Conducting Criminal Record Checks in Illinois

In Illinois, it is a civil rights violation for any Illinois employer to inquire about or to use arrest information or criminal history record information that has been ordered expunged, sealed or impounded as a basis for refusing to hire or for segregating employees or as a basis for decisions regarding recruitment, hiring, promotion, renewal of employment, selection for training or apprenticeship, discharge, discipline, tenure or terms, privileges or conditions of employment.

State agencies, local governmental units and school districts and private organizations may utilize conviction information obtained from the Department of State Police in evaluating the qualifications and character of an employee or prospective employee.

Applicants for jobs in facilities run by the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities must submit to criminal background checks, based on their fingerprints. Applicants may be hired conditionally, pending the results of the background check, but must be notified that employment is dependent on the results of the check. Applicants who decline to submit to testing may be rejected.

Persons applying for medical licenses must undergo criminal history background checks.

Illinois requires fingerprints from every police officer and fire fighter to be sent to the FBI. Prior to appointment, fingerprints are required from all auxiliary police, sheriffs and state police.

Application for permanent employee registration cards requires fingerprints from all private alarm contractor, detective agency and security agency employees.

The Health Care Worker Background Check Act applies to all individuals employed or retained by a health care employer as home health care aides, nurse aides, personal care assistants, private duty nurse aides, day training personnel, or an individual working in any similar health-related occupation where he or she provides direct care. The Health Care Worker Background Check Act prohibits the hiring of a person in a position involving direct care of clients, patients or residents if the person has been convicted of committing or attempting to commit offenses in the Criminal Code, the Credit Card and Debit Card Act, the Wrongs to Children Act, or has violated a specified provision of the Nursing and Advanced Practice Nursing Act.

Before hiring an employee or independent contractor to perform work involving facilities used for the distribution of natural gas to customers, a public utility must require a completed certificate listing the proposed employee's or independent contractor's violations of pertinent safety or environmental laws.

In Illinois, fingerprinting is required for charter bus drivers.

Effective July 1, 2005, employees and volunteers of a comprehensive hospice program or volunteer hospice program are required to undergo a criminal background check as a condition of employment.

Effective January 1, 2006, health care facilities are required to initiate background checks for employees that have contact with residents. Previously, only direct care staff members required background checks.

Effective July 24, 2006, a health care employer may not knowingly hire, employ, or retain any individual in a position with duties involving direct care for clients, patients, or residents, and a long-term care facility may not knowingly hire, employ, or retain any individual in a position with duties that may involve contact with residents or access to the living quarters or the financial, medical, or personal records of residents, who has been convicted of committing or attempting to commit one or more of certain specified offenses in the Criminal Code of 1961, the Wrongs to Children Act, the Criminal Jurisprudence Act, the Cannabis Control Act, the Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act, or the Illinois Controlled Substances Act unless the applicant or employee obtains a waiver.