Preemployment criminal history background checks are required for academic positions with unsupervised access to children under the age of 16, developmentally disabled persons, or vulnerable adults under the Washington State Child and Adult Abuse Law (CAAL) RCW 43.43.830 or access to information or infrastructure, including:
- Certain IT systems
- Personally identifying information
- Financial resources or information
- Information, places, or systems with security implications
- Pharmaceuticals or controlled substances
Legal or policy requirements may obligate UW to run background checks for additional position types, including but not limited to:
- Environmental Health and Safety positions working in the select agent program and/or radiation safety.
- Individuals involved with University youth programs who are designated as “authorized personnel” (see APS 10.13).
All jobs in the University of Washington Medical Centers are designated as security/safety sensitive and/or CAAL-covered. For other academic personnel jobs, the hiring department, in consultation with an Academic HR Business Partner, determines which jobs are designated based on the duties and responsibilities of each job. Questions regarding whether a job requires a background check should be directed to the school/college/campus dean or chancellor, or to Academic HR.
Conducting Required Criminal Background Checks
Academic HR Business Partners must be authorized by the University to initiate criminal history background checks through First Advantage. If you have questions about who in your unit is authorized to initiate background checks, or to add, delete, or edit an authorized user’s information, please contact Academic HR at acadpers@uw.edu
For all positions requiring a criminal background check, the HR Business Partner of the hiring unit initiates the criminal conviction history check process after a contingent job offer is made to the candidate they wish to hire. The offer of employment needs to be in writing and must clearly state that employment is contingent upon successful completion of the background check, if applicable.
The background check requirement may also apply if the candidate is a current UW academic personnel member who is being considered for a job that will now include security/safety sensitive and/or CAAL-covered duties and has not previously undergone a criminal conviction history background check.
Criminal background checks are normally completed within 48-72 hours from the time that the required information is provided to the First Advantage. However, circumstances such as the need to perform an international criminal background check will require additional time.
Criminal History Disclosure
Before an applicant can be considered for employment in a position which may involve unsupervised access to children under the age of 16, developmentally disabled persons, or vulnerable adults, the University must ask applicants specific information related to:
- convictions for crimes against persons,
- crimes relating to financial exploitation, and
- findings in related actions and proceedings, including certain civil proceedings.
Units must provide the Criminal History Disclosure form to finalist candidates of CAAL covered positions.
Background Check Fees
The hiring unit is responsible for the background check cost. Hiring units are encouraged to consult with their dean/chancellor’s office HR representative about funding. If the final candidate rescinds their acceptance of the job offer after a criminal background check is conducted, the criminal background check fee will not be refunded.
First Advantage will send background check invoices by the 10th of the month for checks completed the previous month. For additional information about background check fees, please visit Background checks: Costs and billing on the UW Human Resources website.
Criminal Background Check Results
The background check initiator will receive an email indicating whether the background check returned criminal history findings. The initiator will not be able to view the completed background check report.
If there are criminal history findings, the Office for Academic Personnel and Faculty (APF) will be notified to assess whether the findings are disqualifying for UW employment and communicate the disposition to the initiator of the background check.
If the candidate is not eligible for employment, APF will inform the hiring unit that the candidate has a disqualifying criminal conviction history—without revealing details—and will notify the candidate of their ineligibility for employment after consulting with the APF representative.
If the results of the check are satisfactory, the candidate may start work as soon as First Advantage (in cases where reports have no findings) or the APF representative (in cases where criminal history is not disqualifying) notifies the unit of the satisfactory result and after all other institutional conditions for hire have been met.
Records Retention Schedule
All units must retain completed criminal background check authorization forms, criminal background check results, criminal history disclosure form and all other applicable background information as required by the State Records Committee, RCW 40.14.050 and the University’s Record Retention Schedule.