Companies often violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) when screening applicants.
Generally, there are five very important requirements that employers must follow when seeking an investigative consumer background report on employees or applicants.
Employers must:
- Make a clear and accurate written disclosure to the employee/applicant of its intent to obtain the investigative consumer report;
- Obtain express authorization from the employee/applicant to obtain the investigative consumer report;
- Give the employee/applicant a pre-adverse action notice if the employer plans to take an adverse action against the employee/applicant based on the information contained in the investigative consumer report;
- Provide the employee/applicant with an adverse action notice after taking the adverse action;
- Provide an updated “A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act” to employees/applicants when an employer provides the pre-adverse action notice.
If you have applied for a job, and the prospective employer failed to meet any of the above requirements, you are invited to contact us.
Federal law provides for stiff monetary penalties against FCRA violators.
Related articles
- FCRA Jury Award Highlights Compliance Risk (insideprivacy.com)
- Federal Trade Commission Extracts Its Second Largest FCRA Fine (thesecuretimes.wordpress.com)
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