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RCW 74.39A.056 - Background checks on long-term care workers

WashingtonstatuteWashington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), Aging and Long-Term Support Administration (ALTSA) / Background Check Central Unit (BCCU)

What this rule requires your agency to do

  • 1The provider/employer must ensure long-term care workers hired after January 7, 2012 submit fingerprints for a federal (FBI) and Washington State Patrol fingerprint-based background check. (RCW 74.39A.056)(RCW 74.39A.056 - Background checks on long-term care workers)
  • 2The provider/employer must ensure all long-term care workers are screened through state and federal background checks in a uniform and timely manner to verify they have no history that would disqualify them from working with vulnerable persons. (RCW 74.39A.056(1))(RCW 74.39A.056 - Background checks on long-term care workers)
  • 3The provider/employer must obtain a new fingerprint-based background check at initial hire, as federally required, and when a worker transfers employers if the prior check is five or more years old, or upon reasonable suspicion of a new disqualifying finding. (RCW 74.39A.056)(RCW 74.39A.056 - Background checks on long-term care workers)
  • 4The provider must not allow a long-term care worker to have unsupervised access to vulnerable adults if the worker appears on an abuse registry, has a founded finding of child abuse or neglect (after October 1, 1998), or has a disciplinary or court finding of abuse, neglect, or exploitation. (RCW 74.39A.056)(RCW 74.39A.056 - Background checks on long-term care workers)

Applies to: home care / personal care / in-home HCBS; applies to long-term care workers including individual providers and home care agency direct care workers

Washington statute requiring all long-term care workers (including in-home individual providers and home care agency direct care workers) to pass state and federal fingerprint-based criminal background checks and registry screening verifying they have no disqualifying history for working with vulnerable adults, with periodic recheck requirements.

Regulatory information, not legal advice — always confirm against the cited official source. Verification reduces error; it does not certify compliance.