NEW YORK - David Hay, an Education Department official facing charges of trying to entice a minor for sex, was among thousands of city employees whose background checks have not been completed. But at a City Council hearing, the Department of Investigation said it wouldn't have made a difference.

"There is no reason to conclude that a completed background investigation would have uncovered prior misconduct or any facts related to the current pending charges against Mr. Hay," said DOI Commissioner Margaret Garnett.

A probe by the Special Commissioner for Investigation after Hay's arrest found that the former deputy chief of staff lied to the city about his departure from a prior job as principal with the Kettle Moraine School District in Wisconsin. He agreed to resign instead of facing misconduct charges for failing to get his principals license and misuse of a district credit card.

On background questionnaires from DOE and DOI, he was repeatedly asked questions like: “Have you ever resigned from any employment while any charge or disciplinary action was pending against you?”

"He responded in the negative for all of those questions, which was not truthful," Garnett said.

Even if DOI had done the background check on Hay, it would not have called the Kettle Moraine School district, because he'd been employed there more than five years ago. And if they had called, they still would not have found out why Hay left, due to a nondisclosure agreement he had with the district.

Councilman Ritchie Torres wasn't sold on DOI's assurances that the background check wouldn't have caught anything.

"No one knows for sure if that’s true. If we had asked Mr. Hay, 'Did you have a NDA?' and he confirmed yes, then that would have been a red flag that would’ve disqualified him from being hired," said Torres.

The special commissioner has recommended the DOE require high-level candidates to provide a waiver of confidentiality going forward, a recommendation DOE says it has accepted. As for that backlog, DOI says it has shrunk by 20% since July 1, but 5,122 files remain.

As part of their efforts to clear that backlog, the department says that they’re exploring requiring fewer city employees to undergo DOI background checks.