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.”
‘The only thing good thing McCain did during the general election was pick Palin.’
Correct.
Same view here.
No bashing on my part. I think she’s the only reason McCain didn’t lose 50 states.
I think McCain TOLD his staffers that would be the case....we know Johnny Mac has always been a tad delusional.
Agreed!
Great question that has yet to be answered.
Agree.
There will be no end to it. The media are eying Palin as the 2012 nominee. They are setting Palin up to be Barry Goldwater in 2012 against Obomba's LBJ.
Another waste of time from those with Palin Derangement Syndrome.
4 or 5 people may not have voted for the moderate Democrat McCain because of Bristol Palin’s pregnancy.
Meanwhile, Zero associates with openly hateful traitors, racists, thugs and terrorists and has his apple polished daily by his media.
Oh, and what kind of vetting did Obama do on his overtly disdainful, anti-American wife?
Me too. Since when do liberals have a problem with out-of-wedlock births?
My view as well.
This fellow failed to do a background check of the background check. My recollection is that this was one of the first issues brought up by Gov. Palin. Whoever paid him for his writings should get a refund.
Because we have future elections, and there are lessons to be learned from the previous one.
(chuckle)
When I was young, I was a world class competitor in that event.....
Sean Leviashvili, village idiot for Mainstreet dot com...
Some of the world wonders.....
McCain and his team were doomed from the beginning.
THEY HAD NO REAL FIGHT...BACKBONE....GUTS.....B**LS.......
The Republican party just has to get down and dirty, to match the Demos, which they did not do. If they had been smart enough to raise the BC issue (and others)long before the elections, I don’t think we would be where we are at today. But oh no....they wanted to play nice. Or they were just too stupid to check it out.
I’m a Palin supporter, to be crystal clear.
“The Republican party just has to get down and dirty, to match the Demos, which they did not do. If they had been smart enough to raise the BC issue (and others)long before the elections, I don’t think we would be where we are at today. But oh no....they wanted to play nice.”
The term BOHICA appears to be part of the mind set of “middle ground” Republicans ... and bipartisanship is always one way, requiring a lot of lubricant.
One might also ask if the DNC did a background check on Barry-O.
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