MASSP News Center

When the state mandated that schools get background checks on employees before hiring them without increasing funding, it didn’t violate the Headlee Amendment, the Court of Appeals ruled in a published per curium decision released Wednesday.

In dismissing the case of 465 taxpayers against the state, (Owczarek v. State of Michigan, COA, docket No. 273322), judges said that although the state law mandates criminal background checks, it doesn’t mandate districts to pay the cost of the checks.

That means it doesn’t violate the spirit of Headlee, which essentially protects local governments by assuring that the state doesn’t pass along costs to municipalities or schools that arise out of mandates the state has created and that it should be paying for.

In this case, judges said, who pays the $70 for the criminal background check is a matter of collective bargaining between the employees and the employer.

“The absence of legislative direction as to which party must pay the fees associated with the background check reflects the fact that ‘conditions of employment fall within the traditional scope of collective bargaining’,” said Judges Kirsten Kelly, Jane Markey and Patrick Meter.

Judges also disagreed with plaintiffs that the mandate to reimburse back pay to any employee who has been suspended and reinstated pending an investigation into a criminal history is a violation of Headlee.

“The lost compensation requirement does not result in any shifting of state responsibilities to the local school districts,” judges said. “Local school districts traditionally bear the financially burden of paying lost wages in cases involving the wrongful discharge or suspension of an employee.”