Policy 107 - Background Checks

Section: Employment
Policy Number: 107
Responsible Office: HR/Recruitment
Effective Date: 2/5/01
Revised: 6/1/05; 3/1/13; 10/22/13; 1/30/19

Scope

Full-time and adjunct faculty, full-time and part-time administrators and staff, temporary workers, student workers, graduate assistants, volunteers, and contractors.

Policy

The University may conduct a background check after extending a conditional offer of employment to an applicant, and may conduct a background check on an individual who wishes to be a volunteer. Contractors are responsible for conducting lawful background checks on their employees, and furnishing the results of those background checks to the University’s Office of Human Resources upon request; however, the University reserves the right to conduct background checks on the contractor’s employees.  

Hiring managers are prohibited from making any inquiry or statement related to an applicant’s criminal history. Examples of prohibited statements and inquiries include, without limitation:

  • Questions, whether written or oral, during a job interview about criminal history;
     
  • Assertions, whether written or oral, that individuals with convictions, or certain convictions, will not be hired or cannot work at the employer; and
     
  • Investigations into the applicant’s criminal history, including using public records or the Internet, whether conducted by an employer or for an employer by a third party.

If an applicant raises her or his criminal record voluntarily, the hiring manager should state that, by law, it will only consider the applicant’s record if it decides to offer her or him a job.  Similarly, if an applicant asks the hiring manager during the interview if she or he will be subject to a criminal background check, the hiring manager may state that a criminal background check will be conducted only after a conditional offer of employment.

Hiring managers should contact the Recruitment Office at (718) 990-2787 or 2423 for more information on this policy.

St. John's University, New York
Human Resources Policy Manual