More Than 50 percent of FBI Records Incomplete or Inaccurate, AG Says
WASHINGTON, DC – Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), offers the following statement regarding H.R. 5300, legislation introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott that will improve the employment background check system:
“An incomplete and error-riddled criminal database cannot be the reason qualified workers don’t earn a paycheck. With 50 percent of all FBI records incomplete or inaccurate according to an Attorney General report, this problem must get fixed. Workers and businesses – as well as our economy – suffer when qualified employees are kept off the job by uncorrected database errors.
“Not long after the September 11 terrorist attacks, Congress imposed significant new criminal background checks on aviation employees, Hazmat drivers, workers employed in the nation’s ports, and others. It is imperative that the database used by the government to perform these checks is accurate and up to date.
“Too many workers are getting denied security credentials because of faulty records, which often take months to correct. And because of the flawed system, filled with errors for over a decade, workers have seen their livelihoods threatened when they were wrongfully denied security credentials.
“We thank Congressman Scott for his efforts to right this wrong and prevent other workers from a similar fate.”
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The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, represents 32 member unions in the aviation, rail, transit, trucking, highway, longshore, maritime and related industries. For more information, visit www.ttd.org.
