Risk Management FAQs NYSWYSA LPGA Drive Corning, NY 14830

Transcription

1 Risk Management FAQs NYSWYSA LPGA Drive Corning, NY 14830

2 Contents Policies and Procedures... 3 Purpose... 3 Who is Required to Have Risk Management?... 3 Minor Risk Management Process... 3 Adult Risk Management Process... 3 Processing Adults & Minors for Risk Management... 3 Risk Management Process for Referees... 4 RM Passes One Person, One Pass... 4 Risk Management Validity Period... 4 When Should We Begin Our Renewals?... 4 Lost or Damaged RM Passes... 5 Is an RM Pass Transferable to Another Club?... 5 Risk Management Team Staff Entry Requirements... 5 Team Staff Record Entry Do s & Don ts... 5 Risk Management Background s... 6 RosterPro Team Staff Audits... 6 Risk Management Background Approvals/Denials... 7 Appeal Process... 7 Risk Management Flow Chart... 8 Other... 8 NYSWYSA Risk Management FAQs Version Page 2 of 8

3 Policies and Procedures NYSWYSA has modeled its Risk Management program after the US Youth Soccer KIDSAFE program, which is designed to promote the welfare of youth players and to protect volunteer coaches, program administrators and the organization. NYSWYSA will make every reasonable effort, through its Risk Management program, to exclude from program responsibilities, any adult with a legally documented history of child molestation or other criminal record that would bring a material risk to the health and safety of the program s participants. Purpose The purpose of this document is to give NYSWYSA member clubs and administrators a convenient method to practice and apply existing risk management responsibilities within RosterPro as it affects their coaching staff and club administration personnel. The document has been created to address the most common, frequently asked questions relative to risk management practices. Who is Required to Have Risk Management? Any NYSWYSA member 12 years or older, regardless of their role, who will have repeated and routine contact with minor club players as a staff member is required to hold a current, original RM pass. This includes administrators, coaches, referees, assistants, managers, volunteers, chaperones as well as any other designated role of responsibility. Minor Risk Management Process Risk Management for minor staff under the age of 18 does not involve a background check. Minor arrest records are handled differently by the criminal justice process and are not subject to public release. However minors can be charged with serious delinquency counts consistent with adult criminal charges that appear in the current risk management policy that would in turn disqualify them just as they would an adult staff member. A parent or guardian bears the responsibility for attesting that a minor does not have such a record of behavior in their past, hence the need for the attestation format. Adult Risk Management Process Risk Management for adults 18 years of age or older involves conducting a background check. The most reliable type of check involves fingerprinting however this is also the most expensive option. Therefore NYSWSYA uses a three factor identity verification method to conduct this check. This is why an adult staff member must provide their SSN, Driver s License Number and upload a photo. Or in the case of a foreign national/resident alien, a current scan of their passport and visa. Processing Adults & Minors for Risk Management The risk management process is initiated in the same way for both adults and minors that fit the definition of team staff as mentioned above. The club registrar or other designated official enters the member into the Team Staff pool within the club RosterPro account using the applicant s legal name, verified date of birth, current legal physical address and a verified address. It is imperative that this data be entered correctly as a background can be rejected for the use of unverified data. NYSWYSA Risk Management FAQs Version Page 3 of 8

4 Risk Management Process for Referees This is a unique situation and is handled differently depending upon the individual member s status: If the member is ONLY a referee, then they are required to register or renew using the NYSWYSA referee registration system. Payment for the background is made directly through that system. Processing occurs directly through that system. If the member is BOTH a referee and a team staff member, there are two situations with which a background can be conducted. The member can be processed by their club through the usual Team Staff entry and process OR the member can be processed through the referee registration system. Regardless of how the member is initially processed, they can only possess one valid original risk management pass. If a member later becomes a referee or a team staff member, then they just need to be entered into that club s Team Staff pool. As long as the entry is made correctly, the system will recognize this and merge their record. We can also help with this process. RM Passes One Person, One Pass One of the most misunderstood rules regarding risk management involves the request for multiple passes. The rule has always been one person, one pass. We receive quite a few requests for additional passes because team staff members coach multiple teams or are members of multiple clubs. While this may be a convenience in one regard, it creates a multitude of risk mitigation issues at the state level. NYSWYSA recommends that staff members treat their RM pass in much the same way they do their driver s license. Possession of more than one original RM pass can result in suspension. Risk Management Validity Period Risk management passes are good for up to a two year issue period. This period follows a seasonal year format that begins on September 1 st and ends on August 31 st of a given calendar year. For example, if you were issued a risk management pass that became effective on then that pass is valid until Renewals for passes expiring on August 31 st for the current calendar year begin on July 1 st of that current calendar year for a pass effective date of September 1 st. This is the reason why some passes seem like they are only valid for a portion of the 2-year period. Different clubs renew at different times for different seasons. When Should We Begin Our Renewals? You should schedule your staff renewals at a time that makes the most operational sense for your club and the seasons your teams typically play in. Some clubs begin their seasons in early spring, others only maintain summer recreational programs, while still others have a major fall season. Remember that the renewal period begins on July 1 st of the calendar year that a pass expires. Using that benchmark, we recommend that if you have a Fall season, you should begin renewing your staff in July so that there is ample time for their backgrounds to be processed before September 1 st. If your club is involved in spring or summer travel leagues you should begin renewing those staff members after January 1 st. If you are predominantly a summer recreational club, then March 1 st should be your target NYSWYSA Risk Management FAQs Version Page 4 of 8

5 date. If you are involved in all three seasons, then you should plan accordingly for staff depending on their situational need. Lost or Damaged RM Passes Currently valid risk management passes that have either been lost or stolen are replaced for a $25 fee that is charged to the club requesting the replacement. Current passes cannot be resubmitted for renewal until they are eligible. The replacement must be requested by a club officer unless the replacement is for a referee. NYSWYSA does not issue RM passes directly to coaching staff. Is an RM Pass Transferable to Another Club? Risk management passes are the property of NYSWYSA and must be transferred to the appropriate club if/when a coach or staff member changes organizations. Clubs may not hold the RM pass without valid reason. Valid reasons do exist, but must be coordinated with the Risk Management Director or Coordinator. All RM passes are revocable at any time by NYSWYSA. Risk Management Team Staff Entry Requirements Club members, minor or adult, must be entered into the Team Staff pool of your RosterPro account in order to receive a risk management card. This includes all Club Administration Staff as well. The reason for this is that records for Club Administrators and Team Staff are handled differently within the database itself. When entering Team Staff member information, it is critical that you enter the member s legal information. Entries must include legal first and last name, verified date of birth, valid and current physical address, a valid address for the actual team staff member (there a only a couple of exceptions), and valid contact phone number. Do NOT enter nicknames, monikers, initial abbreviations, or suffixes, IE: Jimmy for James, TJ for Thomas John, John Smith Jr/III UNLESS that is their actual legal name. Failing to do so will cause delays with processing the background request and/or could result in the team staff entry being removed from the record. Team Staff Record Entry Do s & Don ts When entering a Team Staff record, bear in mind that you are are creating an official business record governed by applicable state laws including NYS Penal Law. You are then requesting that your staff member attest that their submission is an accurate and true record of who they are. Entering arbitrary information to circumvent the mandatory record fields is strictly prohibited and can result in club sanctions. This includes entering arbitrary dates of birth, arbitrary addresses or generic addresses where a third party enters required information. Arbitrary records will be deleted and you will have to create new records. Creating arbitrary records for an individual can be interpreted as an attempt to circumvent the background process and at a minimum, result in the creation of an illegal alias creating NYS Penal Law issues. Staff members answering their s are legally attesting to their information which is again legally binding. Questions or concerns with team staff entries should be directed to NYSWYSA risk management staff for clarification. Remember, we are here to help you. NYSWYSA Risk Management FAQs Version Page 5 of 8

6 Risk Management Background s New and returning Team Staff members submitted for background checks are sent a risk management from our automated system. Each member is provided with a secure log-in to a secure Demosphere server where they will complete the background process. s are valid for 30 days from the date they are sent then expire. Team Staff must respond within that period or the will need to be resent. For minor Team Staff Coaches, Assistants and Volunteers under the age of 18, the Club Registrar will receive the which requires that the club electronically attest for the staff member as proof that the club is allowing the minor to act in a team supervising role before a risk management pass is issued. Instructions are provided within the on the parental attestation process. For minor Referees under the age of 18, an adult parent or guardian will be required to electronically attest on behalf of the Referee applicant during the registration or renewal process before a risk management pass is issued. For ALL adult Team Staff members, the secure log-in session requires your SSN, a valid driver s license number and state of issue, and the upload of a first person color head shot photograph in order for a background to be processed. These elements are mandatory and a risk management pass cannot be issued without them. For resident alien or foreign national backgrounds see the next paragraph. For ALL adults that are not United States citizens the background check process may vary. In some cases, the Team Staff member will not possess a SSN and/or driver s license. In order to complete these types of backgrounds we require high resolution color scans of their valid passport and entry visa. Additional information may be required depending on the circumstances. You should instruct affected Team Staff members to contact us at riskmanagement@nyswysa.org to complete their background as they will not be able to complete the electronic format. Background s are generated by an automated service within the Demosphere secure network. Once Demosphere sends the message we rely on the receiving domain (Yahoo, Google, Hotmail, etc.) or the staff members ISP (Time Warner, Verizon, Frontier, etc.) to deliver that message timely to their clients. That said some ISPs/Domains take precautions when delivering s and begin to "throttle" (slow down) delivery to their customers in order to validate the s. This affects all s being sent from nyswysa.org. In some cases an ISP/Domain may completely block incoming automated messaging unless our domain nyswysa.org is added to their white list. This most commonly occurs with privately hosted domains such as educational and business networks. If your Team Staff members do not receive the within 24 hours then one or more of the above issues is happening. RosterPro Team Staff Audits Beginning in 2016 we have begun routine auditing of members RosterPro Team Staff record pools in an effort to maintain a standardized and current database. Audits are designed to locate and eliminate duplicate staff record within and between club accounts. They also look for arbitrary and erroneous records which are then deleted from the system. Team Staff records that have been inactive for six or NYSWYSA Risk Management FAQs Version Page 6 of 8

7 more years are moved to your account s Team Staff archive where they can later be retrieved if the staff member returns to active status. Team staff audits are normally conducted on an annual basis or when a specific need arises. Risk Management Background Approvals/Denials A typical background check can take anywhere from business days to process. Some backgrounds take longer. This can be for many reasons and does not automatically indicate a problem. For example, an applicant with a common name such as John Smith will take longer than usual as it requires a process we call elimination review. Other times, additional information review from the applicant is required to complete an elimination or we are required to do additional research. We recommend informing your staff that the average time to process a risk management pass is three weeks from the time they answer their assuming they have answered all elements correctly. This time period may increase during heavy seasonal volume requests. Background checks are approved or denied based on a variety of criteria, all of which appear in the current NYSWSYA Risk Management Policy document. Please refer to that document for specific criteria or contact us for questions. Appeal Process Members that have their backgrounds rejected can file an appeal using the current appeals process established by NYSWYSA. There is a $100 filing fee and the member requires that a member club in good standing support their request for appeal review. NYSWYSA Risk Management FAQs Version Page 7 of 8

8 Risk Management Flow Chart The following is a visual representation of the current risk management process flow: Other While this FAQ attempts to answer questions about the most procedures and policies, club officers are encouraged to contact the risk management coordinator with specific questions not addressed here, as well as inquiries on using the RosterPro system to facilitate risk management. NYSWYSA Risk Management FAQs Version Page 8 of 8