2018

A Texas company has agreed to pay $3 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the company failed to take reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of tenant screening information that it provided to landlords and property managers, a violation of federal law that caused some potential renters to be falsely associated with criminal records.

The FTC’s complaint alleges that RealPage, Inc. violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by failing to take reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of tenant screening information provided to its clients. The amount RealPage has agreed to pay as part of the settlement is the largest civil penalty the FTC has obtained against a background screening company.

“You shouldn’t get turned down for an apartment because someone has the wrong information about you,” said Andrew Smith, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “This case shows that, especially with today’s tight rental market, we will hold tenant screening companies responsible for the accuracy of their reports.”

Anyone concerned about the authenticity of British passports should use a passport check.

There is no better way to validate a passport than contacting the issuing authority. This check verifies the passport number against the candidate's name and address. Due to the implementation of GDPR the passport office no longer charges for passport checks. We are delighted to announce that we are now able to significantly reduce the price of this check.

In June, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed Executive Order 2018-18-03, which addresses the gender pay gap in the state.
 
All state agencies under the governor's jurisdiction have been directed to: No longer inquire about a job applicant's current compensation or compensation history at any stage during the hiring process, base salaries on job responsibilities, position pay range and the applicant's knowledge, skills, competencies, experience, compensation requests, or other bona fide factor other than sex, except where compensation is based on clearly defined situations, and clearly identify the appropriate pay range on job postings.
 
Applicants are not, however, prohibited from volunteering information about their current compensation level or salary history.