Fingerprinting and criminal background checks
I am developing an issue paper on whether or not to conduct fingerprinting and background checks for State departmental employees, specifically new hires. This would not pertain to those employees who by law or regulation must be fingerprinted and background checked such as peace officers.
If anyone is working for a state department, especially a state child support department, does your department require fingerprinting and background checks for employees in general, or for employees who have access to sensitive data, such as social security numbers, home addresses, child support arrearages?
I realize it would not be necessary or cost effective to conduct background checks for all employees.
If your department does conduct fingerprinting and background checks on new hires, what is your legal authority? Did you have to implement a state statute? How did your union(s) react to implementing such a change in the condition of employment?
Thank for your help,
Margaret
If anyone is working for a state department, especially a state child support department, does your department require fingerprinting and background checks for employees in general, or for employees who have access to sensitive data, such as social security numbers, home addresses, child support arrearages?
I realize it would not be necessary or cost effective to conduct background checks for all employees.
If your department does conduct fingerprinting and background checks on new hires, what is your legal authority? Did you have to implement a state statute? How did your union(s) react to implementing such a change in the condition of employment?
Thank for your help,
Margaret
Comments
We don't do fingerprinting, but we do conduct state and federal background checks on all employees as well as SSN verification and pre-employment drug screens. We also go back 10 years of employment and the highest level of education. Actually, it is not as expensive as you think. Many third party vendors will offer bundled pricing. For the average employee it costs us less than $100.
We are not a state agency but we are licensed by the AZ Department of Health Services. We are a childcare company. Our license requires all employees to have a fingerprint clearance card. Some have it already upon hire. Most we fingerprint ourselves and send it in for clearance.
Cost is $52 per employee and cards expire after six years.
The problem: clearance usually takes up to three months. That means we have new hires working for a few months and we don't know what their criminal history is. We've had to term employees based on the results of their card application, AFTER we've invested three months in training them.
We do call all former employers and a minimum of two personal references for verification.
This doesn't exactly answer your request, but I hope it helps!