Purpose

ABAS provides ABA therapy to children and other individuals in their homes, schools, and communities, work that places employees in ongoing one-on-one contact with a vulnerable population. Massachusetts law gives employers access to criminal offender record information (CORI) for screening, and it closely regulates how that information is obtained, used, stored, and destroyed. Because ABAS conducts five or more criminal background checks a year, it is required to maintain a written CORI policy (M.G.L. c. 6, § 171A; 803 CMR 2.00). This policy is that document: it establishes how ABAS requests CORI directly from the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS), how it uses the results fairly in hiring and employment decisions, and how it protects the records it receives.

Scope

This policy applies to every candidate to whom ABAS extends a conditional offer of employment and to all current ABAS employees, including the BCBA Team, Registered Behavior Technicians, Behavior Technicians, and billing and administrative employees. Screening occurs after a conditional offer and before the new hire begins work, and annually thereafter for every current employee. The policy also governs everyone who handles the results: only authorized users designated under this policy may request, receive, or review CORI on ABAS's behalf, and the storage, dissemination, and destruction rules in Section 5.5 bind anyone who comes into contact with a CORI record.

Definitions

Policy Statement

5.1 Screening Requirement

ABAS screens every prospective employee through the Massachusetts CORI system before hire and re-screens every current employee annually. Checks are run directly through the DCJIS iCORI service by an ABAS authorized user; ABAS does not use an outside screening vendor. An offer of employment is conditional on a completed CORI check: no new hire begins work until the check is complete and reviewed.

5.2 Acknowledgment and Identity Verification

Before requesting any CORI check, ABAS obtains the person's signed CORI Acknowledgement Form and verifies their identity against government-issued photo identification collected before the check is requested. When the form is signed electronically through the Company HRIS, ABAS retains a copy of the identification used for verification; for new hires, identity documents collected during onboarding satisfy this step when they include a government-issued photo identification presented before the check runs. A signed form is valid for one year from signature or until employment ends, whichever comes first. ABAS obtains a refreshed acknowledgment from each employee annually. The first check under a newly signed form needs no advance notice; if ABAS runs an additional check under a previously signed form that is still valid, it gives the employee 72 hours advance notice of that check.

5.3 Fair Hiring and Lawful Inquiries

ABAS employment applications contain no questions about criminal history (M.G.L. c. 151B, § 4(9½)). At any stage, ABAS does not ask about and does not consider: arrests or prosecutions that did not end in conviction; first convictions for drunkenness, simple assault, speeding, minor traffic violations, affray, or disturbance of the peace; a misdemeanor conviction more than three years old (measured from the conviction or the end of any incarceration for it, whichever is later) unless there are intervening convictions; sealed or expunged records; or juvenile records. A person with a sealed or expunged record may truthfully answer "no record" to any lawful inquiry. Criminal history is considered only after a conditional offer, and only as it bears on the duties of the position.

5.4 Adverse Decisions

Before making an adverse decision based on CORI or other criminal history information, ABAS takes each of these steps:

1. Notifies the person that an adverse decision is being considered.
2. Provides the person a copy of the record relied on, identifies the parts of the record on which the potential decision rests, identifies the source of the record, and provides a copy of this policy.
3. Provides the DCJIS document "Information Concerning the Process for Correcting a Criminal Record."
4. Gives the person a reasonable opportunity to dispute the accuracy of the record and to provide context before a final decision is made.

No adverse decision is made by one person alone: the Executive Director and the Compliance Officer review the record and the person's response together before a final decision.

5.5 Storage, Dissemination, and Retention

CORI is stored securely and separately from the general personnel file, the same separation the Employee Handbook applies to medical information: hard copies in locked storage, electronic copies in access-restricted, password-protected systems. Access is limited to authorized users with a need to know. ABAS does not share CORI outside the organization except as the law permits, and it records any secondary dissemination in the secondary dissemination log (the subject's name and date of birth, the date of the dissemination, the recipient, and the purpose), which is retained for at least one year. ABAS destroys CORI by shredding or secure deletion once it is no longer needed, and in no event maintains it more than seven years from the employee's last date of employment or, for a candidate not hired, from the date of the decision.

5.6 No Consumer Reporting Agency

ABAS conducts its own background screening and does not engage a consumer reporting agency for criminal history or other background reports. If ABAS engages one in the future, the obligations that govern that screening path, 803 CMR 5.00 and the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (standalone disclosure, written authorization, and two-step adverse action notices), must be implemented before any report is requested, and this policy must be revised first.

Procedures

Responsibilities

Steps

1. When a candidate accepts a conditional offer, Human Resources issues the CORI Acknowledgement Form through the Company HRIS as part of new-hire paperwork and verifies the candidate's identity against government-issued photo identification collected before the check is requested (Form I-9 documents satisfy this when they include such identification), retaining a copy where the form is signed electronically.
2. An authorized user requests the check through the DCJIS iCORI service. No check is requested without a valid signed acknowledgment on file.
3. If the result contains no criminal history information, Human Resources records the completion, files the result in secure limited-access storage separate from the general personnel file, and hiring or continued employment proceeds.
4. If the result contains criminal history information, the authorized user forwards it to the Compliance Officer and the Executive Director and does not act on it alone. If an adverse decision is considered, the steps in Section 5.4 are completed first.
5. Each year, Human Resources runs the annual cycle: it issues a refreshed CORI Acknowledgement Form for signature by every employee, then runs the annual re-check under the refreshed form, recording and filing results as in Steps 3 and 4. If a check must run before the refreshed form is signed, ABAS gives the employee 72 hours advance notice and runs it under the prior form while that form remains valid.
6. Any sharing of CORI outside ABAS is approved by the Compliance Officer first and recorded in the secondary dissemination log. The log is retained for at least one year.
7. When employment ends, or when a candidate is not hired, the retention limit in Section 5.5 starts. Human Resources destroys the CORI on schedule by shredding or secure deletion.

Training Requirements

Every authorized user completes the DCJIS training for CORI requestors before requesting or viewing CORI, and any refresher training DCJIS requires. All ABAS employees receive training on this policy during onboarding, including the fair-hiring rules in Section 5.3 and the confidentiality of CORI, and at least annually thereafter as part of compliance refresher training. The Compliance Officer tracks training completion and reports it to the Compliance Committee.

Reporting and Enforcement

Any employee who believes a required check was missed, that CORI was accessed without authorization, shared improperly, or stored insecurely, or that a hiring or employment decision was made in violation of this policy must report it through the channels described in POL-003 (Compliance Reporting, Investigation, and Resolution), including the anonymous web form and the compliance ticketing system. Reports are investigated under POL-003 and its Compliance Ticket Management SOP. Confirmed violations, including unauthorized access to or dissemination of CORI, may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination, and misuse of CORI may also carry civil and criminal penalties under state law. ABAS will not retaliate against any person who reports a concern in good faith.

Forms Reference

The form supporting this policy is administered by Human Resources:

The form is delivered and e-signed in the Company HRIS: at onboarding for new hires, where the Employee Handbook's Employment Forms list names it among new-hire paperwork, and at the annual refresh for current employees. The HRIS copy is the operative version. The reserved number CFM-009 will attach when the form is brought into the controlled forms series.