Operator Responsibilities in Residential Care

Operators have a general responsibility under the Residential Care Regulations to perform a criminal record check and obtain character references before hiring any employee. (1) Operators also have an ongoing responsibility to monitor their employees’ performance. (2)

The following are the general criminal record check requirements:

• Newly hired staff must complete the criminal record check process immediately.
• Employers must make sure employees get a criminal record re-check every 5 years.
• Regulated Health professionals identified under the Criminal Records Review Act (3)are not required to resubmit a new criminal record check application.
• Employers are responsible to verify that criminal record checks have been completed.

All new criminal record checks are now conducted by the Criminal Records Review Program (CRRP) under the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General. This eliminates the option of going to the local police detachment.

References

1. Residential Care Regulation, s. 38. ("RCR")
2. RCR, s. 40 (1).
3. Criminal Records Review Act [RSBC 1996] c. 86

This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by BC Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support, June 2014.