by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
UNM may begin conducting background checks on employees as early as spring 2007, said Susan Carkeek, vice president of Human Resources.
The University has run background checks on applicants for certain positions for about two years but has not checked the history of employees hired before that policy went into effect, she said.
"The University has a responsibility to provide a safe learning environment and a safe working environment," Carkeek said. "We have a responsibility to do our due diligence."
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The background checks are run on applicants for positions that involve children, money or personal information such as Social Security numbers, she said.
Under the new policy, background checks would be run on employees in the same positions who were hired before background checks were mandatory.
Terry Mulcahy, president of United Staff-UNM Local 6155, said he had mixed feelings about the policy.
"It's probably a good idea to do a background check on some people, and they probably expect it," he said. "But it's something you'd want to do when somebody was hired - doing it when they've already been working here is an odd thing."
UNM's administration wanted to include language in union contracts that would allow background checks on some positions, because the policy might go into effect before next year's negotiations, Carkeek said.
The union threatened to go to impasse over the issue during this month's contract negotiations, Mulcahy said.
The union agreed to a pilot program of voluntary background checks on security technician/cashiers, who deliver money around campus.
Carkeek said she was surprised by the strong reaction against the checks.
"There's a lesson to be learned in there - that it's of high interest, even for that one job title," she said.
Mulcahy said the administration should have made it clearer why background checks were being discussed in the contracts.
"It's probably something that needs to be done for certain jobs," he said. "If they're going to propose it to the community and look for feedback, I'm much more comfortable with it. It sounds like they may have thought this out a little more than what came across to us."
Mulcahy said he is concerned the checks might be used gratuitously.
"Maybe this is some sort of fishing expedition," he said. "It seemed it was something sort of Orwellian."
Carkeek said the checks will only be done for employees in certain positions, which will be outlined in the final policy. Any problems that the checks turn up must be relevant to the job for any action to be taken, she said.
For example, a DWI conviction for a cashier would not pose any problems, she said.
"You wouldn't want a pedophile to work in the child care center," she said. "It's not an outright bar to employment if you have a criminal conviction. As long as somebody has proven they've made amends and they've paid for their offense - and it's not job related - they are still eligible for employment."
The policy is still being drafted, Carkeek said. After an initial draft is completed, it will be presented to the University community for feedback some time this fall, she said.
After that, more research will be done and a final draft completed. The UNM president must approve the policy, she said.
