Provisional Hiring

Provisional hiring is addressed in the regulations in recognition of the need to address the dynamics of employment opportunities in the home care industry and its competitors. The time frames for completing some of the requirements such as criminal background checks may take several weeks. Therefore, provisional hiring will enable an agency/registry to capitalize on the opportunity to employ/roster a potential applicant for employment or referral as the agency/registry awaits certain checks.

Since registries use a broker model and do not "employ" individuals but roster them for consumers to hire, registries should consider not using the provisional hiring opportunity. The supervision requirements are not compatible with the broker model used by registries and would create compliance issues.

The applicant may be hired or rostered pending receipt of a criminal history report or ChildLine verification, where applicable if the following seven conditions are met:

  1. Applicant applied for criminal history report and ChildLine verification, if applicable, and provided copy of completed request forms to agency/registry.
  2. Home care agency/registry has no knowledge that would disqualify applicant pursuant to tampering with public record information is pursuant to 18 PA. C.S. § 4911 (Resource 2-A).
  3. Applicant swears or affirms in writing that he/she is not disqualified from employment or referral under Chapter 611 because of past criminal acts. A list of crimes that may disqualify a person from working as a Direct Care Worker is provided (Resource 2-8).
  4. Applicant will not be assigned or referred until the provisionally hired applicant has met the competency requirements.
  5. Applicants awaiting a criminal background check will be monitored by the agency through random, direct observation, consumer feedback, and documentation of the results in the individual’s file.
  6. Applicant awaiting a ChildLine verification and who will provide home care services to a consumer less than 18 years of age may not provide care without being directly supervised by someone who has already had their ChildLine Verification.
  7. Applicant who has been a resident of PA for two years or more shall not serve a provisional period of more than 30 days; applicant who has NOT been a resident of PA for two years or more shall not serve a provisional period of more than 90 days. Proof of residency is explained further in Chapter 3.

Applicant Affirmation

To ensure that the applicant has filed the necessary background check applications and to obtain an affirmation that the applicant believes they will not be disqualified because of offenses referred to in Chapter 611, the agency/registry should incorporate methods in the hiring policy that address the above conditions for provisional hiring. The conditions of provisional hiring should be communicated to the applicant and documented.