Rule 80-14-1-.03 - Employee Background Checks; Covered Employees(1) As required by O.C.G.A. § 7-3-42(e), applicants and licensees must have commercial background checks performed on all covered employees, as defined in O.C.G.A. § 7-3-3(2). Employees of an applicant or licensee who are not engaged in the installment loan business are not covered employees. Background checks on all covered employees must be completed and found satisfactory by an applicant prior to the issuance of a license or by a licensee prior to the initial date of hire of such covered employee. In the event the job responsibilities of an employee change so that the employee satisfies the covered employee definition in O.C.G.A. § 7-3-3(2), the required background check must be completed and found satisfactory prior to the change in job responsibilities.(2) For purposes of O.C.G.A. § 7-3-42, an employee of a licensee is engaged in the installment loan business if he or she performs any of the following duties for a Georgia consumer: (a) taking a loan application or offering or negotiating terms of an installment loan;(b) entering, deleting, or verifying any information on an installment loan related document; or,(c) communicating with a consumer regarding a specific installment loan, excluding communication by a third party for purposes of debt collection.(3) Pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 7-3-42(e), applicants and licensees shall conduct criminal background checks by utilizing a commercial entity. The commercial entity shall be in the business of conducting criminal background checks. The criminal background checks conducted by the commercial entity must not have any time period limitations, geographic limitations, or restrictions in the search criteria, unless the time period limitation, geographic limitation, or other restriction on the background checks is required by applicable federal or state law. Any fees charged by the commercial entity for processing background checks must be paid by the applicant or licensee.Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 80-14-1-.03
O.C.G.A. §§ 7-3-3, 7-3-42, 7-3-51.
Original Rule entitled "Employee Background Checks; Covered Employees" adopted. F. Aug. 19, 2020; eff. Sept. 8, 2020.Amended: F. July 7, 2023; eff. July 27, 2023.