The State Legislature recently passed and Governor Murphy signed into law P.L. 2018, c. 5, concerning background inquiries for potential hires on the subject of child abuse and sexual misconduct charges. This law requires school districts to conduct inquiries with prior employers for all job applicants who will be working directly with students concerning any past history of child abuse or sexual misconduct toward students. This inquiry must go back over the applicant’s past 20 years of employment for any employers where the applicant worked regularly with children.
Chapter 5 technically went into effect on June 1, 2018, but it required that guidance be developed by the NJ Department of Education to guide the implementation process. On June 25, the NJDOE provided that guidance through the issuance of materials for district use which include application forms for district use in the hiring process. The forms include a section where the applicant must give consent to this prior employment review. The forms also include language holding the district immune from civil or criminal liability for any disclosure of the information unless the information disclosed was knowingly false.
The Department has also included a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section to assist you as you conduct your local hiring process.
To access the NJDOE guidance, click here .