Conducting Criminal Record Checks in Washington

Washington agencies or facilities that provide care and treatment to vulnerable adults may consider the criminal history of an applicant for employment in a licensed facility when the applicant has one or more conviction for simple assault, assault in the fourth degree, prostitution or theft in the third degree and three or more years have passed between the most recent conviction and the date of application for employment or second degree theft or forgery if five or more years have passed between the most recent conviction and date of application for employment.

Employers in Washington may obtain criminal record information only for specified purposes: employee bonding; preemployment and postemployment evaluation of employees who may have or have had access to information, money or items of value; or investigations concerning penal offenses committed by employees.

Any person seeking employment in a school district or educational service district, including volunteers, and any contractor responsible for hiring employees who will have unsupervised access to children, must submit to a records check through the Washington state patrol criminal identification system.