It is the policy of the District government to assess the suitability – character, reputation, and fitness for duty – of each applicant, appointee, volunteer, and employee through uniform background checks and drug and alcohol testing, as deemed necessary, which meet the District government’s need for flexible human resources administration, government accountability, individual privacy, and other constitutionally protected rights. This instruction reiterates the requirements for enhanced suitability screening for safety, protection, and security sensitive positions as indicated in Chapter 4, Suitability, of the D.C. personnel regulations. Specifically, this issuance updates the listing of positions subject to criminal background, traffic record, drug and alcohol, and/or credit checks, as required by the regulations. 

Appointees, volunteers, and employees are subject to enhanced suitability screenings as required by the applicable position. The types of covered positions subject to an enhanced suitability screening are categorized below. 

Individuals who hold safety sensitive positions are subject to criminal background checks, traffic record checks (as applicable), pre-employment drug and alcohol, reasonable suspicion drug and alcohol, random drug and alcohol, post-accident or incident, return-to-duty, and follow-up drug and alcohol testing. Individuals who hold protection sensitive positions are subject to criminal background checks, traffic record checks (as applicable), pre-employment drug and alcohol, reasonable suspicion, post-accident or incident, return-to-duty, and followup drug and alcohol tests. Individuals in security sensitive positions must undergo a criminal background, traffic record, and pre-employment consumer credit check, reasonable suspicion, and post-accident or incident drug and alcohol test. 

Current Employees and Enhanced Suitability Screening

Current employees in covered positions are subject to any enhanced suitability screening required of the position they occupy at the time Chapter 4, Suitability, of the D.C. personnel regulations goes into effect with the exception that current employees whose positions are designated as protection sensitive at the time these rules go into effect are not subject to an initial drug or alcohol test and current employees whose positions are designated security sensitive are not subject to an initial consumer credit check. All appointees and/or applicants will be required to adhere to any screening requirements at the time of selection.

Recertification of Suitability

Employees may be required to periodically recertify their suitability for employment with the District government based on their current role or their placement into a role that is covered by a different type of enhanced suitability screening.

Criminal Background Checks

Employees in safety, protection, and security sensitive positions are subject to a criminal background check on a biennial basis or whenever there is reasonable suspicion that an employee or volunteer has been arrested or charged with a criminal offense

Traffic Record Checks

Employees who occupy a covered position and drive vehicles for the District government are subject to a traffic check on a biennial basis.

Status Changes

If an employee is promoted, demoted, reassigned, or otherwise appointed to a position subject to enhanced suitability screening, they will be subject to any initial screening required of the new covered position.

An individual who occupies a covered position is subject to enhanced suitability screening. Each personnel authority will notify any individual occupying a covered position in writing that he or she is subject to an initial enhanced suitability screening prior to conducting any such screening. All covered employees will receive individual notices by screening type for acknowledgement. 

Positions in the Executive and Excepted Services, and those in all departments, administrations, and offices under the Executive Office of the Mayor (EOM) are designated as Security Sensitive. All other positions subject to enhanced suitability screening are attached to this instruction. The position description for each covered position has been revised to include a statement of such designation, as well as a statement indicating that incumbents of the position will be subject to enhanced suitability screening. All appointees and/or applicants will be notified of any screening requirements at the time of application and selection.

Enhanced Suitability Screening Forms and Handling

Agencies will provide the applicant and/or employee the necessary forms to submit to the program administrator, DCHR, or the vendor for enhanced suitability screening after the conditional offer of employment is made. Agencies must utilize approved forms published by DCHR for suitability screenings. All forms related to suitability and the drug and alcohol program are available online at dchr.in.dc.gov. DCHR will retain any forms related to enhanced suitability screening. Supporting documents and screening results will be tracked in Truescreen, an encrypted database. Agencies will be provided access to Truescreen to review status updates for ongoing enhanced suitability screenings. Notices related to the final enhanced suitability determination received by the agency should be stored in a confidential folder separate from the Official Personnel File (OPF) for recordkeeping purposes in case of an audit or an appeal.

A number of employees of the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (FEMS) are classified as safety-sensitive. For these employees, the Chief of FEMS shall be the program administrator for purposes of drug and alcohol testing. 

All District supervisors and managers are required to undergo training in drug abuse detection and recognition, documentation, intervention, and any other appropriate topics, for supervisors and managers in agencies with covered employees. 

DCHR, or the personnel authority, will review the union status of each employee prior to administering enhanced suitability screening. For unionized employees, any enhanced screening performed will be conducted in accordance with the appropriate collective bargaining agreement (CBA). If the procedures in the CBA differ from those outlined in Chapter 4, Suitability, of the D.C. personnel regulations, DCHR or the personnel authority will follow the procedures noted in the CBA. 

Regulatory Authority

The information provided in this instruction is pursuant to Chapter 4 of the D.C. personnel regulations, Suitability. 

Applicability

This instruction applies to those District government agencies that are subordinate to the Mayor’s personnel authority and those personnel authorities that have adopted these procedures.

The positions designated as safety, protection, and security sensitive in this Instruction apply only to those agencies listed in Attachments 1 – 35 and supersede any prior designations under the Child and Youth Health and Safety Act for the specified agencies. For those agencies that are not listed, any prior safety-sensitive position designations remain in effect.

This instruction supersedes Instruction 04-36, Positions Subject to Enhanced Suitability Screening, dated April 16, 2017. 

As used in this instruction –

• “appointee” means a person who has been made a conditional job offer to a position, compensated or voluntary, subject to the satisfactory completion of a general or enhanced suitability screening. 
• “personnel authority” means an individual or entity with the authority to administer all or part of a personnel management program as provided in Title IV of the Comprehensive Merit Personnel Act of 1978, effective March 3, 1979 (D.C. Law 2-139; D.C. Official Code §§ 1-604.01, et seq.). 
• “post-accident or post-incident test” means an examination that is administered to a District government employee who, while on duty, is involved in a vehicular or other type of accident resulting in personal injury, property damage, or both, in which the cause of the accident could reasonably be believed to have been the result, in whole or in part, from the use of a drug or alcohol on part of the employee.
• “reasonable suspicion test” means an examination that is administered to a District government employee based on the reasonable belief by a supervisor that an employee is under the influence of a drug or alcohol to the extent that the employee’s ability to perform his or her job is impaired.
• “random drug or alcohol test” means an examination that is administered to a District government employee in a safety sensitive position, at an unspecified time, for the purpose of determining whether the employee has used drugs or alcohol and, as a result, is unable to satisfactorily perform his or her employment duties.
• “return-to-duty test” means a one-time, announced drug and/or alcohol test required as a condition of an employee’s return to the workplace upon satisfactorily completing required treatment for substance abuse.

For additional information on the enhanced suitability screening process, please refer to Chapter 4, Suitability, of the D.C. personnel regulations or the Suitability Guide located on the DCHR website under the policy and procedure tab; click Electronic-District Personnel Manual (E-DPM) at dchr.dc.gov. For additional information concerning this instruction, please contact the DCHR’s, Policy and Compliance Administration, by calling (202) 442-9700 or by sending an e-mail to [email protected].