5111.033 Criminal records checks by waiver agencies.
5111.033 Criminal records checks by waiver agencies.
(A) As used in this section:
(1) “Applicant” means a person who is under final consideration for employment or, after September 26, 2003, an existing employee with a waiver agency in a full-time, part-time, or temporary position that involves providing home and community-based waiver services to a person with disabilities. “Applicant” also means an existing employee with a waiver agency in a full-time, part-time, or temporary position that involves providing home and community-based waiver services to a person with disabilities after September 26, 2003.
(2) “Criminal records check” has the same meaning as in section 109.572 of the Revised Code.
(3) “Waiver agency” means a person or government entity that is not certified under the medicare program and is accredited by the community health accreditation program or the joint commission on accreditation of health care organizations or a company that provides home and community-based waiver services to persons with disabilities through department of job and family services administered home and community-based waiver programs.
(4) “Home and community-based waiver services” means services furnished under the provision of 42 C.F.R. 441, subpart G, that permit individuals to live in a home setting rather than a nursing facility or hospital. Home and community-based waiver services are approved by the centers for medicare and medicaid for specific populations and are not otherwise available under the medicaid state plan.
(B)(1) The chief administrator of a waiver agency shall require each applicant to request that the superintendent of the bureau of criminal identification and investigation conduct a criminal records check with respect to the applicant. If an applicant for whom a criminal records check request is required under this division does not present proof of having been a resident of this state for the five-year period immediately prior to the date the criminal records check is requested or provide evidence that within that five-year period the superintendent has requested information about the applicant from the federal bureau of investigation in a criminal records check, the chief administrator shall require the applicant to request that the superintendent obtain information from the federal bureau of investigation as part of the criminal records check of the applicant. Even if an applicant for whom a criminal records check request is required under this division presents proof of having been a resident of this state for the five-year period, the chief administrator may require the applicant to request that the superintendent include information from the federal bureau of investigation in the criminal records check.
(2) The chief administrator shall provide the following to each applicant for whom a criminal records check request is required under division (B)(1) of this section:
(a) Information about accessing, completing, and forwarding to the superintendent of the bureau of criminal identification and investigation the form prescribed pursuant to division (C)(1) of section 109.572 of the Revised Code and the standard fingerprint impression sheet prescribed pursuant to division (C)(2) of that section;
(b) Written notification that the applicant is to instruct the superintendent to submit the completed report of the criminal records check directly to the chief administrator.
(3) An applicant given information and notification under divisions (B)(2)(a) and (b) of this section who fails to access, complete, and forward to the superintendent the form or the standard fingerprint impression sheet, or who fails to instruct the superintendent to submit the completed report of the criminal records check directly to the chief administrator, shall not be employed in any position in a waiver agency for which a criminal records check is required by this section.
(C)(1) Except as provided in rules adopted by the department of job and family services in accordance with division (F) of this section and subject to division (C)(2) of this section, no waiver agency shall employ a person in a position that involves providing home and community-based waiver services to persons with disabilities if the person has been convicted of, has pleaded guilty to, or has been found eligible for intervention in lieu of conviction for any of the following, regardless of the date of the conviction, the date of entry of the guilty plea, or the date the person was found eligible for intervention in lieu of conviction:
(a) A violation of section 959.13, 2903.01, 2903.02, 2903.03, 2903.04, 2903.041, 2903.11, 2903.12, 2903.13, 2903.15, 2903.16, 2903.21, 2903.211, 2903.22, 2903.34, 2905.01, 2905.02, 2905.05, 2905.11, 2905.12, 2907.02, 2907.03, 2907.04, 2907.05, 2907.06, 2907.07, 2907.08, 2907.09, 2907.21, 2907.22, 2907.23, 2907.24, 2907.25, 2907.31, 2907.32, 2907.321, 2907.322, 2907.323, 2909.02, 2909.03, 2909.04, 2909.05, 2909.22, 2909.23, 2909.24, 2911.01, 2911.02, 2911.11, 2911.12, 2911.13, 2913.02, 2913.03, 2913.04, 2913.05, 2913.11, 2913.21, 2913.31, 2913.32, 2913.40, 2913.41, 2913.42, 2913.43, 2913.44, 2913.441, 2913.45, 2913.46, 2913.47, 2913.48, 2913.49, 2913.51, 2917.01, 2917.02, 2917.03, 2917.11, 2917.31, 2919.12, 2919.22, 2919.23, 2919.24, 2919.25, 2921.03, 2921.11, 2921.13, 2921.34, 2921.35, 2921.36, 2923.01, 2923.02, 2923.03, 2923.12, 2923.13, 2923.161, 2923.32, 2925.02, 2925.03, 2925.04, 2925.05, 2925.06, 2925.11, 2925.13, 2925.14, 2925.22, 2925.23, 2927.12, or 3716.11 of the Revised Code, felonious sexual penetration in violation of former section 2907.12 of the Revised Code, a violation of section 2905.04 of the Revised Code as it existed prior to July 1, 1996, a violation of section 2919.23 of the Revised Code that would have been a violation of section 2905.04 of the Revised Code as it existed prior to July 1, 1996, had the violation been committed prior to that date;
(b) A violation of an existing or former municipal ordinance or law of this state, any other state, or the United States that is substantially equivalent to any of the offenses listed in division (C)(1)(a) of this section.
(2)(a) A waiver agency may employ conditionally an applicant for whom a criminal records check request is required under division (B) of this section prior to obtaining the results of a criminal records check regarding the individual, provided that the agency shall require the individual to request a criminal records check regarding the individual in accordance with division (B)(1) of this section not later than five business days after the individual begins conditional employment.
(b) A waiver agency that employs an individual conditionally under authority of division (C)(2)(a) of this section shall terminate the individual’s employment if the results of the criminal records check request under division (B) of this section, other than the results of any request for information from the federal bureau of investigation, are not obtained within the period ending sixty days after the date the request is made. Regardless of when the results of the criminal records check are obtained, if the results indicate that the individual has been convicted of, has pleaded guilty to, or has been found eligible for intervention in lieu of conviction for any of the offenses listed or described in division (C)(1) of this section, the agency shall terminate the individual’s employment unless the agency chooses to employ the individual pursuant to division (F) of this section.
(D)(1) The fee prescribed pursuant to division (C)(3) of section 109.572 of the Revised Code for each criminal records check conducted pursuant to a request made under division (B) of this section shall be paid to the bureau of criminal identification and investigation by the applicant or the waiver agency.
(2) If a waiver agency pays the fee, it may charge the applicant a fee not exceeding the amount the agency pays under division (D)(1) of this section. An agency may collect a fee only if the agency notifies the person at the time of initial application for employment of the amount of the fee and that, unless the fee is paid, the person will not be considered for employment.
(E) The report of any criminal records check conducted pursuant to a request made under this section is not a public record for the purposes of section 149.43 of the Revised Code and shall not be made available to any person other than the following:
(1) The individual who is the subject of the criminal records check or the individual’s representative;
(2) The chief administrator of the agency requesting the criminal records check or the administrator’s representative;
(3) An administrator at the department;
(4) A court, hearing officer, or other necessary individual involved in a case dealing with a denial of employment of the applicant or dealing with employment or unemployment benefits of the applicant.
(F) The department shall adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code to implement this section. The rules shall specify circumstances under which a waiver agency may employ a person who has been convicted of, has pleaded guilty to, or has been found eligible for intervention in lieu of conviction for an offense listed or described in division (C)(1) of this section.
(G) The chief administrator of a waiver agency shall inform each person, at the time of initial application for a position that involves providing home and community-based waiver services to a person with a disability, that the person is required to provide a set of fingerprint impressions and that a criminal records check is required to be conducted if the person comes under final consideration for employment.
(H)(1) A person who, on September 26, 2003, is an employee of a waiver agency in a full-time, part-time, or temporary position that involves providing home and community-based waiver services to a person with disabilities shall comply with this section within sixty days after September 26, 2003, unless division (H)(2) of this section applies.
(2) This section shall not apply to a person to whom all of the following apply:
(a) On September 26, 2003, the person is an employee of a waiver agency in a full-time, part-time, or temporary position that involves providing home and community-based waiver services to a person with disabilities.
(b) The person previously had been the subject of a criminal background check relating to that position;
(c) The person has been continuously employed in that position since that criminal background check had been conducted.
Amended by 128th General Assembly File No. 9, HB 1, § 101.01, eff. 10/16/2009.
Effective Date: 2007 HB119 09-29-2007