Hiring - Positions of Trust
The following criteria should be used by the hiring manager to determine whether or not a position is a Position of Trust and will require a recurrent 4-year Criminal Background Check (CBC) or a 2-year CBC as listed in the UW-Madison CBC Policy. This should be indicated on the Request to Fill (RTF) when it is submitted to Extension HR.
Division of Extension Descriptions of Positions of Trust (POT)
1) POT2 - Access to Vulnerable Populations - 2 Year CBC
For employees with unsupervised or significant access to minors, two-year checks are required and they are designated as "POT2". Staff who engage or have strong potential to engage in the following activities are required to have two-year checks:
- Serve in a custodial care role in any program. Custodial care is the responsibility for the care, supervision, guidance, or control of minor(s) on a temporary basis for the purpose of the minor(s) engaging in Extension programs or activities without a parent, guardian, teacher, etc., present who is responsible for their supervision.
- Staff who work in multi-day youth programs (e.g., multi-day conference for youth).
- Staff who work in youth camps or other overnight programming for youth.
- Staff who have one-on-one interactions with minors (e.g., permission to travel alone in a car with a minor).
- Staff who mentor minors (in-person or virtually).
- Staff who allow unrelated youth minors to job-shadow them.
2) POT4 - Access to Vulnerable Populations - 4 Year CBC
A Position of Trust - “POT4” designation will be the default designation for all county-based educators. This designation would include:
- Any staff who represent Extension while engaging in programming for youth. For example, this would include FoodWIse staff or Natural Resources staff who offer any programming in schools or other organizations with youth participants (either in-person or virtually).
- Staff who provide administrative support for youth programs in county offices (e.g., 4-H program coordinator).
- Staff who provide in-person support to youth conferences, youth competitions, or youth programming at county fairs.
3) POT - Position of Trust
A Position of Trust - "POT" designation would include:
- Executive Positions: All Extension Limited appointments (LI Employee Classification).
- Property Access: Positions with access to master keys that allow the employee into other offices/worksites (i.e., can get into any office in the building in which they are housed through use of a master key).
Non-POTs
- Staff who may see or acknowledge minors in the course of their duties (e.g., children of a farmer with whom they are doing business), but do not directly interact with them as part of those duties (e.g., do not serve as a guest speaker in a school).
- Staff who provide general administrative support in a county office. Answering a question from a minor who calls the county office would not make the role a Position of Trust.
- Staff who develop programs in a state office if they never interact with youth in those programs (e.g., staff who administer tractor safety education and interact only with instructors of those programs).
Position of Trust Matrix
Position of Trust Type | POT2 | POT4 | POT |
---|---|---|---|
Access to Vulnerable Populations |
x
(job duties include significant and unsupervised access to minors)
|
x
(job duties include interactions with youth where the staff member is never responsible for safety and care of the youth)
|
|
Property Access | x | ||
Executive Positions (Limited Appointments) | x |
Related UW-Madison Policy
Get Help
Questions? Contact hr@extension.wisc.edu.