An ex-employee of an Iowa healthcare facility is entitled to unemployment benefits after an incomplete background check allowed his initial employment, a court has ruled. The ex-employee, who disclosed his prior criminal conviction as required during the application process, was dismissed after the facility was informed by local police that there were outstanding warrants for his arrest for alleged probation violations in Arkansas.
Further investigation revealed that the ex-employee had had been convicted of felony theft by receipt of $25,000 or more in Arkansas, and, after starting work at the Iowa facility, had pleaded guilty to a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance.
As State regulations prohibit felons from working in Iowa nursing homes, the individual was terminated from his position. However, a court heard that the ex-employee had disclosed his conviction to the facility, but that on the form where he was to provide specifics of the crimes, he wrote “theft by receiving” without mentioning the location or date of conviction. Nowhere on the application did it mention that he had lived in Arkansas.
The employer conducted a background check limited to criminal charges initiated in Iowa, which showed no criminal history.
The facility had failed to follow up with the individual to gather additional information related to the declared conviction. The court ruled that the ex-employee was entitled to unemployment benefits, emphasizing that he had been forthright about his one criminal conviction and had not attempted to conceal his background.
Compliance Perspective
Issue
Healthcare settings are required to conduct extensive background checks on all employees. These should be comprehensive in order to ensure that each potential employee is qualified and permitted to be employed in a healthcare facility that receives government funds. Before an employee is officially hired into a position, a criminal background check and sex offender registry search must be completed, and the individual must be cleared in the databases. Additionally, an identification verification check, past employment history, education verification, and OIG’s List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE) check must be completed for all employment candidates. For positions that need certifications or licenses, verification of these credentials must be conducted and documented in the individual’s personnel file. If criminal convictions are disclosed by the applicant, the facility should follow up with the individual to gather additional information. After hire, it is essential that the databases are continually monitored to ensure that no current employee has recently been placed on an exclusion list or had a license or certification suspended or revoked. Routine monitoring will ensure that employees are legally permitted to practice healthcare in your facility.
Discussion Points
- Review your policies and procedures for conducting background checks on all new employees prior to their start date, and for ongoing monitoring of current employees. Update your policies as needed.
- Train appropriate staff on your policy and procedures for background checks, including following up with the applicant to get additional information as necessary. Train all staff about their responsibility to report immediately any legal action or placement on the OIG’s LEIE that may deem them ineligible to work in a long-term care facility. Document that the trainings occurred, and file each signed document in the employee’s education file.
- Periodically audit to ensure that all preemployment checks have been completed and that regular monitoring is ongoing.
*This news alert has been prepared by Med-Net Concepts, LLC for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.*
