Employment Background Check

We Hold Employers Accountable for Credit Report Violations

Employers frequently do an employment background check when deciding whether to hire or promote someone.  However there is a federal law that governs the use of credit reports in employment decisions.  The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is the law that protects all of us from misuse and misreporting of our credit reports.  Other pages on this site cover the duties of credit reporting agencies and those who report credit and financial information to them.  On this page we will give an overview of how the FCRA governs employers who make use of credit reports in their hiring decisions.

Duties of Employers Who Use Credit Reports in Hiring and Promotion Decisions

• If an employer wants to obtain your credit report they must first get your written consent to do so.  The consent must be on a stand-alone document.  It cannot be buried in other paperwork or fine print that they have you sign.
• If an employer decides not to hire or promote you based on a credit report (this is called an "adverse action"), they must first give you a copy of the credit report they used to come to this decision.  They must give you seven days after giving you the report prior to them making the adverse action.  The reason this law exists is to protect you from adverse actions based on incorrect items in your credit report.

Potential FCRA Lawsuits Based on Employment Background Check

Based on the duties listed above, any of the following actions could allow us to file a lawsuit on your behalf.

• You were not hired, not promoted, or fired on the basis of errors on your credit report.
• The credit report was obtained without your written permission.
• The credit report was viewed by an unauthorized party.
• The employer failed to disclose that it obtained your credit report and/or failed to give you a copy of it.
• The employer did not give you enough time to address mistakes on the credit report before they took adverse action (i.e. did not hire or promote you).

We help protect those who have been denied employment or promotion due to erroneous credit reports and employment background checks.  Contact Us for a free and confidential case evaluation.  We can help you recover compensation for the harm you experienced.

We may be able to bring your FCRA lawsuit as an individual or as a class action.  For more about consumer class actions, follow the links on our site.