Live Scan Help in California

[dawnsternaz]

My question involves criminal records for the state of: California

This week, I had my Live Scan fingerprinting performed as required for my job as an educator. The Department of Justice (DOJ), informed the employer via email that the Live Scan status is delayed/in-process.

In 2015, I did experience a delay from the DOJ when I had a Live Scan done. (first job in CA see next paragraph for explanation)
I did not experience a delay when I went to work for a new district in 2016-2017
I did not experience a delay when I went to work for a new district from 2017-2019

To provide some history, when I first moved to California in 2015 to work for a district, there was a delay from the DOJ. There is nobody a prospective employee or employer can contact or speak with at the Department of Justice, regarding the background check. The individual or employer can only look up the status of the clearance on a website and districts only receive status emails: delayed/in-process/completed.

In 1992, 27 years ago, I had a misdemeanor charge that the court dismissed and expunged from the record. I was printed when I was accused (it was a domestic incident with a boyfriend while in college, no violence occurred). This dismissed charge had nothing to do with, nor has prevented me from working or interacting with children at any time over my entire professional career. When the delay occurred in 2015 with Live Scan, I discovered that the Department of Justice record was inaccurate and did not show the offense as dismissed and expunged. I filed a “claim of inaccuracy or incompleteness” form with the DOJ and their records were subsequently corrected. I have provided the new employer a copy of such letter.


in 2016, I did not experience a delay when I joined a new district, that Live Scan check was performed on a Thursday and I started with Menifee the following Monday.
In 2017, I did not experience a Live Scan delay when I went to another district

I have assumed that the error in DOJ records had been corrected and permanently resolved, given that I received the DOJ confirmation letter and did not encounter any delays after 2015.


In 2015, when the initial delay occurred, during the second week of the delay, the Director of Special Education for the district went to Personnel and the Assistant Superintendent and asked if I could start immediately.

The Director of SPED explained to leadership that I had clear and valid credentials in teaching, counseling, and as a school psychologist with the State of California and my previous state of residence. The Director further stated that these credentials would not have been issued if there were any other infractions on my record.

The Director also provided district leadership a copy of the court’s dismissal of the charge. The legal representative for the district cleared me for employment and I started the next day. The district did not hear from the DOJ for another two weeks (approximately 30 days after the Live Scan) and the results were confirmed as cleared to employ.

The dismissed and expunged offense, occurred twenty-seven years ago and per the DOJ, the record should absolutely reflect this fact.

When I called my previous district yesterday to follow up on my verification of employment form, the personnel representative stated that, “The DOJ often delays the process quite a bit. Our policy is as long as the potential employee was just working for another district and they have a clear credential, we get them started.”

Since we cannot contact DOJ, does anyone in the legal field in CA have any advice or guidance? I feel like I am reliving a nightmare from 4 years ago. I am not sure if my new employer is going to help or wait for this process to allow me to start work or hire someone else.

[L-1]

I worked for the state for 33 years and was involved in doing background investigations. While I did not work for DOJ, I did have occasion to interact with their live scan folks when assisting another state agency in clearing their civilian hires. Here's what the live scan staff told me at the time. It's been years since I retired so I don't know if the information is still valid, but hopefully it will provide you with some reassurance.

Back then when you did a live scan, you were merely sending fingerprints electronically, only to be printed out and manually inspected and checked by a human technician. Back then, delayed/in process simply meant the prints were piled up because they didn't have enough techs to check them.

Depending on how much an inquiring agency paid, there were two waiting periods to get prints processed - Normal and Rush. However, because DOJ was so backlogged (understaffed), the turnaround time for an applicant/criminal history check was two to three times what they promised. For example, Rush promised a 30 day turnaround but really took 60 to 90 days, while Normal promised a 60 day turnaround but took 120 to 180 days.

I am guessing things have not changed since I retired and that your delay is not because of your dismissal/expungement, but due to a personnel shortage, which the State of California is notorious for. You are learning one of the first rules of government operation - Hurry up and wait.

[dawnsternaz]

I don't believe it is NOT due to the dismissal/expungement. My friend who also works for the school district was cleared the same day. The HR coordinator is processing new employees daily and no one else is "delayed."
Thanks for your feedback but I do believe this is holding it up. As I am a professional who holds a doctorate and masters degree, I am considering hiring an attorney and filing a claim against the DOJ once I am cleared. Something needs to change. I wrote to Kamala Harris' office in 2015 and never received a response. It violates Labor Code Section 432.7, because in essence, they are revealing that you have some sort of offense that is delaying things but expunged, sealed or dismissed offenses cannot be asked about or revealed to jobs.

[LegalWriter]

. It violates Labor Code Section 432.7, because in essence, they are revealing that you have some sort of offense that is delaying things but expunged, sealed or dismissed offenses cannot be asked about or revealed to jobs.

Not when you are applying for a government job. There are no secrets in that situation.

[jk]

I don't believe it is NOT due to the dismissal/expungement. My friend who also works for the school district was cleared the same day. The HR coordinator is processing new employees daily and no one else is "delayed."
Thanks for your feedback but I do believe this is holding it up. As I am a professional who holds a doctorate and masters degree, I am considering hiring an attorney and filing a claim against the DOJ once I am cleared. Something needs to change. I wrote to Kamala Harris' office in 2015 and never received a response. It violates Labor Code Section 432.7, because in essence, they are revealing that you have some sort of offense that is delaying things but expunged, sealed or dismissed offenses cannot be asked about or revealed to jobs.

You’re inference that a delay suggests some negative issue in your background does not mean you have a viable legal claim against the doj. Paranoid people often believe everybody is out to get them. Your inference falls within such claims.

Given you were given non-delayed inquires between discovery of the inaccurate record and the current issue, it would suggest your prior criminal issue is not the delay.

Im also curious as to what specific section of the labor code you cited you believe the DOJ may have violated. I dont see where in that section the reporting agency could be in violation of that law. Anything applicable to a reporting agency appears to include intent. I highly doubt you will be able to prove some person within the DOJ acted with intent to affect your employment concerns. To suggest you, a person among millions of others whose background is checked annually, would be targeted by an individual completely unknown to you is a bit unbelievable.

[B.Frank]

Paranoid people often believe everybody is out to get them. Your inference falls within such claims.

Ouch. Really?

I do agree though that subdivision (g) requires intent which likely does not exist.

That being said lets take a look at the more important intent here - dawnsternaz's intent - and try to help her. After all that is the whole point of this thread right? Drilling her with personal attacks and making her frustrated does no good.

I think it is obvious that her intent of this thread is to ultimately remedy the situation so that in the future her live scans are not delayed.

Dawnsternaz,

I agree with you that this is likely due to an error in the way the DOJ is reporting your live scan. You will need to continue to deal with the DOJ to fix this, even if it means beginning a process you have already done. Also understand that in the end there may be no feasible way for you to get the results you want. You may have to deal with your live scans getting delayed for the the rest of your life. I do believe though it's worth a shot and that there is some person somewhere who is permitted to issue some sort of override or note in the DOJ system which prevents you from getting delayed in the future.

Here are some forms that may help get you started:

https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/a...structions.pdf

https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/a...cia_8016RR.pdf

Contact info:

Record Review Unit

(916) 227-3835

Department of Justice Bureau of Criminal Information & Analysis Record Review
Unit P.O. Box 903417
Sacramento, CA 94203-4170