Transportation Worker Background Checks

In the effort to identify terrorism risks after theSeptember 11th attacks, Congress instituted a new system of criminalbackground checks in the nation's transportation industry. A progression of federal mandateshas been put in place to screen the millions of workers employed in theaviation, maritime and ground transportation industries.

Like most background checks, many of these screeningpolicies fail to provide basic protections to limit abuse of the process. For example, they often fail consider the ageand seriousness of offenses, and do not allow workers to demonstraterehabilitation. Overbroad exclusionsunfairly deny employment to individuals who present no security risk and deprivethe transportation industry of qualified workers.

However, the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) of2002, which mandated that all port workers go through a background check toobtain the newly-required Transportation Worker Identification Credential(TWIC), includes several significant protections that go much further than mostfederal background checks to create a more fair and accurate screeningprocess. Specifically, the MTSA:

  • Imposes more reasonable limits on the age and seriousness of the offenses that may disqualify an individual from the required security clearance; and

  • Provides for a "waiver" process that takes into account evidence of rehabilitation, as well as an appeal process that allows workers to challenge inaccuracies in their background check that lead to initial disqualification.

NELP is the nation's foremost authority on the rights ofworkers subject to the new federal background checks for port workers and truckdrivers. We are playing a leading rolein promoting similar procedures as a model for all federal and state criminalbackground checks. In addition, NELP ispartnering with port security officials, port truck drivers, longshore workers,and many of the unions representing these workers to help ensure that workers takefull advantage of their rights when they apply for the TWIC card by:

  • Successfully representing numerous workers who were initially denied a TWIC card by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) (the agency implementing the TWIC program)

  • Testifying before Congress on proposed reforms to make the TWIC process more fair and accurate for workers and their employers.

For more information about our work in this area, please contact Madeline Neighly, mneighly@nelp.org.

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