All UAB faculty and staff new employees are now reviewed for eligibility to receive federal funding.

This new process began for all new hires effective Oct. 1, 2006, and an annual review for all faculty and staff will be conducted in the fall of each year. The new procedure was recommended by the Committee for the Oversight of Research Compliance this past summer.

UAB Hospital and its affiliated organizations have conducted background verifications on each faculty and staff member for several years now. Those verifications include a review of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and General Services Administration (GSA) exclusion lists that identify individuals who are excluded from participating in payments by federal programs or contracts.

Human Resource Management has extended that process to become an essential component of the regular background check performed by UAB on all potential employees. Offer letters processed by UAB departments for other temporary or irregular staff should now be changed to include the new OIG/GSA compliance wording. Mike Mathews, manager of employment, will coordinate these reviews and those for all other faculty and staff employment categories.

“The expansiveness of UAB’s health-care and research enterprises increases the need for a system to verify eligibility of employment because UAB receives payments from federal programs and contracts,” said Provost Eli Capilouto. “We will establish that eligibility at the time a letter of offer is extended to incoming faculty and staff and then verify it annually.

“The review is a fundamental safeguard for UAB and its employees who depend on federal grant and contract funds for teaching, research, service activities and their livelihood,” Capilouto said.

Questions concerning this review process may be directed to Mathews at AB 230. He can be reached at 934-7345 or mathews@uab.edu .