In Lagos v. The Leland Stanford Junior University, the plaintiff alleged the defendant’s background check disclosure violated the FCRA because it included notices regarding background checks required under state law. The court declined to dismiss the Plaintiff’s claim at the pleading stage, finding the existence of these state law notices could constitute a willful violation of the FCRA.According to the court, an employer can include certain information in the FCRA disclosure if it is “closely related” to the statutorily required disclosure and serves to “focus the consumer’s attention on the disclosure.” The court found, however, that the state law disclosures were not “closely related” to the FCRA disclosure. The Lagos decision serves as another reminder to employers to revisit whether their background check disclosure forms are FCRA compliant.

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