Report: Census Bureau backlogged on background checks

By MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press

The U.S. Census Bureau has a backlog of cases involving workers who were flagged for problems in their background checks. A new report from the bureau’s watchdog agency also says inadequate oversight allowed a handful of people who previously had faced criminal charges to be hired for the 2020 census. The report from the Office of Inspector General released this week says that at the end of November 2019, the bureau had a backlog of nearly 300 cases in which background checks had raised major concerns but the employees continued to work for the statistical agency without a final determination on whether they should be let go.