Arkansas LTCF Employment Clearance Registry Requirements

The Arkansas Employment Clearance Registry is a database maintained by the Department of Human Services’ Office of Long-Term Care that tracks people who have been disqualified from working with vulnerable clients, along with administrative findings of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation against certified nursing assistants.¹ Long-term care employers and other covered service providers must check it before hiring anyone who will have unsupervised access to residents. It is not, however, a single all-in-one screen: a compliant hire in Arkansas requires several separate checks, and the ECR is one piece.

What the Registry Actually Contains

The ECR holds two types of records. The first is the results of prior criminal record checks that led to an employment disqualification. The second is administrative findings entered against CNAs for abuse, neglect, or misappropriation. The database also carries CNA certification status, so employers can confirm that a nursing assistant’s credential is current.¹

Employers can run ECR checks for CNAs at no cost through the state’s online portal. To submit a check, you’ll need the facility’s name and four-digit registry ID number, the applicant’s full name, date of birth, and Social Security number, and (if the person is a CNA) their certification number.²

The Other Checks You Still Have to Run

Treating the ECR as the whole background check is one of the most common compliance mistakes. In addition to the ECR check, a service provider must submit a separate criminal background check request and a separate adult maltreatment registry check request. Providers serving children or operating under certain waivers must also submit a child maltreatment registry check.²

The criminal check itself has two flavors. If the service provider can verify that the applicant has lived continuously in Arkansas for the past five years, only a state check through the Arkansas State Police plus the registry checks are required. If the applicant has not lived in Arkansas continuously for five years, or if the position is at a childcare facility, a fingerprint-based FBI criminal history check is also required.³

Providers running these checks must maintain a background check account with DHS, which carries a $150 annual subscription fee. Individual check fees are invoiced monthly through the provider portal. Only the ECR check for CNA verification is free.² DHS says overall results typically come back within five to ten business days.

Who Has to Be Checked

Arkansas law defines “employee” for background check purposes as any person who has unsupervised access to a service provider’s clients and who provides care, is employed to provide care, or is placed by a staffing agency to provide care. It also covers anyone residing in an alternative living home serving individuals with developmental disabilities.⁴

Three categories of people are explicitly excluded:

Family members of a client receiving care from the service provider
Volunteers at the facility
Administrative staff who work in an administrative capacity and do not have unsupervised access to clients

The administrative-staff exclusion matters more than it looks. If someone in a back-office role has no unsupervised access to residents, the background check requirement under this chapter does not reach them.⁴

The “service provider” category is broader than nursing homes. It includes long-term care facilities, home and community-based health services providers, hospice programs, home healthcare services, developmental disabilities program providers, and childcare facilities.⁴

What Shows Up as a Disqualification

Arkansas law lists over 50 specific criminal offenses that disqualify a person from employment with a service provider. The licensing agency must issue a disqualification if the person has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to any of these offenses in Arkansas, any similar offense in another state, or any similar offense in federal court.⁵ The major categories:

Violent crimes, including murder, manslaughter, negligent homicide, battery, assault, robbery, kidnapping, domestic battery, and terroristic acts
Nearly all sexual offenses under Arkansas law, plus voyeurism, incest, and computer crimes against minors
Crimes against vulnerable people, including endangering the welfare of an incompetent person or minor, felony abuse of an endangered or impaired person, permitting abuse of a minor, and soliciting money from incompetent persons
Theft and fraud offenses, including theft of property, theft of services, theft by receiving, forgery, criminal impersonation, financial identity fraud, and burglary
Any felony violation of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, plus introducing a controlled substance into another person’s body
Arson, coercion, false imprisonment, cruelty to animals, and resisting arrest

Convictions that have been expunged, pardoned, or sealed do not count.⁵ A service provider who knowingly employs someone with a disqualifying conviction faces penalties, and the licensing agency cannot authorize that person to operate as a service provider.

Waivers and Time-Based Exceptions

A disqualifying conviction does not always mean permanent exclusion. Arkansas law carves out three pathways back to eligibility, and applicants who assume they are automatically barred sometimes walk away from jobs they could legally hold.

Misdemeanor Waiting Period

If the disqualifying offense was a misdemeanor, the person is no longer disqualified once five years have passed since the conviction, provided they have had no criminal convictions of any kind during that five-year window.⁵

Felony Waiting Period

For felony convictions, the waiting period is ten years from the date of conviction, with no criminal convictions of any kind during that decade.⁵

Nonviolent Offense Exception

A narrower exception covers a specific list of nonviolent offenses, including theft by receiving, forgery, financial identity fraud, resisting arrest, criminal impersonation, interference with visitation or custody, and prostitution-related offenses. A person convicted of one of these may remain employed if the service provider wants to keep them, they have completed all terms of their sentence (probation, fines, restitution), and they do not pick up any new disqualifying convictions. This exception applies only at long-term care facilities, developmental disabilities facilities, and childcare facilities.⁵

What Applicants Are Entitled To

Before running any check, the employer must have you complete a written authorization statement. That form asks whether you have been found guilty of or pleaded guilty to a crime and, if so, for a description of the offense. It also tells you that criminal history and registry checks will be conducted, explains how to object to the contents of any report, and requires your signature, which may be submitted electronically.⁶

Federal EEOC guidance layers on further protections. Employers must treat applicants with similar criminal records consistently regardless of race or national origin, consider how a conviction relates to the specific job, distinguish between arrests and convictions, and give applicants an opportunity to explain their criminal history before making a final decision.⁷ EEOC recordkeeping rules require that personnel and employment records, including background check results, be retained for at least one year, or one year from the date of termination for involuntary discharges.⁸

Federal Requirements That Sit On Top

Arkansas’s state-level checks do not satisfy every federal obligation for facilities that participate in Medicare or Medicaid. Federal regulations prohibit nursing facilities from employing anyone found guilty by a court of abuse, neglect, exploitation, or misappropriation of resident property, anyone with a finding entered in the state nurse aide registry for those categories, or anyone with a disciplinary action against their professional license based on such findings. Facilities must also report to the state nurse aide registry any knowledge of court actions against an employee that would indicate unfitness to serve.⁹

The federal Office of Inspector General also maintains the List of Excluded Individuals and Entities, which bars certain people from participating in any federal healthcare program. Under 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7, the OIG must exclude anyone convicted of a program-related crime, patient abuse or neglect, a healthcare fraud felony, or a felony involving a controlled substance.¹⁰ A facility that bills Medicare or Medicaid for services provided by an excluded person cannot be reimbursed and faces civil monetary penalties. The LEIE is free to search on the OIG website.

Using a Third-Party Screener

If an employer uses a third-party consumer reporting agency for any portion of the background check, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act adds a separate layer of obligations. The employer must provide a standalone written disclosure explaining that a background check will be conducted, obtain the applicant’s written permission before ordering the report, and certify to the reporting agency that it has complied with FCRA requirements.¹¹

If the employer decides not to hire someone based in whole or in part on information in a consumer report, it must follow an adverse action process: give the applicant a copy of the report and a summary of their rights before making the decision final, then send a formal adverse action notice afterward. Skipping these steps exposes the employer to FCRA liability regardless of whether the underlying disqualification was valid.

1
Arkansas Department of Human Services. Advisory Memo – Employment Clearance Registry for Long Term Care Facility Personnel
2
Arkansas Department of Human Services. Electronic Background Checks
3
FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 20 Section 20-38-103
4
Justia. Arkansas Code 20-38-101 – Definitions
5
Justia. Arkansas Code 20-38-105 – Disqualification from Employment – Denial or Revocation – Penalties
6
Justia. Arkansas Code 20-38-104 – Request for Criminal History Records Checks
7
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Criminal Records
8
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Recordkeeping Requirements
9
eCFR. 42 CFR 483.12
10
Office of Inspector General. Exclusions Authorities
11
Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports: What Employers Need to Know