Personnel Records

Personnel Records A personnel record for each employee, volunteer, and intern must be maintained, and must include, but not be limited to: A. The application for employment or resume, including employment history and experience. B. A copy of the employee’s official transcript/proof of high school diploma or General Education Development (GED) equivalent, as appropriate to position requirements. C. A copy of the current Mississippi license or certification for all licensed or certified personnel. D. A copy of a valid driver's license and current personal or agency insurance (as applicable) for all designated drivers. E. A national criminal history background check must be obtained by the current agency on all employees, volunteers, and interns. Documentation must be maintained in the personnel file that no information was received that would exclude the employee/volunteer/intern, as outlined in any applicable laws. (Reference Source, as applicable: Miss. Code Ann. § 43- 11-13 outlines information about disqualifying events and conditions for applicable entities. Specifically, according to Miss. Code Ann. § 43-11-13, an individual may not be eligible for employment if the criminal history record check discloses a felony conviction, guilty plea or plea of nolo contendere to a felony of possession or sale of drugs, murder, manslaughter, armed robbery, rape, sexual battery, sex offense listed in Miss. Code Ann. § 45-33-23 (h), child abuse, arson, grand larceny, burglary, gratification of lust or aggravated assault, or felonious abuse and/or battery of a vulnerable adult that has not been reversed on appeal or for which a pardon has not been granted. This law also allows for mitigating circumstances to be illustrated with a disqualifying conviction.) The criminal records background check should, at a minimum, include the following registry checks/components: 1. Prior convictions under the Vulnerable Adults Act; 2. Child Abuse Registry Check; 3. Mississippi Nurse Aide Abuse Registry; 4. The Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) Exclusion Database; and 5. Fingerprints must be run as part of the background check. F. National Criminal Records background checks, including the registry checks/components listed above, must be completed at hire and before contact with people served as required by the agency provider’s policies and procedures while the employee is employed with the agency provider. 1. Volunteers and interns who have not completed background checks and fingerprinting requirements and have not attended orientation must never be alone with people receiving services unsupervised by agency provider personnel. 2. Proof of background checks may be documented via the employee, volunteer, or intern authorization of the fingerprinting and background check in writing, and a letter notifying the employee/volunteer/intern that the check was completed and that there were no disqualifying events, or other documentation as approved by DMH. G. Additional Background Check Requirements for Staff Providing Home and Community- Based Services (HCBS): Agencies must continue to meet the requirements in Rule 11.2.E and F. In addition, specific to this service, a national criminal background check with fingerprinting must be conducted on all employees, volunteers, and interns providing IDD Services prior to employment and every two (2) years thereafter, with the record of such maintained in the personnel file. Providers must not employ staff/volunteers/interns with disqualifying events as outlined in Miss. Code Ann. § 43-11-13. Additionally, registry checks must be conducted before employment and monthly thereafter, to ensure employees, volunteers, and interns are not listed on the Mississippi Nurse Aide Abuse Registry, the Office of Inspector General’s Exclusion Database, or the Child Abuse Central Registry Check. Record of these checks must be maintained in the personnel file. The provider must not employ people whose names appear on a registry check list. H. DMH does not provide or execute the facilitation of required background checks. This is the certified provider agency’s responsibility. I. During a DMH compliance review, if it is discovered that a criminal history/background check was not conducted for a staff member, then the staff member is prohibited from providing any service delivery until the agency provider supplies acceptable evidence to DMH that a criminal history/background investigation has been completed and that no disqualifying events were returned. J. Prior to or at the time of hire, agencies should verify with the respective professional credentialing entity/licensure board the status of any credential(s) which employees/volunteers/interns hold or have previously held. Refer to Rule 11.3.C for additional information. K. Annual job performance evaluations. L. Job description. M. Date of hire. N. If contractual services are provided by a certified agency provider or obtained by a certified agency provider, there must be a current written contractual agreement in place that addresses, at a minimum, the following: 1. Roles and responsibilities of both parties identified in the agreement. 2. Procedures for obtaining necessary informed consent. 3. Assurances that DMH Operational Standards will be met by both parties identified in the agreement. 4. An annual written review of the contractual agreement by both parties within the current fiscal year.