Written By Thomas Ahearn
A federal class action lawsuit claims a background check company misidentified thousands of job applicants as criminal defendants after they posted bail for people who had been arrested, according to a report from CourthouseNews.com available at http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/05/19/67972.htm.
CourthouseNews.com reports that the lawsuit filed in Kentucky Western District Court states:
- “Plaintiff brings this action on behalf of thousands of employment applicants throughout the country who have been the subject of prejudicial, misleading, and inaccurate background reports performed by the defendant and sold to employers. Defendant has adopted and maintained a policy of misidentifying sureties, consumers who post bond for someone who has been arrested, as criminal defendants in a criminal case, therefore misidentifying an innocent consumer as having a criminal record. The prejudice caused by this erroneous reporting is exacerbated by defendant’s failure to notify the consumer contemporaneously of the fact that the inaccurate criminal record information is being sent to the employer.”
CourthouseNews.com reports the lawsuit claims consumers entitled to receive copies of their background check reports as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) “are deprived of a proper and timely disclosure, and unable to adequately verify and/or dispute the accuracy of the information that defendant sells to employers.” As a result, the lawsuit alleges the defendant “harms consumers seeking employment by prejudicing their prospective employers with inaccurate and misleading information.” The plaintiff seeks certification for a nationwide class estimated to be in the thousands, statutory damages of $100 to $1,000 for each violation of the FCRA, punitive damages, and costs, CourthouseNews.com reports.
NOTE: The Employment Screening Resources® (ESR) News Blog has a policy not to identify background check firms involved in litigation by name where no facts have been determined or no settlement entered into. For more ESR News blogs involving a lawsuit, visit http://www.esrcheck.com/wordpress/tag/class-action-lawsuits/.
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