Obtaining clearances for Contractors and Volunteers

Please use the Contractor/Volunteer Notification Form to report individuals to the Office Human Resources who are providing services to the university without compensation (volunteers) or individuals providing a program, activity, or service to the university on university property compensated by a university affiliate, not through IUP Payroll Services (contractors).

Background clearances are required for those who services involve the care, supervision, guidance, or control of minors, as determined by the Office Human Resources. The background clearances process will be initiated based on responses to this form for those whose clearances are tracked and stored by the Office of Human Resources.

Contractors

University contractors are individuals who work for a company which provides services to the university or as part of a non-university-sponsored program on university property and are responsible for the care, supervision, guidance, or control of minors. This definition includes military, janitorial, food service, and bookstore contractors. These employees are paid via the overseeing company.

An independent contractor is an individual who meets all of the following criteria:

• renders a service to the university for a specified payment amount for a specified result,
• is engaged in an independently established profession or business (namely, offers similar services to the general public on a consistent basis),
• provides a service outside of the university's usual course of business,
• provides services through a written contract, and
• is free from university control or direction when providing services.
  

Independent contractors must have completed clearances prior to engaging in services to the university. Payment is usually requested through Procurement Services.

Volunteers (age 18 or over)

• Volunteers under the age of 18 are not required to obtain any clearances.

• Volunteers can work for IUP for up to 30 days while the background checks are in progress.
  

• Federal (FBI) Fingerprint Criminal Background Check (Criminal History Report) is not required for volunteers provided they have been a resident of Pennsylvania for the previous 10 years, the position they are applying for is unpaid, and the candidate attests to having not been convicted of a certain list of crimes in a state or territory of the United States or foreign nation (form required). All others must obtain the Federal (FBI) Fingerprint Criminal Background Check.

• Volunteers with existing clearances obtained with another institution no more than 36 months ago from start of volunteer position with IUP may send copies of those clearances to IUP-HR via e-mail at Human-Resources@iup.edu with the subject line "Existing Volunteer Clearances for Review - Volunteer First Name Last Name."

• Student Volunteers are not required to complete background clearances if:

  1. The individual is currently enrolled in a school.
  2. The individual is not a person responsible for a child's welfare.
  3. The individual is volunteering for an event that occurs on school grounds.
  4. The event is sponsored by the school in which the individual is enrolled as a student, and
  5. The event is not for children who are in the care of a child-care service.
     

• IUP will cover all costs associated with obtaining volunteer clearances.

The Reportable Offense form is to be used by volunteers to provide written notice within 72 hours after an arrest or conviction for a Reportable Offense or notice ofbeing listed in the statewide database as a perpetrator of a founded or indicated report of child abuse.

For more detailed information on these topics, please visit our FAQ page.