The Board is committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for students, employees and all visitors to the College. Therefore, the College shall conduct background checks on all prospective new employees and current employees as set forth in this policy.
A background check shall be required of all potential College new hires once a bona fide job offer has been made and prior to their first day of work. Current employees may be subject to background checks and ongoing monitoring as required to meet business needs of the College. This may require annual re-checks.
The Human Resources Office, under direction of the Human Resources Director will be responsible for working with a third-party provider to conduct background checks. They shall secure and store the information obtained separate from the main personnel file and shall share only information pertinent for decision-making that ensures protection of College students, employees and other visitors as well as College assets. Background information will be kept on file for five years.
Previous convictions shall not automatically disqualify an individual from consideration of employment or continued employment with the College. The President, the Human Resources Director and other appropriate College staff will evaluate the following factors in determining whether to hire an applicant with a criminal history, and when necessary, in determining the continued employment of an employee with a criminal record: the nature of the crime and its relationship to the position; the time since the conviction; the number of convictions; whether hiring the applicant would pose a risk to the college, students, employees or other campus visitors; the actions and activities of the individual since the conviction; explanations or other information provided by the individual; and whether the individual has demonstrated that they have the integrity or honesty to fulfill the duties of the position.
The discovery of either a job-related conviction(s) or falsified conviction(s) information may result in denial of employment, or continued employment. If an applicant or an employee fails to reveal previous convictions deemed job-related they may be disqualified from employment at Carteret Community College for falsification of an application, regardless of when discovered. The applicant or employee will be given an opportunity to review the results of the background check and can choose to dispute the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the report by contacting the third-party provider that conducted the background check. The College will consider information derived from such promptly initiated dispute.
The President shall have final authority in determining the employability of the applicant or when necessary the continued employment of an employee. The President shall also be responsible for determining the appropriate background checks required for each position based on specific program agreements, applicable laws or other such bona fide position or business requirements.
Definitions of Terms:
“New employees” shall mean all individuals with conditional offers on or after the effective date for any position with the College including part-time, full-time, or temporary employment; both instructional and non-instructional. This also includes former employees being rehired who have not been employed by the College in the past twelve months.
“Background checks” shall include information necessary to comply with the business needs of the College. This may include, but not be limited to any of the following: nationwide or state sex offender registries; Department of Corrections Database; residency history checks; federal records; multi-state criminal indexes; social security number verifications; credit reports; terrorist watch lists; or any other records as required.