AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 19 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SERVICE LETTERS, CHILD-CARE FACILITIES, AND HEALTH-CARE FACILITIES.

Stricter hiring checks for care workers

Delaware requires employers to get service letters before hiring care workers whose duties allow personal contact with people receiving care. Covered employers operate health-care or child-care facilities, or provide health, nutritional, or personal care within them. Health-care facilities include hospitals, long-term care facilities, home health agencies, and adult day-care facilities. Covered child-care facilities are licensed by the state Office of Child Care Licensing. For previously employed applicants, employers must get a letter from the current or most recent employer. They must also get letters from every health-care facility or child-serving employer the applicant worked for within the past 5 years. Child-serving employers include public and private schools, youth camps, and residential child-care facilities. For applicants who never worked or were self-employed, employers must get references from two adults who know them and are not relatives. Employers must document unanswered service-letter requests and report them to Delaware’s Department of Labor. Temporary agencies placing covered workers must follow these rules too. The law’s applicant definition also includes people seeking a license to operate a child-care facility.