The Fair Credit Reporting Act contains requirements for the “user” (i.e., the employer) of an employment background report. The law requires that an employer must:
1. Obtain your written authorization to access your background (or consumer) report; and
2. Provide you with a disclosure that it may use the background report for employment purposes.
Both of these requirements must be satisfied BEFORE the employer obtains the background report on you.
Sometimes, employment background reports contain incorrect information that can have devastating consequences for a person’s employment. For this reason, BEFORE an employer takes an “adverse employment action” against you based on information in a background (or consumer) report, such as rescinding a job offer or terminating your employment, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that the employer provide you with a Pre-Adverse Action Notice.
The Pre-Adverse Action Notice must contain:
1. a copy of the background report; and
2. a Summary of Your Rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
The purpose of the Pre-Adverse Action Notice is to allow you time to verify the information in your report, and, if necessary, dispute the information with the background report company or clarify any misunderstandings the report may have created for your employer. An employer must provide you with this Pre-Adverse Action Notice even if all of the information in the background report is correct.
If an employer rescinded a job offer, fired you or refused to hire you because of information in a background report and did not provide you with a copy of the report or a Summary of Your Rights BEFORE making its final decision – even if the information in the background report was correct – the employer may have violated your rights. If you believe your rights may have been violated, or you just have a question about a background report, please contact the background report lawyers at Weiner & Sand LLC to discuss your rights.