[May 30, 2016]

The Explosion of Lawsuits against Employers under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) - Traps and Pitfalls to Avoid - Research and Markets

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "The Explosion of Lawsuits against Employers under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) - Traps and Pitfalls to Avoid" webinar to their offering.

Lawsuits, particularly class action suits, against a prospective or current employer that requested the background check are mushrooming. These lawsuits are most frequently brought under a federal law that controls the process of pre-employment background checks in the United States, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Class action lawsuits for alleged FCRA violations, even if no one is actually harmed, have sharply increased in 2015, rising 26.8 percent from May 2015 to June 2015 and 67.4 percent from June 2015 over June 2014. Many lawsuits have been brought giant firms that are well known names across the country such as Amazon, Uber, Whole Foods, Wells Fargo (News - Alert), Chuck E. Cheese, Hertz, Bank of America, Home Depot, Paramount Pictures, Michaels Stores, and LinkedIn, just to name a few.

These suits against employers have become very common. Ironically, these suits often could have been easily avoided. More often than not, employers are sued for violating FCRA 101 - simple rules and procedures that are clearly set out in the law. Most of the claims involve aspects of the employer's screening process that could be easily remedied to comply with the FCRA such as reviewing the forms used for background screening. In oher instances, the employer simply needed to send the applicant certain information required under the FCRA or some other very simple FCRA compliance practice to avoid a lawsuit. There have been cases where employers have settled claims for millions of dollars simply because they did not spend a few minutes reviewing their process or have a competent FCRA lawyer or other expert review their practices. Often times it's just a failure to dot the i's and cross the t's.

Course Objective:

The goal of this course is not to provide legal advice but is intended only for educational purposes. The cases explored in this course are not meant to represent all lawsuits filed, but are lawsuits that represent important lessons for employers. In addition, this is not a complete list of areas where employers face exposure to FCRA class action lawsuits, but a summary based upon current cases. The mere fact that a lawsuit was filed is not proof that any party did anything wrong. The pending cases are included merely to show areas of legal compliance concerns that have triggered lawsuits.

Part of the reason that FCRA class action lawsuits make a tempting target is that the damages being sought can be enormous. Under the FCRA, if there is an allegation of a willful violation, a class action lawsuit can ask for damages in the amount of $100 to $1,000 for every consumer impacted. For an employer that handles a large volume, that adds up quickly. In addition, class action lawsuits commonly ask for attorney's fees and court costs, which can be substantial.

Course Outline:

1. Employer failed to obtain written authorization from the job applicant to obtain the consumer report or provide a required disclosure to the consumer

2. Employer's failure to provide plaintiff with document consisting solely of the stand-alone disclosure

3. Release Authorization contained language purporting to release the employer and anyone providing information from liability

4. Failure to comply with pre-adverse action requirements or allow sufficient time for a consumer to respond

5. Failure to provide applicant with a post-adverse action notice

6. Failure to update forms

7. Employee screening policy disqualifies applicants based on criminal history that is unrelated to the job

8. Failure to follow state law

9. Lawsuit for actions of staffing firm

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/8z99qn/the_explosion_of

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160530005159/en/

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