Charlotte, NC Changes Background Check Policy After City Worker’s Arrest

According to a report from FoxCharlotte.com, Charlotte, North Carolina is changing the city's background check policies for “non-skilled” laborers after a convicted felon and city street maintenance worker was arrested and charged with the statutory rape of his pregnant step-sister, and also questioned by police about her murder after she was gunned down while waiting at a school bus stop.

FoxCharlotte.com reported Royce Mitchell, 36, has since been fired from his job for falsifying his employment application by not disclosing a criminal past, according to a statement by the city, after police named him a “person of interest” in the murder of 15-year-old Tiffany Wright and charged him with allegedly raping Wright and fathering her child, who was delivered by doctors after the murder but later died.

The city had conducted lifelong nationwide criminal background checks on all public safety, professional, and technical positions, according to FoxCharlotte.com, but had only been doing local background checks dating back seven years for non-skilled laborers like Mitchell.

Cost was cited as a factor in the decision to perform limited background checks on non-skilled workers, FoxCharlotte.com reported, as the city spends approximately $250,000 annually on background checks for city employees, including $200 to $300 for background checks for police and fire while only $40 for background checks on maintenance workers like Mitchell.

The change in background check policy – which will now expand all city worker background checks to include a search of federal offenses throughout the country – is effective immediately and will cost the city an estimated $5,000, according to FoxCharlotte.com.

Pre-Employ.com is a leading provider of pre-employment screening services including criminal background checks. For more information, visit www.pre-employ.com, email info@pre-employ.com, or call 1-800-300-1821. To follow Pre-Employ.com on Twitter, visit www.twitter.com/PreEmploy.

tahearn@pre-employ.com

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