(1) Each public institution of postsecondary education shall require a criminal history background check on all initial hires.
(a) The background check shall consist of a state criminal history background check and a national criminal history background check.

Terms Used In Kentucky Statutes 164.281

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Institution: means a university, college, community college, health technology center, vocational-technical school, technical institute, technical college, technology center, or the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. See Kentucky Statutes 164.001
  • Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
  • Public: means operated with state support. See Kentucky Statutes 164.001
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes territories, outlying possessions, and the District of Columbia. See Kentucky Statutes 446.010

(b) Applications shall authorize the appropriate agency to search police records for convictions and make results known to the institution, and the institution may require the applicant to bear the cost of the criminal history background check.
(2) Each public institution of postsecondary education may require a criminal history background check on a contractor, employee of a contractor, volunteer for the institution or a program of the institution, or visitor, subject to the same terms and conditions as in subsection (1) of this section.
(3) If, upon review of the results of the criminal history background check, a public institution of postsecondary education finds that the applicant, contractor, employee of a contractor, volunteer, or visitor has been convicted of, pled guilty to, or entered an Alford plea to a sex crime as specified in KRS § 17.500 or a violent offense as specified in KRS § 439.3401, the institution may:
(a) Deny employment or modify the conditions of employment to provide for appropriate supervision;
(b) Deny a contractor or a contractor’s employee a permit to enter the institution or its grounds, or modify the contract to provide for appropriate supervision;
(c) Prohibit a person from volunteering or require the person to agree to appropriate supervision; or
(d) Prohibit a person from visiting the institution or its grounds, or require that person to agree to appropriate supervision.
(4) Each application or renewal form, provided by the institution to an applicant for employment, shall conspicuously state the following: “FOR THIS TYPE OF EMPLOYMENT, STATE LAW REQUIRES A STATE AND NATIONAL CRIMINAL HISTORY BACKGROUND CHECK AS A CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT.”
(5) If the institution requires a criminal history background check for contractors, employees of contractors, volunteers, or visitors, the institution shall provide to the prospective person or organization the following statement: “FOR THIS TYPE OF CONTRACT OR FOR BEING AN EMPLOYEE OF A CONTRACTOR, A VOLUNTEER FOR THE INSTITUTION OR AN INSTITUTIONAL PROGRAM, OR A VISITOR OF THE INSTITUTION, THIS INSTITUTION REQUIRES A STATE AND NATIONAL CRIMINAL HISTORY BACKGROUND CHECK.”
(6) If an employee of the public institution of postsecondary education is convicted of, pleads guilty to, enters an Alford plea to, or is adjudicated guilty of an offense specified in subsection (3) of this section, the employment of that person may, at the
discretion of the institution, be terminated as of the date of the conviction.
(7) A private college or university located in the Commonwealth may utilize at its discretion any of the provisions of this section, providing that it does so in a written institutional document.
Effective: July 12, 2006
History: Created 2006 Ky. Acts ch. 182, sec. 19, effective July 12, 2006.