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June 21 2013

Small employee background screening mistakes continue to give rise to large class actions with big settlements.

Small employee background screening mistakes continue to give rise to large class actions with big settlements. If you obtain background screening reports from a third-party agency regarding your job applicants or employees, and have not reviewed your background screening policy and practices in a while, now is a good time to do so.

Here are four things to look for:
1. Are you supplying job applicants and employees with the correct version of the federal notice entitled “A Summary of your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act”? The new version references the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau throughout the notice while the old version references the Federal Trade Commission.
2. Does your background screening consent form (“Disclosure and Authorization”) contain a release of liability? 3. Do you provide BOTH a pre-adverse action letter and a post-adverse action letter when excluding an individual based upon a background screening report from a third-party vendor, and do those letters contain the correct information?
4. Do you have a blanket policy that excludes all convicts or felons? It is important that employers update their background screening policies to reflect recent changes, and consult with counsel before excluding an individual based upon a background screening report.