Background Investigations

SUNY Delhi is committed to maintaining a safe environment for faculty, staff, students, volunteers, and the general public who use our facilities. In order to ensure hiring employees of integrity and maintain a safe campus community, SUNY Delhi will conduct pre-employment background investigations on all individuals offered employment and volunteers.

Policy

The college performs pre-employment background investigations on the final candidate selected for employment as part of the Employment Search process. The Applicant is notified of the background investigation policy at the time of application, authorizing SUNY Delhi to conduct a background investigation, which may include identification, educational credential confirmation, criminal conviction verification, sexual offender registry status, driving record if required, and employment background.

Inconsistency, omission, or falsity of information provided by the candidate versus that obtained by the background investigation may disqualify the applicant from further consideration in the search process.

If a candidate is discovered to have a past criminal conviction record, the conviction will be evaluated if there is a direct relationship between the criminal offense and employment, whereby the granting of employment would involve an unreasonable risk to property, safety, welfare of specific individuals, or the general public, the applicant may be denied employment.

Factors that will be considered in determining employment eligibility include:

• Specific duties and responsibilities related to employment;
• The bearing, if any, the criminal convictions will have on the ability to perform job duties;
• The time that has elapsed since the criminal offense;
• The age of the applicant at the time of the criminal offense;
• The seriousness of the offense;
• The legitimate interest in protecting property;
• The safety and welfare of individuals and the general public;
• Any information produced by the applicant in regard to rehabilitation and good conduct.

Overall,  the public policy of New York State is to encourage the employment of persons previously convicted of one or more criminal offenses.

The candidate selected for a position receives a verbal offer of employment, pending the successful completion of the background investigation.

Procedure

1. Office of Human Resources is responsible for ensuring all applicants are aware of the college’s policy for background investigations. This is communicated through the online employment system and the Office of Human Resources web site.
2. Office of Human Resources is responsible for ensuring background investigations are completed within the guidelines of this policy and federal and state regulations.
3. Any offer of employment will be made contingent on the positive outcome of the background investigation considering the factors as described in the policy. No external employment candidate may begin work for the college until the appropriate screenings have been completed.
4. Human Resources will be responsible for determining the nexus of any criminal conviction to the job duties to be performed and other safety factors as indicated in the policy. In consultation with senior leadership and SUNY Counsel, a decision will be made if the candidate needs to be disqualified based on the results of the information contained in the background investigation.
5. Applicants will be formally notified in writing that SUNY Delhi has received disqualifying information from the background investigation. The applicant will be presented with the information obtained in the background check and will be provided an opportunity to respond to the facts of the situation.
6. After five (5) business days, barring the receipt of any new information that changes or clarifies the background report information and eliminates any discrepancies, SUNY Delhi shall send the candidate a second letter rejecting candidacy based on the disqualifying information generated by the report.
7. All information received in the background investigation process will be maintained in the Office of Human Resources in confidential, secure files, separate from employee personnel files, with access allowed only to those who have a legitimate business-related reason to review the information.
   
   2019