Gov. Tom Wolf recently signed Act 12 of 2022 (House Bill 764) into law, removing a double standard in hiring practices for licensed childcare centers and other businesses providing services for minors.
Before Act 12, licensed childcare centers were permitted to hire someone to work on a provisional basis before they received the results of all of the three required background checks. All other businesses or organizations hiring people to work with children were required to wait until all the background checks were received.
The FBI fingerprint check, one of the required background checks, can take weeks or months for results to arrive.
“As employers across Pennsylvania are already struggling to find enough people to hire, those offering full-time or seasonal employment to those working with minors are being hit doubly hard,” said state Rep. Brett Miller (R-Lancaster), who sponsored the bill. “This legislation would significantly help affected businesses and public and private agencies to bring on the full-time and seasonal employees they need and help college-age and teen workers to actually be able to start work and earn a paycheck.”
Under the new law, licensed childcare centers can be granted a waiver, allowing them to employ an applicant on a provisional basis for up to 45 days.