Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: News

Never think your past would catch up with you?

Think again.

As of July 2006, the Kentucky State Legislature passed a law requiring all state university employees, from the president to student employees, to undergo a background check.

Now, all U.S. citizens must pass a background check at the state and federal levels.

International students not only go through state and federal checks, but they also go through immigration services where they receive their visa.

"It's not a judgment on the part of Eastern. It's simply a mandate by the state legislature," said Claudia McCormick, student employment coordinator. "I think the state legislature just wants to make sure that the money they are spending at the state university levels is being spent for wages for folks who are going to make a contribution on campus."

So what about background checks at Eastern?

Because of this change in legislation, a few new steps have been added to the employment process at Eastern.

To apply for a job, students first fill out an employment application for the position. A second form must also be signed authorizing Eastern to make "any and all necessary and appropriate investigations to verify information provided," as written on the background investigation release.

The form requires students to fill in their name, address, social security number, driver's license number and date of birth to verify their identity.

The background investigation will use this information to verify national and state criminal records, educational credentials and sex offender checks.

Once signed, the background investigation release is sent to an independent background check company called HireRight, which provide all of Eastern's investigative services. HireRight's Web site pledges an average of less than two-day turnaround for background results.

Could I fail the background check?

Adrienne Bauer, human resources manager, says students shouldn't worry if a DUI or speeding ticket turns up on their background check.

She assures that employment always depends on the circumstances of the offense.

"We look at four different things," said Bauer. "What is the relevancy of the offense to the position the person is applying for, how long ago the offense happened, if there is a pattern of offenses and what is the severity of offense."

The most typical offense human resources see that concerns students is public intoxication offenses.

"Typically, that is a big one we've seen," Bauer said. "But it wouldn't hinder employment. Speeding tickets … also wouldn't … unless part of their responsibility is to drive. Then it could potentially disqualify them." Bauer says an "extremely small" number of the background checks are rejected.

Those students who are rejected do not have to go jobless on campus, however. They can apply for any job except the one from which they were refused.

Yet, two options are still available for those students who feel the results of their background check are incorrect. They can appeal their report or they can write a letter of explanation to human resources.

"If the results come back and do not meet company standards … students have access to the report and can verify its true," Bauer said. "If something on the report is not true, they can appeal with the Fair Credit Reporting Association."

Although less formal, a letter of explanation can also be written by the student for human resources.

This, too, can still provide a student with a sketchy criminal history the ability to explain their actions and given an opportunity to work on campus.

"It's not a formal appeal, but a student has an opportunity to write a letter, held in confidence, and it is kept on file as long as the student is here on campus and the student can be given permission to work," McCormick said.

Waiting it out

Although the check may seem bothersome, McCormick says students only have to complete the background check process once.

"Basically, a student, if they're going to be working on campus all four years, will essentially just go through one background check," McCormick said. "But each time a student applies for a new job, they will have to go online and apply for the new job."

Last semester, the background check process involved hard-copy papers that were manually typed into computers.

The extra steps caused a delay in getting the background checks back in a short amount of time, causing process time to last a week to 10 days.

"In the fall semester, it was taking forever to get background checks back," McCormick said. "The students filled it out, we sent it over to human resources, human resources then had to hire somebody to do nothing but type this new information and then it was sent to the background check company. That got way too tedious." The lag time for checks affected not only the faculty, but also the students who were looking for employment.

Jennifer Gilbert, a junior elementary education and special education major, was applying for a tutoring position with the Madison County school system.

She filled out a hard-copy application and background check and submitted it on Jan. 17.

Gilbert was told to expect the results back by Jan. 22, but didn't receive it until almost one month later on Feb. 16.

"I was very upset," Gilbert said. "I quit my other job because I thought I was going to start on Jan. 24. I was almost one month late on starting my job. I have rent, a car payment and car insurance to pay. It put me a little behind."

Hopefully, the days of long waits and delayed pay is over now that a new system has been introduced.

In January, a new online employment system was implemented to assess university employment.

This allows students to apply for their job online instead of handing in applications and background checks in hard copy.

Because the online employment system has been running, the background check turnaround has been trimmed to two to three days.

McCormick says that background checks, despite their difficulty, will in the long run greatly measure the quality of employment for Eastern.

"We want to make sure we have the very best candidates filling our positions," McCormick said, "and we want to make sure people are exactly as they say they are."

Reach Laura at laura_kersey@eku.edu

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