Safeguard Screening » privacy rights http://www.safeguardscreening.com Your source for Employment Screening Background Checks Tue, 22 Jun 2010 18:44:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Going Whole Hogg $8.6 Million Verdict in Wild Pig Accident http://www.safeguardscreening.com/2009/going-whole-hogg-8-6-million-verdict-in-wild-pig-accident/ http://www.safeguardscreening.com/2009/going-whole-hogg-8-6-million-verdict-in-wild-pig-accident/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:49:54 +0000 Safeguard Screening http://www.safeguardscreening.com/?p=59 A  jury recently awarded $8.6 Million to a Monterey County motorcyclist who was severely injured after striking a wild pig.  The jury found that State highway officials were responsible for the Plaintiff’s injuries.  They ruled that the officials ignored evidence that a stretch of highway was dangerous because wild pigs were crossing it and the State failed to take appropriate action to resolve the danger.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the man was confined to a wheelchair.

If you’ve been wondering how our California State has gotten info this budget crisis, look no further than some of these jury payouts.  Let’s assume the complaint is valid and the State neglected to do anything about the danger, such as posting wild pig crossing signs, or limiting the speed limit in the area to allow a speeding cyclist to avoid a fleeing pig.   Even if the State is correctly at fault, is it really worth 8.6 Million?  How could the victim incur this much damage from the accident, or was some of it punitive?  If so, why so much?  How about forcing the state to spend 8.6 million on improving the highway conditions? 

And finally, we wonder about the fate of the poor wild pig.   This was San Francisco; wasn’t anybody standing up for the rights of the pig?  Where did he end up? Into the meat grinders at Buena Vista Restaurant?



]]> http://www.safeguardscreening.com/2009/going-whole-hogg-8-6-million-verdict-in-wild-pig-accident/feed/ 0 Hot for Teacher – background checks, that is http://www.safeguardscreening.com/2008/hot-for-teacher-background-checks-that-is/ http://www.safeguardscreening.com/2008/hot-for-teacher-background-checks-that-is/#comments Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:23:12 +0000 Safeguard Screening http://www.safeguardscreening.com/?p=25 schoolhouseThe Austin American-Statesman wants the results of background checks conducted by the Austin School Board, but the school board and the The Association of Texas Professional Educators doesn’t want to give it to them.  The District Attorney apparently ruled that “part of the information was not exempt from the public information laws.”    Now the association has filed a lawsuit to withold this information. 

“While we had certainly hoped that the district and the attorney general’s office would have respected the privacy of individual citizens, we’re now forced to file suit to protect the fundamental rights of AISD employees,” said Doug Rogers, the group’s executive director.

Read the full article here:

While the courts decide the issue, it’s worth discussing what’s at stake here.   The trouble with protecting public records about teachers in a public school is that the students of citizens attend these schools.  It seems that the public has a right to the results of the background checks conducted on the teachers, at least the ”public records” portion, such as criminal background history, civil background history, liens, judgments, etc. 

The importance of background checks in public school cannot be igored.  In light of the litigation involved in the Roman Catholic church scandal over abuse inside the church, any organization must be aware of the potental fallout of negligent hiring and not running background checks on your employees.  School need to screen all employees of the school system, not just teachers. 

 

 

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