Checking an Employee’s Criminal Background
A criminal background extract is an extract from criminal records intended to be presented to an employer, authority, educational institution or organizer of voluntary activities, which the employer is obliged to ask to see before concluding an employment contract for work with children, such as nurseries and schools. Only information that is considered to be of particular importance when working with children is recorded on the extract. The criminal background extract presented to the employer must not be older than six months.
As a general rule, a private employer cannot request information on a person's criminal records from the authorities, but instead the person always requests for a criminal background extract of himself or herself from the Legal Register Centre. An applicant cannot authorize an employer to apply for an extract on their behalf.
The employer does not have the right to copy or otherwise store information of criminal records. In principle, the employer can decide how a possible criminal background affects recruitment. Employers have the right to check the criminal history of people working with children, even if the employee's employment lasts less than three months. It must be stated already in the job advertisement that the person to be recruited must present an extract from the criminal records.