Rhode Island General Laws Title 23. Health and Safety § 23-17.7.1-20. Disqualifying information

(a) Information produced by a national criminal records check pertaining to conviction for the following crimes will result in a letter to the employee and employer disqualifying the applicant from the employment: murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, first-degree sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault, third-degree sexual assault, assault on persons sixty (60) years of age or older, assault with intent to commit specified felonies (murder, robbery, rape, burglary, or the abominable and detestable crime against nature), felony assault, patient abuse, neglect or mistreatment of patients, first-degree arson, robbery, felony drug offenses, felony obtaining money under false pretenses, felony embezzlement, abuse, neglect, and/or exploitation of adults with severe impairments, exploitation of elders, felony larceny, or felony banking law violations or a crime under section 1128(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320a-7(a)).

(b) Information produced by a national criminal records check pertaining to convictions for crimes other than those listed in subsection (a) of this section shall entitle, but not obligate the employer, to decline to hire the applicant. An employee against whom conviction information related to this subsection has been found may provide a copy of the national criminal records check to the employer who shall make a determination regarding the continued employment of the employee.

(c) For purposes of this section “conviction” means, in addition to judgments of conviction entered by a court subsequent to a finding of guilty or a plea of guilty, those instances where the defendant has entered a plea of nolo contendere and has received a sentence of probation and those instances where a defendant has entered into a deferred sentence agreement with the attorney general.