Eschol Amelia “Amy” Studnitz used to work for Corporate Mailing Services as a senior accountant until last July when CMS won a contract from the Social Security Administration to handle their mail. An routine FBI background check, however, said that Studnitz was unsuitable to work the contract and denied her the low-level security clearance she needed to keep her job. CMS could have simply removed her from the project, after all, the FBI didn’t say why she was unsuitable and gave no details. Instead, CMS gave her a few minutes to gather her things before she was fired and removed from the building.
Studnitz maintained that she had no criminal history and, indeed, the only court record the Baltimore Sun was able to uncover on her was a civil case related to a $11,676 judgment that a nursing home had been awarded in 2005. Studnitz told the paper this actually involved a suit against her late father’s estate.
About two weeks later, the Social Security Administration sent a letter to CMS backing her claim of innocence. The letter said Studnitz had passed a pre-screening check and could work on the SSA contract pending a final determination. It made no mention of the previous letter that claimed she was unsuitable.
That should have settled the matter. But instead of reinstating her in her job, CMS told her to re-apply for her position. After she did so, the company wrote back saying it was reorganizing the department and would get back to her. The company finally sent her a letter last week saying it had no intention of restoring her job.
The company claimed it had uncovered some problems that would be “detrimental” to her performing her job successfully. The company said she had failed to process some invoices or bill customers at new rates after they’d been raised. Studnitz has disputed the claims.
Studnitz has since learned that an unspecified error in the FBI’s National Criminal Information Center database was the cause for the SSA’s initial determination that she was “unsuitable. The NCIC database is a repository for criminal records and information on fugitives, stolen property and missing persons. Information is fed to the database from local, state. and federal law-enforcement agencies around the country. Canada uses the database to refuse border entry to anyone with a criminal record.
Since being fired, Studnitz has been unable to find work and is considering a lawsuit.
