Gyeonggi-do: "Criminal Background Checks for Social Welfare Facility Workers Must Continue After Hiring"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is pushing for institutional improvements to enhance the safety of users of social welfare facilities.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 8th that, unlike elder abuse and sex crimes, criminal background checks for general crimes on social welfare facility directors and workers are only conducted at the time of hiring and not afterward. The province plans to recommend to the Ministry of Health and Welfare to establish various legal grounds, such as conducting criminal background checks at least once every three years, clarifying the methods of checking, and creating manuals.

According to the 'Social Welfare Services Act,' disqualifications (criminal records) for facility directors and workers are only applied at the time of hiring. There are no separate regulations for regular checks after hiring, making periodic background checks impossible.

Under the current 'Elderly Welfare Act' and 'Welfare of Persons with Disabilities Act,' records of elder abuse and sex crimes in facilities for the disabled are investigated annually, but general criminal records are only checked at the time of hiring.

The province argues that there is insufficient basis to identify and appropriately respond if a sentence is confirmed after hiring or if general criminal records occur during employment.

Accordingly, while promoting institutional improvements, the province decided to recommend that city and county governments conduct thorough criminal background checks when hiring social welfare facility directors and workers.

Additionally, from February 17 to March 17, the province conducted a full survey in cooperation with 31 cities and counties on whether criminal background checks were conducted at the time of hiring for directors and workers at 2,942 social welfare facilities in the province, including elderly welfare facilities, facilities for the disabled, social welfare centers, homeless centers, and self-support regional centers.

The survey found that 43 elderly welfare facilities did not conduct criminal background checks on workers. The criminal records of workers at these facilities were then checked, confirming that the subjects had no criminal records. The remaining 27 cities and counties conducted criminal background checks properly at the time of hiring.

Lee Byung-woo, Director of the Welfare Bureau of Gyeonggi Province, stated, "Since the criminal records of social welfare facility directors and workers directly relate to user safety depending on the type of crime, it is desirable to apply stricter social and moral standards. We hope that this institutional improvement proposal will be smoothly accepted, making the environment of social welfare facilities safer and healthier."