As we are returning to pre-pandemic hiring volumes, it’s time to look closer at sex crimes that can be prevented by performing basic pre-employment criminal background check and a search of the sex offender registry.
Sex Trafficking Lawsuits in Hospitality
As highlighted in the media, there have been a number of incidences where a hotel employee is found to be complicit in the sex trafficking of women at the hotel where they work, and that the signs of sex trafficking were ignored by hotel management.
In Atlanta, hotel chains are being sued by four women who allege that they were sex trafficked. The allegation states that hotel staff helped the traffickers in exchange for a cut of profits. In Columbus, a woman who was trafficked for sex is suing three hotel chains, alleging staff’s knowledge of what was going on.
Due to the number of sex trafficking lawsuits against hotel chains, settlements could run into billions of dollars.
Preventing Trafficking in Hotels
One step to fight sex trafficking on hotel property is to perform a basic criminal check of all hotel employees to ensure they have not been arrested for pimping, pandering or human trafficking.
The American Hotel and Lodging Association has created their own program to combat human trafficking.
The Department of Homeland Security has identified and defined the risks associated with human trafficking and the lodging industry, creating their own program.
Risk can be mitigated by a background screening process that weeds out the applicants that could put hotel brands at risk.
Five Diamond Screening is the only background screening company that focuses solely on hospitality and leisure.
