Within the past year, one Wisconsin resident has filed several class-action lawsuits against Wisconsin employers. In each case, the plaintiff filed a class-action lawsuit against the employer in Wisconsin federal court on the grounds that the employers had violated…
Posts by Category: Fair Credit Reporting Act
Study: Credit-Check Bans Lead To More Bias
A new study finds that when employers are prohibited from looking into applicants’ financial history, African-Americans become more likely to be unemployed compared to other demographic groups. Which is odd, the story notes, considering that studies find little…
Technical Violation of FCRA Enough to Continue Suit Against Sprint
Reiterating the need for employers to ensure compliance with every word of the FCRA, an Illinois judge let a suit proceed against Sprint over background checks, holding that the alleged technical violation of the statute can move forward despite the fact that the…
If Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Obtained Your Consumer Report in Connection to a Job Application, you Could Receive Money from a Class Action Settlement
Wells Fargo will pay twelve million dollars related to allegations for obtaining consumer reports (background checks) in connection with job applications. Plaintiff Terrell Manuel applied for and was offered a job at Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (Wells Fargo). At the time…
Federal Courts Increase Scrutiny of Employer Compliance with the FCRA’s Adverse Action Requirements
In the last two years, the number of employment class actions under the federal FCRA has ballooned. Most of the cases reported in the media have involved challenges to an employer’s compliance with the FCRA’s disclosure and authorization requirements. However,…
Court Declines to Dismiss FCRA Claim Based on Presence of State Law Notices in Background Check Disclosure
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…
Within Reach
Organizations leverage background screening when hiring new employees in order to protect themselves from making a costly mistake. But candidates are also protected by federal laws, like the FCRA that help regulate background reports by promoting accuracy and privacy…
Phony Job Applicants Targeting Employers Based on Technical Violations of Federal Background Check Law
Claims brought against employers under the FCRA arising out of one aspect or another of employers’ background investigation procedures have been the litigation de jure recently. Many of these lawsuits have resulted in multi-million dollar settlements. There is a…
Job Applicant’s Class Action Says Sprint’s Employment Credit Report Disclosures Don’t Comply with Federal Law
A Chicago man believes Sprint violated federal law in disclosure forms it provided him before checking his credit when he was applying for a job. And since he believes the company has done the same with others, he has asked a judge to allow him to bring a class action…
Prison Operator GEO Accused of Fair Credit Act Breaches
A private company that operates prisons, and a consumer background reporting firm are violating federal and state fair credit laws by not providing job applicants with timely notice of reports including criminal histories that are used to deny them employment,…



