Clients of Americhek
2018 is starting off to be a challenging year. As you all may know, the industry is experiencing an unprecedented number of Class Action Litigation cases against employers. In fact, Americhek’s News and Tools publications have focused on several very high-profile cases and settlements.
These class action litigations are focusing on three primary areas.
- The paperwork candidates sign providing employer permission to run a background check (and its adherence to the FCRA guidelines).
- The information that is returned and how that information is reviewed and applied to the position the candidate is applying for (evaluation of the Consumer Report).
- When a candidate is removed from consideration, how the employer notifies and handles the notification (Pre-Adverse and Adverse Action processes, per the FCRA, CFPB, State and County regulations).
The number of lawsuits has risen from less than 50 annually to over 700 last year alone. And the number continues to climb. It’s no longer about personal injury or whether they got the job, it’s about process and adherence to the law.
In many cases, although innocent, settlements are paid just to avoid the cost of litigation.
Americhek’s attorney, Larry Henry from Rhodes, Hieonymus, Jones, Tucker, & Gable, LLC has spent 40 plus years in the defense of CRA’s and interpretation of the FCRA guidelines and how they are applied to employers and Consumer Reporting Agencies. Larry has revisited the FCRA law and reviewed many case results to design what he believes is a compliant Disclosure and Authorization Form for 2018. Americhek has adopted that form beginning immediately. On or before July 1, 2018 Americhek will have the new form available in the Resource Library for your review and use. All electronic signatures from Adobe Sign will now be using this New Form and I strongly encourage ALL Clients that are using Americhek’s previous Disclosure and Authorization Form, to start using this new form immediately. I know this form has expanded to 4 pages and it may seem ridiculous, but it has recently become very important to keep these pages separate because of the new interpretation of “stand alone document”. Several Class Action Suits have used the combined forms as part of their litigation identifying violations due to the recently adopted strict interpretation of the FCRA law.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, please contact Americhek.