Criminal records, not mental disabilities, are the subject of background checks
CU is taking another look at the criminal records of its employees following the recent stabbing of a student by a former UMC worker.
The university recently finished criminal background checks on five employees, who were referred to the university through the Chinook Clubhouse. The outcome, however, is unknown to the public.
“The results of these background checks are private, protected personnel information available only to an employee’s supervisor,” CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said.
New university policy now requires all new employees to submit to a criminal background check.
“As a precaution, I think they should check everything available before hiring, just to be safe,” said Pamela Mayer, an open-option freshman.
Although the new hiring policy comes after an attack by a former employee with a mental disability, employees with mental disabilities are not being singled out for the background checks.
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers are prohibited from “using qualification standards, employment tests or other selection criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability.”
The act limits employers from investigating the mental health history of their potential employees.
“These criminal background checks are not limited to university employees obtained through Chinook,” Hilliard said.
In the past, CU only performed background checks on employees who would handle cash or have access to sensitive personal information.
“A criminal background check has nothing to do with questions about a person’s general background,” Hilliard said. “We are looking at court records for criminal offenses.”
CU pays a private firm to perform the background checks. Each check costs about $45 per person.
Other universities in Colorado, including Colorado School of Mines, University of Denver and the University of Northern Colorado, already perform background checks on all new hires.
“I really think they should have been checking backgrounds more thoroughly before, but I understand that the stabbing was just a freak accident,” Mayer said.
Officials at Chinook had no comment when contacted about the new background checks.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Katherine Spencer at katherine.a.spencer@colorado.edu
