Public Act 90-0441 of the 90th General Assembly
Public Act 90-0441
SB316 Enrolled LRB9002416LDdv
AN ACT to amend the Health Care Worker Background Check
Act by changing Sections 25 and 55 and adding Section 25.1.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Health Care Worker Background Check Act
is amended by changing Sections 25 and 55 and adding Section
25.1 as follows:
(225 ILCS 46/25)
Sec. 25. Persons ineligible to be hired by health care
employers. After January 1, 1996, or January 1, 1997, as
applicable, no health care employer shall knowingly hire,
employ, or retain any individual in a position with duties
involving direct care for clients, patients, or residents,
who has been convicted of committing or attempting to commit
one or more of the offenses defined in Sections 8-1.1, 8-1.2,
9-1, 9-1.2, 9-2, 9-2.1, 9-3, 9-3.1, 9-3.2, 9-3.3, 10-1, 10-2,
10-3, 10-3.1, 10-4, 10-5, 10-7, 11-6, 11-9.1, 11-19.2,
11-20.1, 12-1, 12-2, 12-3, 12-3.1, 12-3.2, 12-4, 12-4.1,
12-4.2, 12-4.3, 12-4.4, 12-4.5, 12-4.6, 12-4.7, 12-7.4,
12-11, 12-13, 12-14, 12-14.1, 12-15, 12-16, 12-19, 12-21,
12-21.6, 12-32, 12-33, 16-1, 16-1.3, 16A-3, 17-3, 18-1, 18-2,
18-3, 18-4, 18-5, 19-1, 19-3, 19-4, 20-1, 20-1.1, 24-1, or
24-1.2, 24-1.5, or 33A-2 of the Criminal Code of 1961; those
provided in Section 4 of the Wrongs to Children Act; those
provided in Section 53 of the Criminal Jurisprudence Act;
those defined in Section 5, 5.1, 5.2, 7, or 9 of the Cannabis
Control Act; or those defined in Sections 401, 401.1, 404,
405, 405.1, 407, or 407.1 of the Illinois Controlled
Substances Act, unless the applicant or employee obtains a
waiver pursuant to Section 40.
(Source: P.A. 89-197, eff. 7-21-95; 89-428, eff. 12-13-95;
89-462, eff. 5-29-96.)
(225 ILCS 46/25.1 new)
Sec. 25.1. Duplicate background check not required.
(a) An employer need not initiate an additional criminal
background check for an employee if the employer initiated a
criminal background check for the employee after January 1,
1996 and prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act
of 1997. This subsection (a) applies only to persons
employed prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act
of 1997.
(b) Any person newly employed on or after the effective
date of this amendatory Act of 1997 must receive a background
check as required by Section 30.
(225 ILCS 46/55)
Sec. 55. Immunity from liability. A health care
employer shall not be liable for the failure to hire or to
retain an applicant or employee who has been convicted of
committing or attempting to commit one or more of the
offenses enumerated in Section 25 of the Act. However, if a
health care worker is suspended from employment based on the
results of a criminal background check conducted under this
Act and the results prompting the suspension are subsequently
found to be inaccurate, the health care worker is entitled to
recover backpay from his or her health care employer for the
suspension period provided that the employer is the cause of
the inaccuracy.
No health care employer shall be chargeable for any
benefit charges that result from the payment of unemployment
benefits to any claimant when the claimant's separation from
that employer occurred because the claimant's criminal
background included an offense enumerated in Section 25, or
the claimant's separation from that health care employer
occurred as a result of the claimant violating a policy that
the employer was required to maintain pursuant to the Drug
Free Workplace Act.
(Source: P.A. 89-197, eff. 7-21-95; 89-674, eff. 8-14-96.)