As of July 12, 2006, pre-employment national background checks (PNBC) are required of all initial hires at the University of Kentucky. This initiative affects hiring of regular full-time, regular part-time, temporary and student employees, as well as faculty. PNBC will be required of employees beginning work on or after July 12, 2006 (details below). This site contains much of the information necessary to implement this new process successfully.

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UPDATE!  July 19th, 2006

During the week of July 17th-20th, it was finalized that the length of separation from the University of Kentucky before a repeat check would be necessary to one (1) calendar year. That means if your applicant has been separated for one year and one day they would need a background check completed.

Please visit our Pre-employment Screening main page by clicking here.

Questions? E-mail Jon Gent of UK HR Employment by clicking here.
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You will also find information below on pre-employment drug screening (PDS), which is required for initial UK HealthCare faculty, residents and regular staff hires, in addition to pre-employment background checks.

Who Gets Screened, Who Does Not

Pre-employment National Background Checks (PNBC)
Per state law, PNBC is required of virtually all initial hires, including the following.

Some likely exceptions include contractors or other individuals working on-site for a very limited period of time, such as for a speaking engagement, lecture or special class session. For details, contact UK Employment.

Pre-employment Drug Screening (PDS)

All individuals not currently employed in a regular staff position are required to complete and pass the PDS prior to placement in a regular staff, pool, faculty or resident's position in the clinical enterprise. This includes individuals hiring into a regular staff position from a pool or temporary position. All individuals not currently employed in a regular staff position who are candidates for positions located within the UK Hospital or the Office of the Executive Vice President for Health Affairs will also be required to complete a pre-employment national background check prior to placement.

PDS and PNBC Process Overview - Online Employment System (OES)

Human Resources will bill hiring departments for pre-employment screening charges at least monthly. Departments will be billed between $60-80 per PNBC (background check), depending on the type of position. In areas requiring PDS, departments will incur a charge of $60 per drug screen. Staff members from UK HR Employment will work closely with you on an ongoing basis to implement the new screening processes.

To streamline this process, we have largely automated notices of general drug screening and background check requirements in OES. Additionally, HR Employment staff will administer virtually all aspects of arranging PNBC (and scheduling PDS, where required), reviewing all results and notifying hiring departments of screening outcomes.

For a quick visual overview, click here to view a flow chart of the hiring process incorporating pre-employment screening processes.

Note: On the flow chart, hiring department responsibilities are highlighted by yellow boxes.

Hiring department responsibilities relating to PDS and PNBC include the following:

1. Please include the following notice(s) of PDS requirement in job summary statement in OES and in any advertising.
   PNBC-only areas (Campus-wide):
   "If offered this position, you will be required to undergo a pre-employment national background check as mandated by University of Kentucky Human Resources."
   OR
   PDS and PNBC areas (UK HealthCare):
   "If offered this position, you will be required to pass a pre-employment drug screen and undergo a pre-employment national background check as mandated by University of Kentucky Human Resources."
2. Upon offer of employment, review PDS and PNBC requirements (where applicable) with job candidate. HR Employment has provided sample "scripts" for this purpose. Click here to review recommended pre-employment screening-related information to share with job candidates.
3. If offer is accepted, contact your HR Employment Specialist to initiate pre-employment screening process(es) for your prospective hire. An HR scheduler will contact the candidate as needed.
4. Once the screening process(es) is complete, your HR Employment Specialist will notify you of the outcome. If candidate is eligible, you may finalize hiring of the candidate. In the event the applicant is no longer a viable candidate, you may proceed with hiring of another candidate or re-post the position.