Not Always a Catch-All

Recently, health officials in Los Angeles County were appalled to find out that an ex-cop convicted of rape was hired - not once, but twice - to work in public hospitals. Gariner Beasley was convicted of raping two women "under the color of authority" in 1992, while on duty as a Los Angeles police officer. He was fired in August 2008, weeded out by a county-wide audit, which revealed 11% of county hospital staff had serious criminal records.

However, 48-year-old Beasley found his way back in, referred to another hospital by Mediscan Staffing Service for a short-term contract. When discovered in February 2009, Beasley was fired again. The blame fell on a supervisor who failed to do a "Live Scan" background check for convictions in accordance with county policies. Officials stated that "any policy is only as good as the people who ensure and comply with that policy."

However, there may have been a good reason why the supervisor didn't perform the routine background checks. Under the circumstances, it was the employment agency, not the medical center, who directly employed temporary employees, and whose responsibility it was to conduct background checks as a prerequisite for hiring Beasley. Mediscan asserts it performed all required background checks; yet, somehow Beasley managed to slip through the cracks, passing a seven-year criminal and sex offender check, fraud/OIG check, license, education and employment screenings, and the national terrorist database check.

Therein lies the answer. The candidate's conviction occurred longer than seven years ago, so naturally he would appear to have a clean criminal record. Why would a company only search back seven years? That's the requirement of Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) guidelines. What is confusing about this situation is that Beasley doesn't appear on any sex offender registries. Most sex offenders earn the status for life; why didn't Beasley? Does it have something to do with the fact that he was convicted while working as a Los Angeles Police Officer?

Regardless, the county no longer accepts employees from Mediscan. Officials say the situation pointed out multi-leveled flaws in the county's hiring process. Beasley managed to become a state-licensed health care provider in spite of his felony. The county is working to improve criminal background check procedures for staffing agencies placing workers at county institutions.