hurting the company. The employees will be awarded $500,000 of the total $630,000 settlement. The remaining $130,000 resolved a related suit to which EEOC was not a party. The related suit alleged retaliation against two other employees. Video Only also agreed to provide anti-discrimination training to all management and non-management employees in Oregon and at its headquarters store in Seattle.
Source: hr.blr.com
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| | Fed employees may have bought fake degrees | Immigration officials are looking through a list of more than 9,000 names to see how many federal employees may have bought a phony high school or college degree from a Spokane, Wash.-based diploma mill. The Spokesman-Review newspaper obtained the list and published the names on its Web site. The Justice Department has refused to release the list, which grew out of a lengthy investigation by the U.S. attorney for the Eastern district of Washington. The list included some people who apparently work for government, educational institutions and the military, according to their e-mail addresses that ended in .gov, .edu or .mil., according to the newspaper report Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one of the federal agencies that investigates document fraud, is going through the list of 9,612 names and searching for federal employees, agency spokesman Brandon Alvarez-Montgomery said. Authorities contended the bogus degrees could be used to circumvent U.S. immigration laws and to help the degree holders win promotions and pay raises in government jobs. A task force of state and federal agents served search warrants in August 2005 after investigators found many of the phony degrees were sold in Saudi Arabia, raising national security concerns. As ICE officials go through the list and identify the federal employees, their names will be sent to their respective agencies for inspector general review, Alvarez-Montgomery said. If a federal employee used a fake degree for personal gain or to get a job with the government, it would be up to the individual agency to take action. Indictments in the case were returned in 2005, contending that operators of the diploma mill sold fake high school or college degrees to more than 9,000 people in 131 countries, generating more than $1 million in sales.
Source: The Associated Press
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| | Todd’s Tips | Job Watch: For Hiring in Southeast Michigan, Forecast Looks Sunny
A Crain’s Detroit Business article, titled, “Report: Macomb adds 695 local jobs,” details some job opportunities to be on the lookout for in the coming months. According to a report measuring economic activity so far this year, presented by Bob Tess, the Planning and Economic Development Department Program Manager in Macomb County, “Twelve companies committed to invest $72 million and add 695 local jobs in Macomb County thus far in 2008.” These are 695 local jobs that are certainly welcome.
Crain’s reports, “Two of the investments, totaling $8.6 million, are for Sterling Heights-based General Dynamics Land Systems to expand two facilities in Sterling and Shelby Township, and add a total of 475 new jobs.” Other investments include the following:
- “$21.8 million by Macomb Township-based toolmaker Baker Machining & Mold Technologies Inc., which will add 18 jobs and retain 24 after obtaining a 12-year industrial facilities tax abatement earlier this year”;
- “$900,500 by Macomb Printing Inc. in Clinton Township. Macomb Printing will grow and add three jobs”;
- “Lube Power Inc., a Shelby Township-based designer and manufacturer of hydraulic systems, to invest $6.4 million and add 60 jobs”;
- “Witzenmann USA L.L.C., an auto parts supplier in Warren and the U.S. affiliate of German manufacturer Witzenmann GbmH, to invest $3.45 million and add 39 jobs”;
- “Bleichert Co., a maker of conveyor lines for automated manufacturers, to invest $3.67 million and add 25 jobs in Sterling Heights”; and
- “13 pending investments totaling $43.3 million that could add up to 832 jobs if negotiations are successful.”
In addition to the jobs referenced in the report are 460 jobs that BAE Systems, a defense contractor in Sterling Heights, plans to add when they use the incentives they won this year from the Michigan Economic Growth Authority for an expansion project.
These are mostly industrial jobs — the hiring companies include a toolmaker, an automated manufacturer, a hydraulic systems manufacturer and an auto parts supplier, for example. The forecast in Michigan looks like employment with scattered company growth throughout the rest of the year.
Crain’s also says, “By comparison, the Oakland County Department of Economic Development and Community Affairs reported $94.3 million in investment from non-traditional emerging sector businesses, plus $27.1 million in traditional sectors such as manufacturing, to add over 2,600 jobs in that county.”
The paper features another article dealing with Oakland County’s job forecast as reported by the department, titled, “Oakland County gets commitments for $11.5 million investment, up to 120 jobs.”
Some of the blue-collar jobs featured in the article are cited below:
- “Fluxtrol Manufacturing, Inc., a fabricated metal manufacturer in Auburn Hills which will invest up to $1 million and add three jobs”;
- “Dalton Industries L.L.C., a metalworking machinery manufacturer in Waterford Township investing up to $2 million and adding 25 jobs”;
- “Fawer Automotive Parts Co. Ltd., an auto parts supplier investing up to $5,000 and adding two jobs”; and
- “Raval USA Inc., a plastic products manufacturer opening a $7 million design, development, and manufacturing facility in Rochester Hills and bringing up to 65 new jobs.”
Manufacturing jobs seem to be the hot item up for grabs these days. A background in industrial work, and with today’s technological emphasis, some history with technological interaction and training, will be key for applicants to these kinds of jobs. Prove you’re committed to quality, to making a quality product and to working your hardest every day, and you’ll fit the job description. Let your enthusiasm show potential employers how committed you are.
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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:
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