A Guide to Running Background Checks: What's the Tea in L&E?
The Risks in Background Checks
Current Trends in FCRA Litigation - The Consumer Finance Podcast
AGG Talks: Background Screening - Ban the Box and Fair Chance Hiring Laws: The Year in Review
AGG Talks: Background Screening - Redaction of Identifiers by the Courts Update, Breaking News from California
AGG Talks: Background Screening - Redaction of Identifiers by the Courts in Michigan and California Pose Challenges for Background Checks
In this era of driver and employee shortages, employers of all kinds - motor - carriers, freight intermediaries and shippers, should be aware of a byzantine array of federal statutes that could confer liability upon them,...more
What Happened? On January 11, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB” or “Bureau”) issued two separate advisory opinions interpreting consumer reporting agencies’ (“CRAs”) obligations under the Fair Credit...more
On January 11, the CFPB issued two advisory opinions providing guidance to consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) on the Bureau’s views on FCRA compliance obligations with respect to background check reports and credit file...more
On January 11, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) issued two “advisory opinions” addressing the CFPB’s views of the obligations of consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) under the Fair Credit Reporting Act...more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) updated Final Rule on the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) Summary of Rights includes such non-substantive changes as corrections to contact information for various...more
On March 17, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published an updated version of the publication entitled, “A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act,” which is also called the “Summary of...more
Join Troutman Pepper Consumer Financial Services Partner Chris Willis and fellow Partners Cindy Hanson and Tim St. George as they discuss current trends in Fair Credit Reporting Act litigation. Both Cindy and Tim are...more
[co-author: David Anthony] In 2020, the appellate courts had numerous opportunities to weigh in on many unanswered questions that remain in litigation after over 50 years since the statute was first enacted. The case law...more
How to Hire a Super Hero - An employer subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and state “mini-FCRA” laws, which are generally more restrictive than the FCRA, can obtain investigative consumer reports, i.e.,...more
The year 2020 was an unprecedented year, but one thing remained constant: the number of Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) case filings continued to increase dramatically. In addition to new filings, the year saw several key...more
In the wake of a decision last week from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, CRAs would be well advised to initiate reinvestigations in response to consumer disputes even when the disputed information is easily determined...more
The case law surrounding the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is ever-changing, and staying up to date on certain, key statutory definitions is a core compliance task for any company subject to the FCRA....more
The Ninth Circuit recently issued two mostly pro-employer federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) background check decisions that held: ..background check disclosures may contain some concise explanatory language, but...more
Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), applicants or employees undergoing background checks must be given notice of their rights prior to the check being run, and they must provide advance consent to the search....more
On January 29, 2019, the U.S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (covering a number of states and territories bordering the Pacific Ocean) issued a far-reaching opinion that will likely impact the hiring process of...more
On January 29, the Ninth Circuit issued an important decision clarifying what can and can’t be included in the background check disclosures mandated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and California’s Investigative...more
Often, when faced with litigation, it can be difficult to assess potential exposure for defendants. While actual damages may be easy to calculate, treble damages, attorneys’ fee awards, and punitive damages significantly...more
In recent months, we have seen a large uptick in FCRA class actions. If you’re a regular reader here at FCRALand, you may recall the Stanford class action filed in October 2018, the PetCo class settlement in November 2018,...more
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) has been a fertile area for lawsuits against employers. Recently, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals provided yet another warning for employers regarding compliance with the FCRA. ...more
In an oldie but goodie, an FTC blog from Feb 2017 warns employers who rely on credit checks not to double-dip. In other words, if an employer requests a consumer report for one purpose, the employer should not then use the...more
In Luna v. Wal-Mart Trans., LLC, 2018 WL 5726204 (W.D. Ark. Nov. 1, 2018), the Court provided a good reminder that there are exceptions to the FCRA’s “stand-alone” disclosure requirement. Under the facts of the case,...more
In many recent cases—including several chronicled here at FCRAland—courts have dismissed state-law claims when those claims were preempted by FCRA. Yesterday, a court bucked the trend and held that a state-law breach of...more
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued an interim final rule requiring employers to update the summary of rights form given to applicants and employees in conjunction with a background check by a...more
Effectively immediately, employers who perform background checks on applicants or employees using third party consumer reporting agencies (these background checks are known as “consumer reports”)...more
Depending on the statutory violation, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) allows plaintiffs to recover a wide array of damages and exposes defendants to significant liability. Seemingly minor violations of the Act may result...more