The Court has held that, "as a matter of law, []college attendance dates and degree-conferral status are not ‘adverse information’ under the plain language of section 1681c(a)(5).” In Jenkins v. Carco Group the plaintiff alleged in a punitive class action law suit that by reporting negative information about her educational history when she had attended more than seven years ago was a violation of the FCRA. In section 1681c(a)(1)-(6) the FCRA provides categories that are prec

A civil suit filed in the Northern District of Alabama, Younger v. portfolio Recovery Associates LLC et al., alleging Experian violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by failing to establish or follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy in the preparation of the credit report and credit files they publish and maintain was decided in favor of the Plaintiff last month, with the Plaintiff being awarded $3,005,000. By their own admission, Experian does not in

The Ninth Circuit decided that a CRA is not liable for misuse of information by a customer. An article by Troutman Sanders states: On May 29, the Ninth Circuit ruled that an end-user’s misuse of reported information does not render a credit reporting agency’s report inaccurate for purposes of liability under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The Court affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in the putative class action case brought against a national credit rep

June 9th, 2015 Avis was hit was a class action lawsuit over alleged FCRA Violations. The lead plaintiff, Angela Fuller, states she was denied a position with Avis based off a background check that she never received until after she was denied the position and that Avis did not provide Fuller with a standalone disclosure. The car rental company agreed to $2.7 million in a settlement. Please read more here: Avis Settles FCRA Background Check Lawsuit for $2.7 Million | The Consu

Is suspicionless drug screening, or requiring a job applicant to pass a drug test as a condition of employment, a violation of constitutional rights? Although pre-employment drug testing has become routine for private employers, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida has held in the past public sector employers were bound by constitutional principals in determining whether an applicant may be required to submit to drug testing. Suspiconless dru

Court denies background check company (or CRA)'s motion to dismiss class action lawsuit on the basis of the Supreme Courts holding in Spokeo v. Robbins related to address history reporting. In Gambles v Sterling Infosystems, the plaintiff, Ralph Gambles alleges the background check company, or consumer reporting agency, furnished a potential employer a report that contained "outdated, duplicative, misleading, and adverse" information in regards to his address history. However

The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled data breach class action law suits may proceed on the basis of a violation alone and that "injury" is presumed by the breach itself. This is a reversal of the decision by the US Court for the District of New Jersey, which initially dismissed the complaint citing they could not sue under Article III of the US Constitution because the information. The information had been stolen, but not necessarily used, and therefore not

Some Think Illegally The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, or EEOC, Enforcement Guidance states an employers "neutral policy" (such as excluding applicants from employment based on certain criminal contact) may disproportionately impact applicants of a certain race or other protected group. A Boston-Area civil rights group has accused Amazon of illegally using criminal background checks to fire dozens of drivers, most of them black and Latino. Please read more by clic