Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Personnel Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council continues vote on employee criminal- and credit-check ordinance after detailed questions
Summary
Council heard a city-attorney presentation on proposed amendments to Wilmington City Code section 8-5 that would expand criminal-history checks to all final applicants and allow random criminal-history checks for employees; council asked for clarification on credit-check scope, a seven-year lookback and the appeals process and continued the item to May 19 for redlined language and additional detail.
City Attorney Meredith Everhart presented proposed changes to Wilmington City Code section 8-5 on May 4 that would require criminal-history background checks for all final applicants, authorize random criminal-history checks for current employees (similar to random drug testing), and extend targeted credit-history checks for certain financial positions.
"These checks will be done for everyone," Everhart said, adding that credit-history checks were intended for financial roles and that the criminal-history and financial-crime reviews would focus on convictions within a specified lookback period. She described the checks as limited to convictions or crimes of concern (for example, theft, embezzlement or violent felonies) and said the policy would not violate the city's "ban the box" practice because checks occur after a conditional offer.
Councilmembers probed details. Several members asked why the proposed lookback is seven years, whether misdemeanor convictions for controlled substances should preclude employment, and how an appeals or mitigation process would work for applicants with past convictions. Councilmember Joiner and Councilmember Santaguida requested redlined ordinance text showing the exact changes and asked for clarity on whether probation or sentence completion dates would govern eligibility.
Becky Hawk clarified that credit checks for financial positions refer to credit-history inquiries for roles that handle money; Everhart confirmed the criminal-history checks would also show financial-crime convictions that might otherwise be identified in a criminal-history search.
After extended discussion the council voted to continue the item to the May 19 meeting, asking staff to provide redlined language, a description of the appeals/mitigation process and examples of positions affected by credit checks.
