Legal Focus

At the PALA conference this year, we presented on a number of basic concepts in employment law that you may come across in your day to day management of a library. Recall the importance of documentation, and ensuring that you have written policies and procedures in place which govern your practices. Libraries should be mindful to adopt policies and procedures that may be required by law. Under the Pennsylvania Child Protective Service Law (the “PA CPSL”), libraries are required to comply with ...

School bus contractors must assure their drivers obtain clearances, including that their employees have Pennsylvania State Police (“PSP”) Background Checks performed.  Multiple laws dictate when and how often a driver must complete a PSP background check and it can get confusing. However, contractors should know that drivers only need to obtain a pre-employment background and renew it every two (2) years if they are performing Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (“PUC”) runs in vehicles t...

Back to school season is in high gear and driver clearances are an important part of that process. The driver shortage has increased the need to take advantage of every opportunity to hire a driver, but contractors must also assure their employees are eligible to work with children under applicable laws. It is important for school bus contractors to understand and properly use background check information when making employment decisions. Below, we discuss what you need to know.Click Here to Rea...

School bus contractors and school districts are all familiar with the disqulifying offenses listed in 24 P.S. §1-111€ and know that the words of the statute appear to apply a lifetime ban from employment for individuals who have ever been conficted of "enumerated offenses". But, many are not aware that subsequesnt court decisions and guideance published by the Pennsylvania Department of Education now allows for discretion when considering criminal acts from many, many years ago...

The PA Public School Code 24 P.S. §111-1 requires background checks for employees and independent contractors employed by public and private schools, intermediate units and area vocational-technical schools. The list of disqualifying criminal offenses includes twenty-six criminal violations with no limit on the lookback period. This article discusses the existing state law and proposed federal legislation regarding DUI convictions that also have an unlimited lookback period.

In September 2017, Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) introduced H.R.3703, the No School Bus Drivers with DUIs Act, aimed at prohibiting state and local education agencies from hiring school bus drivers who have been previously convicted of a DUI. This bill stems from recent national news stories reporting on isolated incidents of poor background check protocols. The NSTA and related trade associations responded earlier this year to news reports circulated by CBS News alleging poor search practices, and ref...

While a school bus operation can be audited by many regulatory agencies in regards to their employee files, Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA), OSHA, EEOC, Department of Education (DPE), Department of Labor (DOL), and Department of Human Services (DHS), just to name a few; we are going to concentrate on the two major entities as it relates to school bus operations in this article, DOT and DPE. A driver’s qualification file review from DOT an...