Iowa Code § 135H.7 — IA Code / Title IV / Chapter 135H / Section 135H.7
Personnel.
Status: in_force

(1) A person shall not be allowed to provide services in a psychiatric institution if the person has a disease which is transmissible to other persons through required contact in the workplace, which presents a significant risk of infecting other persons, which presents a substantial possibility of harming other persons, or for which no reasonable accommodation can eliminate the risk of infecting other persons.

(2) (a) If a person who has been convicted of a crime or has a record of founded child abuse is being considered for licensure under this chapter, for employment with a psychiatric institution involving direct responsibility for a youth or access to a youth when the youth is alone, or residence in a facility utilized by a licensee, the record check evaluation system and the licensee considering the person for employment shall perform an evaluation to determine whether the crime or founded child abuse warrants prohibition of licensure, employment, or residence in the facility utilized by a licensee. The record check evaluation system shall conduct criminal and child abuse record checks in this state and may conduct these checks in other states. The record check evaluation shall be performed in accordance with procedures adopted for this purpose by the department of health and human services.

(2) (b) If the record check evaluation system determines that a person has committed a crime or has a record of founded child abuse and is licensed, employed by a psychiatric institution licensed under this chapter, or resides in a licensed facility, the record check evaluation system shall notify the program that an evaluation will be conducted to determine whether prohibition of the person’s licensure, employment, or residence is warranted.

(2) (c) In an evaluation, the record check evaluation system and the licensee for an employee of the licensee shall consider the nature and seriousness of the crime or founded child abuse in relation to the position sought or held, the time elapsed since the commission of the crime or founded child abuse, the circumstances under which the crime or founded child abuse was committed, the degree of rehabilitation, the likelihood that the person will commit the crime or founded child abuse again, and the number of crimes or founded child abuses committed by the person involved. The record check evaluation system may permit a person who is evaluated to be licensed, employed, or to reside, or to continue to be licensed, employed, or to reside in a licensed facility, if the person complies with the record check evaluation system’s conditions relating to the person’s licensure, employment, or residence, which may include completion of additional training. For an employee of a licensee, these conditional requirements shall be developed with the licensee. The record check evaluation system has final authority in determining whether prohibition of the person’s licensure, employment, or residence is warranted and in developing any conditional requirements under this paragraph.

(3) If the record check evaluation system determines that the person has committed a crime or has a record of founded child abuse which warrants prohibition of licensure, employment, or residence, the person shall not be licensed under this chapter to operate a psychiatric institution and shall not be employed by a psychiatric institution or reside in a facility licensed under this chapter.

(4) In addition to the record checks required under subsection 2, the record check evaluation system may conduct dependent adult abuse record checks in this state and may conduct these checks in other states, on a random basis. The provisions of subsections 2 and 3, relative to an evaluation following a determination that a person has been convicted of a crime or has a record of founded child abuse, shall also apply to a random dependent adult abuse record check conducted under this subsection.

(5) A licensee shall inform all new applicants for employment of the possibility of the performance of a record check and shall obtain, from the applicant, a signed acknowledgment of the receipt of the information.

(6) A licensee shall include the following inquiry in an application for employment:Do you have a record of founded child or dependent adult abuse or have you ever been convicted of a crime, in this state or any other state?

89 Acts, ch 283, §8; 90 Acts, ch 1221, §2; 91 Acts, ch 138, §2; 92 Acts, ch 1163, §35; 94 Acts, ch 1130, §132023 Acts, ch 19, §188; 2025 Acts, ch 86, §7