Posted on 01/08/2009 6:05:11 AM PST by Badeye
Lessons From McCain's Palin Background Check By Sean Leviashvili
Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is five months pregnant, plans to keep the baby and marry the child’s 18-year-old father.
We know all that now, the question is, did John McCain know it before he chose Palin to run as his VP?
That information may have come up in a background check, and the thoroughness of McCain's is being questioned. And what he did, or did not do, before announcing his running mate, holds lessons for any professional, according to career experts. Some may argue that picking a running mate is similar to hiring an employee. How should the background checks compare?
As for the legal guidelines regarding background checks for employers, like most areas of law, they vary based on location. For example, in Kentucky, no consumer reporting agency, which is an investigative agency that falls under the guidelines of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, can maintain any information relating to any charge in a criminal case unless the charge has resulted in a conviction. Meanwhile a consumer reporting agency in Montana, Kansas and New Hampshire can maintain information regarding records of arrests and indictments, with or without convictions, for seven years, according to www.hrliability.com.
And criminal history is just one area employers can delve into. Other areas include credit reports, driving records, references, school records, and others. But what areas are off limits? Can a potential employer pry into a possible employee’s personal life on a job interview?
Again, the answer is unclear. “There is no comprehensive law that says it is inappropriate,” says Pauline Kim, law professor at the Washington University school of law in St. Louis. “Very often there are protections and laws that protect medical information more generally, but not specifically a person’s privacy.”
When it comes to asking about a person’s family before making a hiring offer, it is usually acceptable, she says. “Unless it’s put off limits by a particular law, information about a person’s family that could be known by members of the community is not prohibited.”
On a national level, some legislation limits the extent of job interview questions. For example Title VII, makes it illegal for employers to ask about religion, race, or national origin as part of a hiring decision. (However, the information can be obtained if a potential employee consents in a release form.)
The extent of the background check usually coincides with how closely a potential employee will be connected with the government, says Stephen Brown, founder of HindSight Services, inc., and author of the second edition of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating. Employers seeking workers for government agencies will pull information from databases like the Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons database, or the Department of State Trade Control Debarred Parties. But for the everyday worker, most employers won’t spend the money on extensive background checks.
A cheaper alternative are online background checks, but these sources generally don’t meet the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act in that they have a more limited coverage. “The information must be current within thirty days, and should cover a range of counties,” says Brown.
Also, these files won’t disclose information about a potential employer’s family of personal life. But, to bring it back to the McCain camp, should it?
Family members could be an indication of a person’s ability, but it is often out of the employer’s league to make that judgment. “When you’re hiring someone, you’re hiring them, not their family,” says Brown.
One piece of legislation that further separates candidates from their family trees is the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, which was signed in May. The act works to protect Americans against discrimination based on their genetic information when it comes to health insurance and employment.
“With this act, medical information is becoming more private,” says Kim, associate dean for research and development at Washington University Law School. “But as for an employee’s child’s pregnancy, that is not off limits.”
One should always check to see if the boss is a RINO, labeled by the media as a maverick. If so, make sure that you, the candidate, is allowed to keep your own political philosophy.
The only thing good thing McCain did during the general election was pick Palin.
I’ll take a conservative with a pregnant teenager over an America-hating Socialist criminal any day of the week.
Guess that means I shouldn’t work in the HR department. lol
There is no end to the Palin bashing.
Am damned sick and tired of it.
I think McCain staffers made the understandable mistake that the liberal media would be more “tolerant” of teenage pregnancy, since they’re constantly telling us conservatives to be so.
Without Palen, McNutt would have been luckey to crack FORTY PERCENT in November.
Who did the background check of THE ONE?
McCain and his team were pretty much incompetent when it came to tactics, strategy, preparation and funding ... but he managed to hit one over the fence with Palin.
Exactly - what background investigations were done and covered up on the Left side? We’ll never hear about those yet the MSM will be hyperventilating about the Palins for years.
Bill Ayers.
Apparently...... NO ONE
The only part of Governor Palin that the McCain camp neglected was the obvious fact that she’s tougher, more charismatic and WAY more conservative than her almost boss.
The lesson here is for Sarah Palin: You’re a first stringer who tried to play second fiddle to a third stringer. Next time, be the starter.
I give this story a big WGAFF — These F**knuts want to talk about vetting and they let Obama in the room.... They are just plain scared sh*tless of the Palin factor and what it could do to them in 2010 and 2012 that they are trying anything to discredit her in the eyes of her base as well as the “emotional” voters out there.... this crap isn’t even worth toliet paper .............
Absolutely that is the question! The hypocrisy of the left borders on the insane.
Dumpster Diving...the next Olympic Event!
IIRC, it was no secret in Wasilla. I would assume McCain had this information.
0-Bamster can do crack, coke, whatever, not be an American citizen, have ties to anti-American terrorists, etc. etc. etc. and yet the media has the “Audacity” to criticize McCain’s background check? Laughable. Almost as laughable as the campaign McCain ran.
For the record, Palin didn’t drag McCain down; McCain buried himself well before he actually made a good decision and chose Palin.
But if she had been like a good liberal and killed the child, it wouldn't be an issue. It makes me sick how many girls kill their children so that they get to keep acting like good girls.
Where’s the article about checking whether a presidential nominee was actually born in the US as he claims?
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