"Applicant" means a person who has applied for work in a department-covered position, including current employees, volunteers, students, or interns serving or working in a similarly situated position or any person who must meet state and federal background check requirements to work in a department-covered position.
"Background check central unit" means the program responsible for conducting background checks for the department of social and health services.
"Child or children" means any person under eighteen years of age.
"Department" means the department of social and health services.
"Department-covered position" means a position that has:
(1) Unsupervised access to vulnerable adults, juveniles, or children; or
(2) Access to the internal databases in the background check central unit and the division of disability determination services.
"Division of disability determination services" means the DSHS program contracted to perform medical determinations for the Social Security Administration in accordance with Social Security Administration regulations and requirements.
"DSHS" means the department of social and health services.
"Employee" means a permanent or nonpermanent department of social and health services employee who is appointed to a department-covered position for any reason including but not limited to: Transfer, promotion, demotion, elevation, layoff, reassignment, reallocation, and reversion.
"Juvenile" means a person under the age of twenty-one under the juvenile rehabilitation administration's (JRA) jurisdiction, or under the department of corrections' jurisdiction while placed in a JRA facility.
"Pending charge or pending action" means a charge or action awaiting a decision by a court or a civil adjudication proceeding. The term pending charge also includes specific types of court action where the defendant has agreed to certain conditions. Examples include a deferred prosecution or a stipulated order of continuance on an agreed condition. The department considers these types of cases on an individual case-by-case basis.
"Permanent employee" means a department employee who has successfully completed a Washington general service probationary period or Washington management service review period after appointment to a permanent position.
"Sensitive positions" means positions in the division of disability determination services and the background check central unit with access to federal databases or databases containing background check information.
"Unsupervised access" means a DSHS employee, volunteer or student intern who:
(1) Works, volunteers or serves in a setting, such as an institution, that provides residential services to vulnerable adults, juveniles and children;
(2) Works, volunteers or serves in a position where, during the course of his or her employment, the employee may transport, or visit the residence of, a vulnerable adult, juvenile or child; or
(3) Works, volunteers or serves in a position, other than one described in subsection (1) and (2) in this section, where the employee may be left alone with a vulnerable adult, juvenile or child. "Left alone" does not include the possibility of a public encounter, or public interaction.
"Vulnerable adult" means a person who is a client of the department who is:
(1) Sixty years of age or older who has the functional, mental, or physical inability to care for himself or herself; or
(2) Found incapacitated under chapter
11.88 RCW; or
(3) Developmentally disabled as defined under RCW
71A.10.020; or
(4) Admitted to any facility that is operated by the department; or
(5) Receiving services from a department contracted, authorized, certified, licensed, or individual provider, including those certified under chapter
70.96A RCW; or
(6) Receiving services through home health, hospice, or home care agencies required to be licensed under chapter
70.127 RCW; or
(7) Admitted for detoxification in a certified chemical dependency treatment facility in accordance with chapter
70.96A RCW; or
(8) A vulnerable adult as defined in chapter
74.34 RCW.
