12 CCR 2518-1-30.320 - BACKGROUND CHECK REQUIREMENTS

A. Pursuant to Section 26-3.1-107(2), C.R.S, beginning January 1, 2019, county departments shall complete a CAPS check prior to hiring a new APS employee who will have direct contact with at-risk adults, and may complete a CAPS check for existing APS employees, using one of two methods:

1. Method One: The county APS supervisor searches for the new or existing employee in CAPS to determine if the employee has been substantiated for mistreatment in an APS case.

a. The county department APS supervisor shall exclude findings, as outlined in Section 30.960 .K.

b. The county department APS supervisor shall attest to completing the CAPS check when submitting the request for CAPS access for the new APS employee.

2. Method Two: The county department registers as an employer and requests the CAPS check through the process outlined in Section 30.960. The county department APS supervisor shall attest to utilizing method two for the CAPS check when submitting the request for CAPS access for the new APS employee.

B. The county department may use the information received through a CAPS check to inform an employment decision or as grounds to conduct further investigation, as outlined in Section 26-3.1-111(6)(c), C.R.S.

C. Information obtained through a CAPS check shall only be released pursuant to Section 26-3.1-111(6)(d), C.R.S.

D. The county department shall complete a criminal background check on all prospective APS employees who, while in their employment, have direct, unsupervised contact with any actual or potential at-risk adult.

E. If the county department has not previously requested and received a criminal background check on a current employee hired on or after May 29, 2012, the county department shall immediately request a fingerprint criminal background check. The county department shall pay the fee.

F. The county department shall require a fingerprint background check for all prospective employees.

1. The county department shall submit to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), pursuant to Section 26-3.1-107(1), C.R.S, a complete set of fingerprints taken by a qualified law enforcement agency or qualified fingerprint agency to obtain any criminal record held by the CBI.

2. The background check shall include a check of the records at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

3. The county department is strongly urged to require the background check be flagged for future notification of arrest and/or conviction.

4. The prospective employee shall pay the fee for the criminal record check unless the county department chooses to pay the fee.

5. The prospective employee's employment shall be conditional upon a satisfactory criminal background check.

a. The current employee or applicant shall be disqualified from employment, regardless of the length of time that may have passed since the discharge of the sentence imposed, for any felony criminal offenses as defined in Title 18, Articles 2-10, 12-13, 15-18, 20, 23 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, or any felony offense in any other state the elements of which are substantially similar to the elements of any of the offenses included herein.

b. At the county department's discretion, a person shall be disqualified from employment either as an employee or as a contracting employee if less than ten years have passed since the person was discharged from a sentence imposed for conviction of any of the following criminal offenses:

1) Third degree assault, as described in Section 18-3-204, C.R.S.;

2) Any misdemeanor, the underlying factual basis of which has been found by the court on the record to include an act of domestic violence, as defined in Section 18-6-800.3, C.R.S.;

3) Violation of a protection order, as described in Section 18-6-803.5, C.R.S.;

4) Any misdemeanor offense of child abuse, as defined in Section 18-6-401, C.R.S.;

5) Any misdemeanor offense of sexual assault on a client by a psychotherapist, as defined in Section 18-3-405.5, C.R.S.;

6) Any misdemeanor offense of arson, burglary and related offenses, robbery, or theft, as defined in Title 18, Articles 1-4, C.R.S.;

7) A pattern of misdemeanor convictions within the ten years immediately preceding the date of submission of the application, or;

8) Any misdemeanor offense in any other state, the elements of which are substantially similar to the elements of any of the offenses described above.

6. Prospective employees who are transferring from one county department to another are not required to be re-fingerprinted if they complete the following process:

a. New employees must obtain their CBI clearance letter or a photocopy of their processed fingerprint card from their former employer. They must attach it to a new fingerprint card, with the top portion completed.

b. The new fingerprint card must include the new employer's address. "Transfer - County Department" must be inserted in the "Reason Fingerprinted" block.

c. The CBI clearance letter (or photocopy of the old fingerprint card) and the new fingerprint card shall be sent with payment by the county department to the CBI.

d. County departments that have accounts with CBI are not required to send payment, but the county department shall enter its CBI account number in the OCA block of the new fingerprint card.

Notes

12 CCR 2518-1-30.320

37 CR 15, August 10, 2014, effective 9/1/2014 40 CR 01, January 10, 2017, effective 2/1/2017 41 CR 05, March 10, 2018, effective 4/1/2018 41 CR 09, May 10, 2018, effective 6/1/2018 41 CR 13, July 10, 2018, effective 7/30/2018 42 CR 17, September 10, 2019, effective 10/1/2019 42 CR 23, December 10, 2019, effective 12/30/2019 43 CR 13, July 10, 2020, effective 8/1/2020 43 CR 21, November 10, 2020, effective 11/30/2020 44 CR 11, June 10, 2021, effective 6/30/2021 45 CR 03, February 10, 2022, effective 3/2/2022 45 CR 19, October 10, 2022, effective 11/1/2022