Employers, more than ever before, need to protect themselves against accidents and crimes committed by their employees. With negligent hiring, lawsuits, training costs, workplace violence and theft on the rise, pre-employment screening as well as taking the correct pre-employment screening steps are no longer an option, but rather a necessity for businesses.

Washington State University’s The Daily Evergreen, reported a case of dirty dancing, but one very far from the campy classic starring the late Patrick Swayze. Geoffery Lee Keller, a man convicted in 2006 of Lewd Conduct with a Minor Under the Age of 16, has been fired from his position at WSU where he taught American Social Dance.

Keller, now 26, apparently did not disclose the offense on his application, which took advantage of a university policy loophole that does not require background checks unless the applicant will be working with children. The university was only made aware of Keller’s past through an anonymous tip provided by a woman to WSU officials.

Cedric Price, WSU Director of Physical Education Activities, said the decision to fire Keller was based upon his failure to reveal criminal activity during the application process. There was no word on whether the decision was also based on the fact that it was an offense that might make him unfit to interact with individuals in a physical education setting.

Price was quoted as saying that “(The Woman) made us aware of something we were unaware of and we took care of it.” Price also admitted that background checks were not typically included in the interview process, but something tells me in the wake of this little snafu that policy will most likely be changed.

Or maybe not? Interim Dean of the College of Education, Phyllis Erdman, gave no indication a review of existing policy other than to parrot policy governing the role of background checks in the hiring process.

“It’s not that typical to do a background check on something like that.” referencing that Keller’s role as a physical education teacher wouldn’t have him in contact with children.

But it’s okay for adult students to remain unaware of Keller’s status as a convicted sex offender? There’s some faulty logic at work here.

Students were justifiably unnerved by the incident. University student Courtney Clark was uneasy about the fact Keller had been arrested for a sex crime in 2006 and then hired a scant 3 years later. “Why didn’t they do a background check? Especially in a PE-type situation.”

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 9:54 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.