Wisconsin background check: WORCS, caregivers and your rights

How WORCS searches work

WORCS is a public website that gives access to Wisconsin criminal history held by the DOJ. Most requests are name based searches of the state repository. A name search uses the last name, first initial, known aliases, Social Security number and birth date. Results usually show right away, unless the name is so common that DOJ staff must review it by hand.

Because the match relies on names and dates, the DOJ warns that it cannot promise an arrest it returns belongs to the person being searched. Fingerprints settle that question. The state's highest court has also described name searches as prone to this kind of mix up.

Wisconsin caregiver background check

If you will work in a care setting the Department of Health Services regulates, the employer must run a caregiver background check. Part of it is a WORCS request with the caregiver option selected, which the DOJ processes as a caregiver search. Health Services sets the rest of the process, including the disclosure form you fill out about your history, and the list of offenses that bar or limit care work. Child care is handled by the Department of Children and Families under its own background check rules.

Some offenses can be reviewed through a rehabilitation process, so a hit is not always the end. Ask the employer which department's rules apply. Our health care background check page gives the bigger picture.

Fingerprint checks in Wisconsin

Organizations working with kids, elderly people or people with disabilities can qualify under the federal Volunteers for Children Act to request fingerprint based state and FBI searches through the DOJ, for paid staff, contractors and volunteers. Licensing programs for certain jobs also use prints. The employer or program tells you how to get printed. For how the FBI side works, read our FBI check page.

Wisconsin background check laws on using records

Under the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act, an employer generally may not discriminate based on an arrest or conviction record. The main exception applies when the record is what the law calls substantially related, meaning the facts of the offense overlap with what the work involves. The state's own examples: a theft conviction may relate to a cashier job, and drunk driving may relate to a truck driving job.

• Questions about arrests with no conviction are generally off limits, while questions about open charges and convictions are allowed.
• A blanket rule against hiring anyone with a record is not allowed; each job and record must be looked at on its own terms.
• Coworker or customer dislike is not a lawful reason.
• Suspending a worker over an open charge is allowed only when that charge connects closely to the work.
• Giving false information about your record on an application can lawfully cost you the job, because the issue is honesty.

The DWD page on arrest and conviction record discrimination has the full list and the complaint forms.

Free background check in Wisconsin and the form

WORCS name searches carry a fee, and fingerprint searches cost more. The employer usually covers the check for a hire. The "Wisconsin background check form" people look for is usually the caregiver disclosure form or the employer's consent form, which the employer hands you. If a screening firm prepares the report, a stand alone consent is required under federal rules; our consent form guide explains it, and the FTC rights article covers the notices.

Challenging a Wisconsin record

When WORCS lists someone else's arrest under your name, or gets an entry wrong, the DOJ's Crime Information Bureau has a challenge process. You send its criminal history challenge form with a full set of fingerprints, and court papers such as a certified judgment when the record refers to someone else. The DOJ does not charge for this. If a court expunged a case, the record usually gets a note saying so, provided the clerk of courts sent the information to the DOJ; a conviction does not vanish from the DOJ file.

For errors on a private report, use our dispute steps. If you think an employer broke the Fair Employment Act, file with the Equal Rights Division within 300 days.

Wisconsin rules and forms change from time to time. Rely on the DOJ, Health Services and DWD sites for current details, and take your own situation to counsel in Wisconsin or to a legal services nonprofit.