Employment Background Checks

Burke, Harvey & Frankowski represents consumers whose employers took adverse action against them based on incorrect information in a background report. Employers may perform a background check before hiring you. During the background check, employers may review your credit report with your permission. The background check may include information about your employment history, driving record, criminal record and your credit report.

Your credit report includes information about your address, credit payment history and public records, such as bankruptcies, judgments and liens. Credit reporting agencies like Equifax, Experian and Trans Union, and other companies that provide background information, sell your file to employers. The employers use the reports to evaluate your job application and decide whether to hire you. Employers are also allowed to use these reports to decide whether to terminate you, promote you or re-assign you.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) regulates the use of employment background checks. Attorney Micah Adkins at the law firm of Burke, Harvey and Frankowski enforces the FCRA through civil lawsuits.  Our lawyers are licensed in the following states: Alabama; Florida; Georgia; Mississippi; New York; Tennessee; and Texas.

Under the FCRA, employers must first get your permission before pulling your credit report. If you do not get the job because of information contained in your credit report, the FCRA triggers several duties the employer must follow. First, the employer must show you the report. Second, the employer must tell you how to get a copy of your report. The report is free so long as you request it within 60 days.

There’s more – before an employer can ask for reports about you, the employer must tell you that it may use the information to make a decision. This notice requirement is independent of other employment documents, such as an employment application.

When an employer uses information from a credit report or other background report to deny your application for employment or promotion, the employer must give you a copy of the report and a document called A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act before taking the adverse action.

The report and summary help enable consumers to explain or correct inaccurate or incomplete information in the credit file before the employer takes the adverse action. To do this, you must send a dispute letter to the credit reporting agency that provided the inaccurate information. if the information is corrected, the credit reporting agency must send the updated report to the employer only if you ask the bureau to!

When an employer takes an adverse action against you based on information in a credit report, the employer must tell you either orally or in writing (electronic means is okay). The adverse action notice must include the following information:

• name, address and phone number of the company that supplied the credit report
• statement that the company that supplied the information didn’t make the decision to take the adverse action and can’t give you any specific reasons for it
• notice of your right to dispute the accuracy or completeness of any information in your credit report and to get an additional free credit report from the company that supplied the credit or other background information if you ask for it within 60 days.

When a company provides an employer with a report that has negative public record information (tax liens, judgments, bankruptcies or criminal convictions), the company either has to tell you that it provided the information to the employer or it has to take special steps to make sure the information is accurate.

If you receive notification from a company that has provided negative public record information to an employer, you should have a chance to correct it or clarify the inaccurate information. This may help you get (or keep) your job!

When employers or credit reporting agencies do not comply with the FCRA, you can sue them for money damages, individually or in a class action lawsuit. Under the FCRA, employers may be held liable for the following violations:

• Failure to obtain an applicant’s permission before pulling credit report or other background report
• Failure to provide the employee, or potential employee, with timely and adequate disclosures
• Failure to provide adverse action notices to applicants or employees

If you believe your employer, or a potential employer, violated the FCRA, contact attorney Micah Adkins for a free legal consultation.