Increasing safety, managing risk.

Abstract

Before criminal background checks became standard industry practice, a long term care administrator in Illinois paid $15 per inquiry for such checks on potential hires for his facility. Management ordered the inquiries halted for budgetary reasons. A few months later, facing holiday staff shortages around Christmastime, the administrator hired two new aides to help round out a skeletal staff. "I did the registry checks, the reference checks, everything came in fine," recalls the administrator, who asked to remain anonymous in our reportage. "I came back in on Monday--Christmas was on Sunday--and got a report from [a resident's] family members that their mother had been sexually abused Christmas night." A year later, in legal proceedings over the incident, the administrator was summoned to give a deposition about the center's hiring practices. In fact, it had been discovered that one of the aides hired did have a record of abuse. Because the administrator cited that he was not permitted to perform criminal background checks, a decision with which he disagreed, he became a key witness for the plaintiff. Management admitted liability and paid $1 million in damages awarded the plaintiff.