20 ILCS 1705/4.2

Current through Public Act 103-1056

Section 20 ILCS 1705/4.2 - Facility staff

(a) The Department shall describe and delineate guidelines for each of the facilities it operates regarding the number and qualifications of the staff required to carry out prescribed duties. The guidelines shall be based on consideration of recipient needs as well as professional and programmatic requirements, including those established for purposes of national accreditation and for certification under Titles XVIII and XIX of the federal Social Security Act.

(b) As used in this Section, "direct care position" means any position with the Department in which the job titles which will regularly or temporarily entail contact with recipients in the Department's facilities for persons with a mental illness or a developmental disability.

(c) The Department shall require that each candidate for employment in a direct care position, as a condition of employment, shall submit to a fingerprint-based criminal background investigation to determine whether the candidate for employment in a direct care position has ever been charged with a crime and, if so, the disposition of those charges. This authorization shall indicate the scope of the inquiry and the agencies which may be contacted. Upon this authorization, the Director (or, on or after July 1, 1997, the Secretary) shall request and receive information and assistance from any federal, State or local governmental agency as part of the authorized investigation. The Illinois State Police shall provide information concerning any criminal charges, and their disposition, now or hereafter filed against a candidate for employment in a direct care position upon request of the Department when the request is made in the form and manner required by the Illinois State Police.

Information concerning convictions of a candidate for employment in a direct care position investigated under this Section, including the source of the information and any conclusions or recommendations derived from the information, shall be provided, upon request, to the candidate for employment in a direct care position before final action by the Department on the application. Information on convictions of a candidate for employment in a direct care position under this Act shall be provided to the director of the employing unit, and, upon request, to the candidate for employment in a direct care position. Any information concerning criminal charges and the disposition of those charges obtained by the Department shall be confidential and may not be transmitted outside the Department, except as required in this Act, and may not be transmitted to anyone within the Department except as needed for the purpose of evaluating an application of a candidate for employment in a direct care position. Only information and standards which bear a reasonable and rational relation to the performance of a direct care position shall be used by the Department. Any employee of the Department or the Illinois State Police receiving confidential information under this Section who gives or causes to be given any confidential information concerning any criminal convictions of a candidate for employment in a direct care position shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor unless release of the information is authorized by this Section.

A Department employing unit may hire, on a probationary basis, any candidate for employment in a direct care position, authorizing a criminal background investigation under this Section, pending the result of the investigation. A candidate for employment in a direct care position shall be notified before he or she is hired that his or her employment may be terminated on the basis of criminal background information obtained by the employing unit.

No person may be employed in a direct care position who refuses to authorize an investigation as required by this subsection (c).

20 ILCS 1705/4.2

Amended by P.A. 102-0538,§ 165, eff. 8/20/2021.

P.A. 92-218, eff. 1-1-02.

P.A. 90-423, eff. 8/15/1997.