Johns Hopkins University (JHU) is dedicated to fostering a safe, respectful and inclusive work and learning environment that is free from discrimination and harassment. It is committed to upholding a standard that is welcoming for all students, faculty and staff.
JHU seeks to maintain these principals and strives to recruit candidates who share our values. To this end, in January 2024, the university implemented a supplement to its standard pre-employment checks that are conducted by The Office of Human Resources (HR) (i.e., criminal background checks and employment reference checks).
The purpose of the new supplemental step is to determine whether a candidate for employment has been subject to findings of employment misconduct within the last seven (7) years. This process does not begin until after an offer of employment has been extended but must be completed prior to onboarding.
For the purpose of this process, “misconduct” includes violations of discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct policies, serious violations of conduct and procedural policies including research and financial misconduct, and misconduct related to providing services or clinical/patient care.
Note that a policy violation at one institution may not be considered a violation at JHU and a finding of misconduct does not automatically disqualify a candidate from employment. This supplemental misconduct screening is aligned with the Association of American Universities’ set of principals designed to avoid “passing the harasser”. Johns Hopkins University’s Office of Institutional Equity (OIE) is responsible for conducting the supplemental misconduct screening.
Procedure
- Final Candidate Selection and Consent Form
After an offer of employment is extended to a final candidate, they are asked to sign either an executive consent form or faculty consent form that authorizes JHU to contact their current and/or former employer(s). Failure to provide the consent requested will disqualify the candidate from employment. - OIE Processes the Misconduct Inquiry
Upon receipt of the signed consent form, OIE will perform outreach to past and current employers to inquire whether, in the last seven years, (1) the candidate has been the subject of a finding of serious misconduct (discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, research misconduct or other serious violations of conduct policies) by a prior employer, or (2) the candidate left a prior employer during the pendency of a formal investigation under the employer’s applicable processes and/or protocols into allegations of serious misconduct.
If a former employer does not respond to OIE’s request for information about findings of serious misconduct, then the candidate will be asked to self-disclose such information and/or to sign a form attesting that they have not been the subject of a finding of serious misconduct. - Findings
If there are no findings of serious misconduct, the hiring process may proceed without further steps. If OIE learns about misconduct, discovers misconduct or a current or former institution discloses a finding of misconduct or an ongoing formal proceeding related to allegations of misconduct, OIE will inform the candidate of the material information. The candidate may be asked for additional details and relevant evidence to support their responses concerning the information gathered. - Conclusion of the Pre-Employment Misconduct Inquiry
At the conclusion of the inquiry, the relevant hiring decision-makers will meet with HR, OIE, the Office of the Dean and/or the Office of General Counsel to discuss the candidate and the findings of misconduct provided by OIE. A decision will be made to either move forward with the hire or proceed with alternate candidates.
Timeline
OIE is dedicated to providing thorough and objective analysis for executive and faculty misconduct inquiries. The average turnaround period for most cases is five (5) days. However, in the event there are findings of misconduct, please allow for more time. This period will allow internal stakeholders and decision-makers the bandwidth to assess the findings and make informed decisions about a candidate.
Documents and Forms
If you have any questions or need additional information, please reach out to Brielle White by email at [email protected].