Pre-Employment Checks

ABOUT

The Office of Mental Health requires OMH-licensed, contracted, or otherwise approved service providers to conduct Pre-Employment Checks (PECs) on all Subject Individuals - applicants for paid or volunteer positions who are expected to have regular and substantial unsupervised or unrestricted contact with service recipients.

Additionally, OMH conducts the same PECs on persons with ownership interest in any for-profit service provider.

The three OMH PECs are:

• Staff Exclusion List (SEL) via the Justice Center’s Vulnerable Persons Central Register
• Criminal Background Check (CBC) via the Justice Center’s CBC system
• Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR) via OCFS’s Online Clearance System

RESOURCES

• NYCRR – Part 550 Criminal History Record Checks
• Mental Hygiene Law - MHY § 31.35
• Social Services Law - SOS § 424-a

This video covers topics of interest to Authorized Persons and others who need to understand the requirements and online systems.

Email cbc@omh.ny.gov to request further guidance materials, get information on exempt program types, or to submit comments or questions about the information on this page.