Improving The Employee Background Check Process For
Airline Service Companies
Background Information
In order for an employee to work at the airport in secured areas, he or she must be “approved” by up to three separate entities and processes. This is not only costly to companies in the aviation industry, it can cause delays in getting an employee approved to work. These delays can affect the company’s performance and increase costs by creating the need for other employees to work overtime to perform the duties of those individuals awaiting clearance.
The three main entities controlling the approval process are the Criminal History Records Check required by the TSA and coordinated by the airport authority, U.S. Customs, and the United States Postal Service. Making the process more complex is that these three entities have their own criteria for approving or denying someone to work in an airport’s secure areas.
Criminal History Records Check
To ensure that certain areas of the airport have controlled access by only those employees authorized to have access, Secured Identification Areas (SIDA) were established. These are areas on an airport into which only employees who are approved and who have received an airport-issued badge are permitted unescorted access. This process has changed over the years but has become more consistent in its application since September 11, 2001.
A Criminal History Records Check (CHRC) is conducted to authorize an employee to hold a SIDA badge. The employee wishing to gain access to SIDA must be fingerprinted. Most airports use an electronic fingerprinting process (although some still use a manual process). The fingerprints are sent to the FBI and, through the AAAE Clearinghouse, the results are returned to the airport operator.
The CHRC indicates a list of disqualifying crimes. If an employee has a conviction of any of the disqualifying crimes within the last 10 years, he or she will not be approved.
If no disqualifying crimes are found, the airport operator notifies the authorizing employer (or sponsor) that an employee is eligible for SIDA badge. The employee then goes to a SIDA class and, upon successful completion of the class, receives an airport-issued ID badge. If he or she is not approved, the authorizing employer, or sponsor, is notified. The amount of time it takes to receive an approval or denial varies by airport from a few business days to a few weeks.
U. S. Customs
Certain employees working at the airport must also receive a U.S. Customs seal to have access to a Customs area. To receive this Customs seal, the employee must not only meet the qualifications for approval via the CHRC, but also must not have been convicted of any of ten additional disqualifying crimes that may deny a Customs seal approval. In addition, Customs may deny an individual a Custom’s seal if he or she is deemed a risk to the public health, interest or safety, national security, or aviation safety. Still further, acquiring a Customs seal requires a certification by the hiring company that a “meaningful” background investigation has been conducted. The amount of time it takes to receive an approval or denial from the U. S. Customs varies by airport from a few business days to a few weeks.
U. S. Postal Service
Employees having access to U.S. mail must now be approved by a third and separate process. This process is not set forth by law or federal regulation but, rather, through the contractual obligation between the USPS and the air carrier.
The employee must be fingerprinted using a manual process on fingerprint cards. These fingerprint cards are sent to the USPS for review and approval or denial. The amount of time it takes to receive an approval or denial varies from a few weeks to a many months; however, the USPS does allow the individual to have access to U.S. mail until such time that a denial is sent. Virtually any felony conviction within the past 10 years will result in a denial of this person having access to the U.S. mail. In addition, the requirements also include a negative drug test, a separate criminal history check and legal documentation that the individual has the right to work in the United States.
Lack of Coordination
There is currently little coordination in efforts for these three separate approval processes. What coordination that exists involves airports that allowed an individual to submit one set of fingerprints for both the CHRC and for Customs. However, there is a separate charge levied for each process and there are ongoing discussions that these two entities may require their own fingerprint process.
With these three separate processes, it is possible for the following six outcomes:
- denial from USPS, approval from the CHRC and denial from Customs;
- denial from USPS, approval from CHRC and approval from Customs;
- approval from USPS, denial from CHRC and denial from Customs;
- approval from USPS, approval from CHRC and denial from Customs;
- approval from all three; and
- denial from all three.
To further complicate matters, some airports still require, as a condition of approval for badging, an employment background check of the last 5 years and 10 years of employment history. This process, in addition to a criminal history records check of the last 10 years including every place the individual lived or worked, formerly was the process for approval for employee access to a SIDA prior to September 11, 2001.
Discussion
Having three separate processes is not only time consuming, it is costly. Possible solutions to the current disconnect follow.
- Require only one set of fingerprints for the CHRC, Customs, and the USPS. These can then be submitted to the FBI via the airport security office.
- Make the results available to the three entities via an automated clearinghouse. This way, all entities are looking at the same results.
- The entities may wish to evaluate one set of criteria for approval or denial that could be established that would be acceptable to all.
Making these changes will expedite authorizing an employee to work in covered jobs. Being short-staffed affects performance and increases costs to the aviation industry. In addition, the existing practices result in more frequent escorting of employees not yet approved. Sharing the results will also lower costs for affected government entities.
The clearinghouse may wish to evaluate tying the database to no-fly lists and other selected lists maintained by the TSA, Customs, INS and other federal agencies.
If one process can be agreed upon, the next logical step is to ensure “transferability” of the badge. In other words, if an employee is granted access on an airport, the same approval should apply to all airports. This, again, will streamline the process for those employees that transfer to a different airport (either on a long- or short-term basis) as well as decrease costs by eliminating the need to go through the entire process again at the new airport.
Other
Currently, contractors to airlines at the airport do not receive specific information about the completed CHRC. The only information received is that the individual was approved (or denied) for access. The contractor should have access to the results so the contractor knows the basis for the denial. At a minimum, the contractor should have a reference number for the CHRC for any future legal challenges.
Conclusion
NATA and its Airline Services Council stand ready to work with the TSA and other agencies to ensure that the potential efficiencies and cost savings from such consolidation are realized.