Blog Image
Profile Image Verifile
| Transportation
August 20 2018

Permission from applicants to carry out background checks now required in California

The state Supreme Court ruled that California employers, lenders and landlords must inform applicants before looking into their background.  This was due to In the case involving over 1,000 bus drivers who filed a lawsuit against First Student, Inc., claiming that the company violated the state background check law. 

Two privacy laws must now be obeyed, one requiring prior notice, the other covering more consumer-oriented information:

  • The Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) covers background checks in which information on a consumer’s “character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living” is obtained through any means. Among other things, ICRAA requires the person procuring the report to certify that they made certain required disclosures, and that the consumer gave written authorization for the report’s procurement.
 
  • The Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (CCRAA), on the other hand, covers information “bearing on a consumer’s credit worthiness, credit standing, or credit capacity,” and does not have a written authorization requirement.