Sexual Offenses Tracking System
(511-95Na, 522-96N)

A. INTRODUCTION

The Seventh-day Adventist Church desires to make its work and worship environments free from abuses of all kinds. To achieve this goal in the employment sector, these Guidelines have been developed for implementation throughout the North American Division (NAD).

These Guidelines call for the NAD to act as a clearinghouse for the collection and dissemination of personnel and service record information. The practices outlined in these Guidelines shall be followed in order that no offending employee shall be hired by another conference or NAD entity without prior notice to that conference or entity of prior acts by or claims against the individual.

B. SEXUAL OFFENSES COVERED BY THE GUIDELINES

Any written admission of guilt pertaining to sexual abuse, sexual harassment, or sexual misconduct.
Any criminal conviction or plea of guilty, nolo contendere, or its equivalent for sexual abuse, sexual harassment, or sexual misconduct.
Any civil judicial determination of liability for, or factual finding of sexual abuse, harassment, or sexual misconduct.

C. IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS

1. Sending Personnel Information to NAD

The designated officer of the employing organization shall notify the director of the NAD Data Management Services in writing of the existence of any of the sexual offenses identified in Section B, Items 1-4 of this pamphlet.
Notification shall be supplied on organizational letterhead with the envelope marked "Confidential" and language similar to the following:

"Please flag the confidential computerized personnel file as follows:

Name of Individual: ___________________
Effective Date: _______________________
Employer at Time of Incident: ________________________
Type of Offense: ______________________ (1,2,3, or 4)
Disciplinary Action Taken: __________________________
Officer Reporting: ____________________ (Signature)"

2. Receiving Information from NAD

The designated officers of Church entities shall routinely request from NAD information regarding potential employees prior to employment.
If the information obtained reveals that the potential employee's personnel file contains a flag, the director of the NAD Data Management services will respond by mailing (or faxing) a copy of the page containing the flag and the name of the former employer to contact for further information.
The potential employer shall then contact the previous employer for details regarding any incidents giving rise to the flag.
Files containing information on the nature of the misconduct and the disciplinary actions taken shall be available only at the employing organization that filed the record of the incident.

3. System of Annual Review

The designated officers of the denominational employing organizations shall set up a system of annual review of the permanent files in order that files that are misflagged or files that need flag changes can be identified and corrected before files are permanently stored.
In the event that an employee is exonerated of a reported incident, the designated officer of the employing organization shall notify the director of the NAD Data Management Services in writing, and the flag shall be removed immediately from the individual's file.
Notification of flag removals shall be on organizational letterhead with the envelope marked "Confidential" and language similar to the following:

"Please remove the flag from the confidential computerized personnel file of:

Name of Individual: _________________
Effective Date: _____________________
Employer at the Time of the Incident: _____________________
Type of Offense: ___________________
Reason for New Action: _______________________
Officer: ______________________"

As a final check, the director of the NAD Data Management Services shall make a periodic review of all flagged files and shall contact the designated officers who reported information to the tracking system to verify the current status.

D. SELECTED DEFINITIONS

Church: For these Guidelines, church means the local conference, union conference, or North American Division office, or any other employing or appointing organization or entity of the NAD.
Denominational Employee: Any individual who is employed by the church.
Designated Officer: The person at the local conference, union conference, NAD office or other employing or appointing organization or entity of the NAD, who is responsible for initiating the procedures set forth in these Guidelines.
Sexual Ethics Committee (SEC): A five- member committee that is appointed from a larger pool of qualified appointees by the Designated Officer to consider a complaint.
Volunteer: Any individual whose labor or service is requested by and donated to the church, and who is under the church's direction or supervision. The existence of a monetary stipend for reimbursement of expenses does not negate volunteer status.

Last Revision, January 1, 1996