[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners of the Town of West New York as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Code of Ethics — See Ch. 36.
Personnel Policies — See Ch. 76, Art. I
[Adopted 7-15-2015 by Ord. No. 9/15; amended in its entirety 9-16-2015 by Ord. No. 14/15]
Be it ordained by the Mayor and Board of Commissioners as follows:
[Amended 6-22-2016 by Ord. No. 12/16]
All current and prospective employee and volunteers with the Town of West New York in positions requiring individual involvement with children under the age of 18 years shall be subject to criminal background checks. In order to facilitate such background check, such persons shall execute the appropriate consent form and provide their executed consent form to their respective Department Head, who shall inform the person of the procedures required for completion of the background check.
[Amended 6-22-2016 by Ord. No. 12/16]
Current employees and volunteers with the Town of West New York in positions requiring individual involvement with children under the age of 18 years must execute and submit the appropriate consent form to their Department Head within 30 days of the effective date of this article. Should the responsibilities of a current employee or volunteer change in the future to require involvement with children under the age of 18, the employee or volunteer will submit to a background check immediately upon notification of the change of job responsibilities. Current employees are required to submit to a background check once during the course of their uninterrupted term of employment with the Town; current volunteers are required to submit to a background check once every two years of continuous service with the Town, to be calculated from the date of submission of the individual's appropriate consent form.
[Amended 6-22-2016 by Ord. No. 12/16]
Prospective employees and volunteers with the Town of West New York in positions requiring individual involvement with children under the age of 18 years must execute and submit the appropriate consent form to their prospective Department Head within 10 days of submission of their application for employment or volunteer service. Prospective employees shall submit to a background check once during the time of their uninterrupted term of employment. Prospective volunteers shall submit to a background check upon every two years of continuous service with the Town, to be calculated from the date of submission of the prospective employee or volunteer's appropriate consent form.
The results of the background checks shall not be considered public information and shall be released only to the Board of Commissioners, Town Administrator, Police Director, or Town Corporation Counsel, as needed.
If the Town Administrator or Police Director determines to recommend the dismissal of or otherwise take adverse action against a current employee or volunteer, or determines to reject a prospective employee or volunteer as a result of the information obtained from the background investigation, the current or prospective employee or volunteer shall be advised of this fact and the portions of the report upon which the recommendation is based.
There shall be no right of current or prospective volunteers who have been dismissed from their position or rejected from appointment to appeal the decision of the Town Administrator or Police Director.
[Amended 6-22-2016 by Ord. No. 12/16]
With respect to volunteer positions, the costs of the background checks shall be borne by the Town of West New York. With respect to prospective Town employees, the costs of the background checks will be borne by the prospective employee for the position, and the cost associated with the background check shall be deducted from the first paycheck received after the background check is conducted. In the event the prospective Town employee is rejected, the Town may seek payment for the cost associated with the background check from the prospective employee. The cost of current employees' background checks shall be borne by the Town.
[Added 6-22-2016 by Ord. No. 12/16]
In the event a volunteer, prospective volunteer, employee or prospective employee is arrested/charged with a crime and/or pleads to or is found guilty of a crime, the individual shall notify his/her respective Department Head of same within 24 hours.