Recently abuzz on the news is the recent firing of a 33-year old local mall Santa in Sheboygan Wisconsin Tuesday, just three days before Christmas day. Hal Specht, was hired by an agency that coordinates Santa appearance on numerous malls in Wisconsin. During Specht's employment, his supervisors ran several background checks despite him already passing his agencies background checks.The agency that employed the mall Santa, IPI Event Photography, assured the public that they run criminal background checks on all their employees, and that there was nothing found when they ran a check on Hal Specht, but it was later found that Hal Specht had legally changed his name from Hal Barts in October 2008. Apparently, Specht lied on his application and claimed he had no criminal convictions which were confirmed during his background check with IPI.
There were some concerns among the public regarding the validity of Specht's termination. Although it is understandable that he is at fault for lying on his application, the core of the issue is the crime he committed and whether or not it justifies his termination.
On the background check run on Hal Barts, his report showed that Barts, who was then 23 years old, was convicted of having sex with a 16-year old runaway who was found hiding in his residence in 1999. Records also show a conviction for felony escape, but any checks that are run under Hal Specht show no convictions.
Multiple comments and emails sent to news rooms, and news sites have expressed concerns regarding the law that allows children who initiate sexual relations with other children from being convicted as sexual offenders. On most cases it is the parent of the female that files the case against their child's partner even if the intercourse was consensual. Similar to Hal Bart's case, where further investigations show, ran away with his 16 year old girlfriend when he was 23 years old and was convicted for sexual misdemeanor when both he and his partner were caught.
1 comments:
How could something like this be allowed to slip through the cracks? This is a major problem in America today that convicted criminals could be allowed to slip through the cracks and obtain a job like this. Pre-employment screening tests should be done by a qualified company that is trained and skilled in doing so. Looking in to social security verification in this case might have prevented the hiring.
-RHoward
People Check
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