Who this policy applies to:

All employees, including some levels of student help; specifically, those that have access to vulnerable populations or hold positions of trust.   

Rationale:

The purpose of UW-La Crosse's employee criminal background check policy is to provide a safer campus environment for students, employees and visitors.

Policy Detail:

Summary of Process:

1. Student supervisor determines if student position requires a criminal background check (CBC) based on meeting one or more of the position of trust responsibilities:
• Access to vulnerable populations – Includes unsupervised or significant access to vulnerable populations, defined as minors and medical patients. For purposes of this policy, a minor is a person under the age of eighteen (18) who is not enrolled or accepted for enrollment at a UW System institution.  Examples of settings with vulnerable populations include child care centers, summer camps for minors, precollege or enrichment programs, and health care facilities.  This category also includes employees who are not directly working in those units, but have unsupervised access to the unit when the vulnerable population is present.  
• Property access – Includes the use of master keys/card access and pertains to employees with key access to offices, facilities, or worksites other than their own worksite, including UW-La Crosse residential housing facilities.
• Financial/fiduciary duty – Principal responsibilities (50% or more) include handling, receiving, or having custody of money, checks or securities, or accounting for supplies or other property; authorizing (or making appropriations for) expenditures; approving, certifying, signing or countersigning checks, drafts, warrants, vouchers, orders or other documents providing for the paying over or delivery of money, securities, supplies or other property, or service of process; maintaining  or auditing accounts of money, checks, securities, time records, supplies, or other property, or taking physical inventories of money, checks, securities, supplies, or other property.
2. A background check request is submitted through our vendor, HireRight. HireRight sends an e-mail to the student requesting information and consent for the background check. This process is started through hiring a student in Workday. 
3. Student completes the online background check authorization form. Supervisor follow up is required to ensure completion, tracking can also be done in the Workday Onboarding Dashboard. 
4. The supervisor should monitor the completion of the Criminal Background Check to ensure it is completed prior to employment. If the supervisor has any questions on the background check, they can reach out to Human Resources.

Supporting tools:

• Workday job aids:
• Starting a Direct Hire
• Background check as Part of Recruiting

Responsibilities:

N/A

Links to related information:

• UW-La Crosse background check policy for applicants and employees: https://kb.uwlax.edu/103851
• Driver authorization: https://www.uwlax.edu/business-services/our-services/driver-authorization/#tab-26782

Revision history:

Last revision was March 2017

Format updated June 2025