Soooo, something strange happened today

[Horse with no Name]

I'm trying to decide if I need to put on my tin foil hat.
I get a large envelope in the mail today from the State Board.
Letter says it is routine, but I have to submit to an FBI background check.
Soooo, I have to go to the Sheriff's Office to get fingerprinted and get this crap in the mail.
Has this happened to anyone else?

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I had to do it when I took my coaching job. Have you taken any kind

of job that would require that sort of check?

[Horse with no Name]

6. Actually no.

It's the State Board of Nursing. I've been a nurse for 20 years without any reprimands or complaints.:shrug:

[libpunkmom]

16. Yes. Worked for years in nursing

here in Oregon. We always had to do the state criminal history check. Moved to social services. Same State wide check. Then in roughly 1999-2000 rules passed that all of us (in social services) had to pass an FBI criminal history check. Fingerprints the whole deal. The problem with just the state checks (especially nursing/social services) people would work in one state, get busted for abuse, move to next state, start working again. Never caught with only a state wide check. Any way. That's why it's done in Oregon.

[Warpy]

21. Must be something new, a new harassment over and above

the embarrassing and totally unnecessary pee test.

They must want us all to quit.

An FBI check seems a little over the top, but they asked for all addresses since 1932 on my VA application 20 years ago. I just went back 10 years and told them to suck it up. They were desperate so they did.

If you're working for the VA, this might be the problem. If you're working for a regular hospital or other facility, call your state board of nursing and ask them just what the #)Q$#)(*#@Q)#&!!~ is going on.

[libpunkmom]

27. The reason for I was given for

the change ( in social services) was because if a person is convicted of abuse in Texas (just an example) they could no longer work in Texas. However if this same person then moved to Oregon and started working The abuse conviction was not found in a state wide criminal history check. In social services, nursing and fields of the sort there is actually a list of crimes that if you have ever been convicted of, you can't work in the field.

[Warpy]

42. That's nuts. Once you get your license pulled in State A

it's hard as hell to get one in State B.

I know somebody who tried, somebody who went off her meds and off the deep end. It didn't work. I'm happy to say she got help and got her license back in State A, but the system worked. State B will find out if your license is in good standing in State A.

[malaise]

35. Call ACLU n/t

[rzemanfl]

2. Board of what??? n/t

[Horse with no Name]

11. Nursing. Sorry. n/t

[Inland]

3. I assume you've got a job requring security checks.

Or on parole. What's the purpose?

[Horse with no Name]

15. Definitely not on parole

:giggle:
I have had to submit to background checks for jobs in the past, but I've been a nurse for 20 years, kind of surprised they would be worried about me now.

[Inland]

4. dupe

[SmokingJacket]

5. What's the rationale?

State board of what?

Never happened to me... then again, I certainly don't do any kind of sensitive work.

[Horse with no Name]

8. Sorry.

State Board of Nursing. I know that they do the FBI checks on new nurses...however, didn't know that they went back and did them on us old geezers,lol.

[JuniperLea]

12. Well!

It would have been nice of them to let you know if they changed the rules and were doing retroactive checks!

[Inland]

20. My guess is that they've got to clear some cases

Give the fbi about five weeks trying to match your prints to their cold cases.

[htuttle]

7. I had to do that for a taxi license

Twice (in different cities).

Depends on what sort of job it is, I guess.

[JuniperLea]

9. I've done it...

For my Notary commission... and an NASD license (SEC rules)... and the financial services company I worked for routinely did background checks to that extent.

Is there anything you've applied for or joined or got a license for recently that may have prompted this?

If it is completely out of the blue... I'll don my tinfoil hat too!

:tinfoilhat:

[Horse with no Name]

10. It's out of the blue.

It's a form letter--doesn't even have my name on it.

[JuniperLea]

13. Could it be a weird promotion? Asking for money or to buy something? n/t

[Horse with no Name]

18. Nope.

Neither of the two.

[JuniperLea]

22. Are you going to call your employer to see...

if this is some retroactive background check?

Now I'm freaking out on your behalf! haha!

[Horse with no Name]

29. It has nothing to do with my employer

It's my state licensing board.
The form letter says that they are checking ALL licensed nurses.
However, I don't know anyone else that has received a letter.
They are within their rights to do it and I am not worried about passing...just wonder if my big mouth has gotten me in trouble,lol.

[JuniperLea]

36. If that's the case

I'll be wearing a red carnation when they haul me off to one of the Halliburton concentration camps! Keep an eye out for me!!

heehee!

[Booster]

24. Old age has it's advantages. I would ignore it and then claim

senility if asked about it. I always throw anything away that doesn't have my name on it and how are they to know it was delivered to you without a name? My mailman leaves me someone else's mail about 3 times a week, so......

[tridim]

14. Does anyone in your family have clearance?

Our whole family was checked out when my Dad got his clearance.

[Horse with no Name]

30. Yes. But they are cousins.

Since I have 25+ cousins, I can't imagine that being it.

[Sanity Claws]

17. Check with your professional association or union

I don't know what state you're in but most if not all states have professional organizations for nurses. A lot of nurses also are unionized. I think either organization should be able to help you find out whether this request has any basis in law.

[mike_c]

yes, I'd don the tin foil hat, at least for a little while....

Contact the board and ask them to cite you any laws or licensing regulations requiring FBI background checks. Contact your local labor rep and ask whether this is true, and when the requirement came into force. Does it apply to everyone? Can you opt out?

In short, don't just comply-- find out why, and whether you have any choices. Find out what your rights are, and exercise them.

[Horse with no Name]

25. They did that in the form letter

Section 301.3011
We don't have unions or labor reps.

[mike_c]

33. I'd still contact them-- what changed?

You haven't had to pass any such checks in 20 years-- why now? I dunno, it still sounds weird to me, requiring nurses to undergo FBI background checks.

[slackmaster]

19. I've been through that three times that I know of

Definitely three full sets of prints, plus the FBI background check:

Security clearance for a military contract; getting a job at a bank; and acquiring a Federal Firearms License.

[katinmn]

23. probably has to do with the coming bird flu pandemic

[Karmakaze]

39. That may not be that silly...

It could be that they are trying to build an identity database of all health professionals so that should something lika pandemic or bioterrorism occur that they can enforce a "draft" to ensure that health care workers attend their jobs.

[katinmn]

41. I was completely serious

The NIH has begun trials using live bird flu virus.

It's just a matter of time before the virus is launched onto the public.

http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2005/H5N1QandA.htm

[Alamom]

26. I have a friend who retired from teaching a few years ago. She

couldn't make it on her pension and had to go back as a sub. She had to go through this and has never had anything against her, not even a speeding ticket.

She was away from teaching about 5 years.

My neighbor is a nurse. I can ask if she has had anything like this happen.

[proud patriot]

28. I get fingerprinted for Teaching jobs

:hi:

[etherealtruth]

31. Did the laws recently change in your state ...

They did in Michigan ... friends in nursing and social work are expecting the "packet" you just received.

[Horse with no Name]

32. It is possible

I wasn't aware of it, but the more I look into it, it seems likely that it did.

[treestar]

43. Check with the Nursing Board and read the section they quoted

if you can find that. At least see that they have a legal basis for it or make sure it came from them. I guess it could be a scam to get your social security number or something.

Especially with your name not on it. Don't they even have a number assigned to each nurse? If it was really from a State Board of Nursing, it just seems like it would be more professional than that, and that you'd have heard about it via professional publications and such.

[newscott]

34. I got fingerprinted for a job I worked in the financial services sector

I had to be bonded by the company so they put me on file with the FBI. When they took my prints the print-guy found one funny looking print on my left index finger. He realized I had a scar on the finger. So he took an extra print of it. I'd better not commit any crimes now. :evilgrin:

[Mountainman]

37. I did it when I became a foster parent.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

38. When I worked in day care, this happened to me

and the sheriff did such a lousy job taking the fingerprints they weren't readable.

[TNDemo]

40. I had to get a background check when I started nursing school

last summer. They just started requiring it last year.