Pre-Employment Background Investigations

[The following was approved on August 25, 1995, with amendments on June 27, 1996, May 14, 1998 and January 4, 2006 in accordance with provisions set forth in SIU Board of Trustees 2 Policies F.]

Applicants for all security-sensitive positions at SIUC, permanent or temporary, are subject to background investigations prior to an official offer of employment. A preliminary offer of employment is contingent upon the successful completion of any applicable investigation. Security-sensitive positions are those that involve

1. working with minors or individuals with diminished mental capacity;
2. providing for the safety of students, faculty and staff;
3. regular access to controlled substances;
4. significant responsibility, defined as $50,000 or more per day, for the control of university financial resources.

Additions or changes to the list of security-sensitive positions, which is maintained by Human Resources, must be approved by the Director of Human Resources.

Procedures

1. Advertisements for security-sensitive positions must state that a pre-employment background investigation will be required.
2. The hiring official must inform each candidate for a security-sensitive position that he/she may be subject to a background investigation^[1] and must secure from each candidate written authorization for release of information.
3. The background investigation, which will be conducted by an independent investigating firm, will verify the candidate's identity; his/her employment history for a minimum of the last 5 years^[2]; highest degree attained; and will determine the existence of felony or misdemeanor convictions during the last 7 years. In the case of student or temporary employment, the background investigation will include only identity verification and criminal background investigation.
4. The verification of highest degree attained and employment history will be made available to the hiring unit.
5. Before excluding a candidate from further consideration based on the results of the background investigation, the Director of Human Resources, or designee, will consult with the University General Counsel and, in the case of faculty and administrative/professional positions, the appropriate vice chancellor or designee. A decision to exclude the candidate on the basis of criminal background will take into account the nature of the criminal conviction and the relevance of the crime to the responsibilities of the position.
6. No official offer of employment may be extended to a candidate for a security-sensitive position until the background investigation is complete and Human Resources has approved the candidate's qualification under this policy.

1. In cases involving civil service, graduate assistant, and student employment positions, background investigations will generally only be conducted for the candidate to whom an offer of employment will be made. With faculty and administrative/professional staff positions, background investigations will be conducted for the candidate to whom an offer of employment will be made unless the hiring official should decide to conduct the investigation for all candidates in the final interview pool.

2. Hiring units may indicate if they wish the investigation to include employment histories for candidates.