New Pennsylvania Department of Aging guidelines open jobs in the long-term care field for the first time in years to some people with criminal backgrounds.

State officials quietly posted the policy on the department's Web site last week in response to a Dec. 30 state Supreme Court ruling, which deemed aspects of the Older Adults Protective Services Act unconstitutional.

The new policy permits nursing homes and other care providers to hire individuals with criminal records, so long as those persons have safely worked at least five years since their convictions with the elderly, children, the disabled or another care-dependent population.

Nothing compels employers to hire past criminals, however, and if they do so, the guidelines state they must use interviews and references to document job candidates' rehabilitated character.

Department officials declined comment yesterday on the policy, which is intended to be temporary until the Legislature enacts permanent revisions to the law covering workers with criminal backgrounds. A state House committee is scheduled to consider just such a measure today. Because it's uncertain when that bill would be passed, the Rendell administration felt a need to give providers interim guidelines.

Before the Supreme Court ruled that five individuals had unfairly been denied jobs, the state had, since 1998, prohibited employment in elder care or other long-term care of anyone with a felony conviction or convictions for certain misdemeanors. The key exception was that ex-criminals who had been working at least one year for their current employers at that time were permitted to stay on the job.

The new guidelines apparently open employment to nurses, aides and other individuals who want to be rehired after working for different employers or in other fields or in other states. The key requirement will be showing that they have five years of relevant work experience since their convictions.

"It's wonderful news. ... This is going to open up the door for me," said Andrea Simpson, 51, an unemployed nurse from Overbrook whose mid-1970s convictions for theft and drugs forced her out of the industry once the law took effect. She expects to obtain work now with a temporary agency that sends workers to nursing homes.

But it's too early to say how employers will alter their hiring policies, industry officials said. Some may like regaining their flexibility, others might continue the prohibition on their own and still might be indecisive until the Legislature votes to set permanent new standards.

"There is a shortage of people to work in this field, so the flexibility to hire a caring person is a good thing to have," said Steve Weitzman, a spokesman for PANPHA, a state association of nonprofit providers. "If they have been convicted of one of these lesser offenses, and in the judgment of the facility it's not a heinous offense and there were extenuating circumstances, they should be able to hire the person."

But Pennsylvania Health Care Association President Alan Rosenbloom said it's unclear to him why the Rendell administration wrote the specific guidelines the state is using now, or if it had authority to do so, and providers might be wise to refrain from hiring ex-criminals until the Legislature acts.

Several local providers said it was too soon for them to say just how their hiring policies would be affected, but they'd like to resolve them, considering the continued shortage of well-qualified job applicants in the industry.

"I can't say it's a big issue," said Dennis Biondo, acting executive director of Allegheny County's Kane regional centers. "It's something that needs to be resolved, though, so when situations come up, we have clear guidelines on what we are able to do."