Background checks for D.C. employees

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Most D.C. government and public school employees whose jobs entail direct contact with children will have to undergo criminal background checks no matter when they were first hired, under new rules published Friday.

The emergency regulations issued by the Department of Human Resources will take effect in 30 days and could affect as many as 15,000 city workers. They require that each current employee or unsupervised volunteer in a covered position “be subjected to an initial criminal background check” within 45 days of the rules’ implementation, and then to submit to periodic checks at least every two years.

“These rules will maximize the safety of the children of the District of Columbia,” DCHR spokesman Mike Rupert said in an e-mail. “Once finalized, these new rules will allow the District to scrutinize the backgrounds of all employees in safety sensitive positions — especially those who work with or around children.”

Laws in place since 2005 require background checks for job applicants and child service providers, but never before has the city delved into the pasts of longtime staffers who have direct contact with youth. Employees with more than a dozen agencies and divisions could be affected, including human services, public schools, health, parks and recreation, mental health, child and family services, disability services, and the fire prevention bureau.

The exact positions to require checks are to be determined, but the number of employees affected could top out at nearly 15,000 — 2,400 in the executive and 12,000 or more in the schools.

The criminal checks, the costs of which will be absorbed by the District, include fingerprinting and reviews of national crime databases. The results “shall not immediately disqualify or create a presumption against employment or volunteer status,” according to the regulations, unless that person is found to have abused children.

Mafara Hobson, DCPS spokeswoman, said every person who works for the school system is fingerprinted and has his or her background checked, though she could not say whether longtime employees have undergone the inquiries.

Union leaders said they weren’t aware of the new rules. One said the plan appeared to cast an unprecedented wide net.

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com

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