The American Red Cross

I originally started this post trying to be my usual, witty self. Then I figured you don’t have all day to read it, so I’d keep it as brief as possible. Then, since it was still taking a lot of space, I got to thinking that because this is the topic that pushed my GO button, I wanted to make sure you understand my point of view. Therefore, I have decided that I should tell the story in two parts. (Remember that I’m telling you this up front, not leaving you hanging in the middle of a story like some bloggers do, so no whining allowed).

Once a year for the last few years, I have been helping administer the flu vaccine at my church. It is the only day I perform an actual nursing procedure anymore. Even better, it gives me a chance to do something I rarely had time for when I was being paid—talk to patients/clients and maybe put a smile on their face without feeling like I had to rush to get something else done before the end of the shift.

The Red Cross provides the vaccine, so for that one day a year, I am a Red Cross Volunteer. This year, the parish coordinator for the event called me one evening and said: “Flo, you are SO important that the Red Cross wants to do a background check on you.” I’ve been in the military; I’ve had background checks. No big deal. There are several people that help during these clinics, but the coordinator said nurses are the only ones required to have a background check (ok, so I wasn’t the only important one).

This is done on-line, so I went to the website I was given and started clicking. Then I ran into the Disclosure Agreement. I even printed it so I could R e a d I t S l o w l y because I couldn’t believe what I was reading.

Basically, the Red Cross was asking for authorization to conduct a background check for either employment purposes or any other purposes allowed under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The investigations conducted might include, but are not limited to, credit checks, social security verification, criminal and public court records checks, driving records checks, education and professional employment verification, licensing and certification verification, and reference checks.

In addition, authorizing the background check allows the Red Cross to obtain any and all consumer reports as long as the Red Cross employs you.

I thought the background check might have to do with HIPPA, but the parish coordinator thought it was a Homeland Security issue. I contacted the local Red Cross chapter and was told the National Headquarters required the background check and all they knew was that it had something to do with Hurricane Katrina and a Congressional. After a little more research, it was determined that the only investigation the Red Cross was paying for was the criminal records check.

That is perfectly fine and not an unreasonable request. We want our kid’s teacher checked out for a criminal record, so I guess it’s not too much to ask to check the record of someone that is injecting a foreign substance into your body.

Do the criminal record check. I authorize the Red Cross to perform a criminal record check.

However, that is not what the Disclosure Agreement says. They want authorization for all of it. To be a VOLUNTEER, to offer my professional nursing services to them free of charge, they want permission to be able to view my entire life history—and not the condensed version. No authorization of the background check means no volunteer work.

I contacted the National Headquarters and asked if they would revise the agreement. This is what I received (it has been copied and pasted, so the errors are not mine, although I have edited names and phone numbers):

“Dear Flo,

We here at NHQ do understand the concerns that the consent form has raised among our members. However, the language in the consent form is standard legal language used in consent forms for background checks, industry wide, and has been approved by the Office of General Council here at the Red Cross. By signing it, it is true that the person does agree that the Red Cross could conduct a credit check or other investigation into an individual's background, but a credit check or other investigations are not part of the minimum basic check the Red Cross will perform on its employees or volunteers. Because there may be instances when a chapter would want to run further checks, however, such as Motor Vehicle Records check for those they want to drive their vehicles or credit checks for those who work with finances or fundraising, or employee verification for applicants for employment, the broad language of this consent form is necessary. Be assured that those instances are rare, and the chapter's unit administrator must specifically order an MVR or credit check and the chapter must pay for it separately. If a volunteer has questions about whether their chapter would need to conduct an additional check besides the standard, they should contact their Unit Administrator. Your Unit Administrator is LocalLady and she would be more than wiling to speak with you about the background check policy and the need for it at the event your are referencing.

It may be helpful for you to know that one of our main concerns when choosing a vendor for this initiative was the protection of the personal information of staff and volunteers. My Background Check, whose corporate name is pre-employ.com, has been in business for over 12 years in California, working on background checks for other large organizations with security concerns as urgent as our own, and has not a single complaint to the Better Business Bureau. The login website address begins with https, the "s" confirming that it is a secure website, complete with automatic encryption and other safeguards. All information is kept on the vendor's secure website. One has to go to the vendor's website and enter an individualized password to access confidential information. SSN’s cannot be downloaded to computes and cannot be taken from the site. My Background Check does not sell information and is bound by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to only use the personal information provided for legitimate business purposes, just as the Red Cross and Unit Administrators are also bound. As it states in the FCRA (which is available upon consenting to the background check and on CrossNet): "A consumer reporting agency may provide information about you only to people with a valid need..."

I hope I have been able to address your concerns. Again, please feel free to contact LocalLady at 000-000-0000 or this office at 1-800-000-0000.

Sincerely,
NationalLady”

Keeping in mind that I need clearance to be a VOLUNTEER, I’ll leave you to stew on the situation for a bit.

Flo