Criminal History and Background Checks for Employment (G/P)

Purpose:

Austin Community College District (“ACC” or “the College”) conducts criminal history and background checks to provide a safe and secure environment for its employees, students, interns, and visiting populations. The College’s criminal history and background check procedures must be followed.

1. The Office of Human Resources conducts criminal history and background checks at the time of hire. Position-specific, or job-related criminal history, and background checks are conducted at the discretion of the College. Fingerprinting may be performed to obtain criminal history reports for employees working in security-sensitive positions.
2. Criminal history checks including checks using the Sex Offender Registry will be conducted on all job candidates and employees moving into new positions.  Positions that require position-specific, job-related criminal history, or background checks may also include drug screens, motor vehicle records, employment verifications, educational verifications, license verifications and other job-related background checks.
3. Individuals who fail to provide consent to background checks or provide inaccurate information will be disqualified from employment.
4. The Office of Human Resources will incorporate criminal history and background check processes into the College’s hiring procedures, which will be made publicly available on the College’s website.  
5. The Office of Human Resources shall notify the immediate supervisor when criminal history and background checks are complete and a job candidate is eligible for employment.
6. In consultation with the highest-level administrator and the Vice President of Human Resources, the immediate supervisor shall make a final determination on the employment of the job candidate or employee whenever a report identifies a criminal conviction.
7. If a decision is made not to hire a job candidate based on the results of a criminal history and/or background check, Human Resources will notify job candidates and conduct adverse action procedures in accordance with federal, state, and local laws.
8. The job candidates may contact a Human Resources representative to contest a criminal conviction or choose to withdraw from employment consideration.  If the job candidate believes the report provided to the College is inaccurate, the College will give the job candidate reasonable time to verify the disputed information with the vendor and reaffirm outcomes with the Office of Human Resources.
9. The existence of a criminal conviction will not automatically disqualify an individual from employment. A criminal conviction means an individual has been found guilty or entered a plea of guilty or no contest to a felony. A deferred adjudication or a conviction which has been expunged from the individual’s record may not be considered.
10. Criminal history and background check reports must be conducted on all contractors by the College. Supervisors recommending contractors to work at the College must first receive confirmation from the Office of Human Resources that each contractor is eligible to work at the College
11. Supervisors are to initiate the process of criminal history and background checks as described in ACC’s hiring procedures. To ensure compliance with this policy, contractors hired through staffing companies must consent to criminal history and background checks aligned with College procedures.
12. Human Resources receives outcomes of each contractor’s criminal history and background check directly from the College’s third-party criminal history and background check vendor and will determine the eligibility for contractors to work at the College based upon the outcomes received in each criminal history and background check report.
13. The Office of Human Resources will notify supervisors of each contractor’s eligibility to work at the College upon receiving each contractor’s criminal history and background check results.  Contractors may dispute any information in their criminal history and background check report directly with the third-party report vendor and their staffing company.
14. Criminal history and background check reports may not be released or disclosed, except on court order. Individuals may obtain copies of their reports directly from the reporting agency.

The Responsibility to Disclose Background and Criminal History Information

• An employee must notify the immediate supervisor and consent to a criminal history check within three calendar days of a felony conviction, no contest, guilty plea, or other adjudication.
• Once the criminal charges have been resolved, the employee should notify the supervisor of the outcome.
• The supervisor, the next-level administrator, and the Human Resources representative should discuss background reports that result in convictions and make a final determination regarding the employment of a job candidate or employee.
• An employee who separates from the College or returns from an approved leave, sabbatical, and the break in service is of one year or longer, the employee must consent to a background and criminal history check.

The College retains the right to conduct relevant background checks of current employees when it has reasonable grounds to do so, e.g., no prior check was performed, a workplace accident occurs, upon disclosure of a conviction, etc. The employee must give consent to the background check. Refusal to consent is grounds to terminate employment.