RELIABLE BACKGROUND SCREENING INDUSTRY NEWS AND ARTICLES

On November 25, 2015, the Portland City Council and Mayor Charlie Hales enacted a new “Ban the Box” law that creates a more restrictive version of the law than was enacted by the Oregon State Legislature and signed into law by Oregon Governor Kate Brown this past summer. Although the Oregon State Law goes into effect on January 1, 2016, the stricter City of Portland Law, will not become effective until July 1, 2016. “Ban the Box” laws are laws which prohibit the use of questions on employment applications that inquire about a job applicant’s prior criminal history. Some states and cities [...]

Many companies, especially those in the in-home services industries, tout “our employees are background checked.” This often gives a false sense of security to the misinformed public. However, it is not only consumers who believe they are protected by these so-called “background checks.” Many companies, both large and small, have employees and managers tasked with the responsibility of hiring, that truly do not understand what comprises a “best practices” background check. Industry best practices typically require that criminal records be checked for all legal names and legal aliases that are displayed by a “Social Search” or “Social Trace” product, from all counties [...]

Whole Foods Market Group, Inc., and the plaintiff, Colin Speer, on behalf of himself and a proposed class of similarly situated individuals, agreed to a preliminary settlement of Mr. Speer’s FCRA Class Action lawsuit. The settlement provides for Whole Foods to pay $802,700 to create a fund for settlement payments to be made to approximately 20,000 class members. This case was originally filed by Mr. Speer’s lawyers in December 2014, in the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division. The lawsuit alleged that Whole Foods violated the FCRA by failing to comply with the FCRA’s disclosure and authorization requirements [...]

New York City, later this week (as of September 3, 2015) will restrict the use of credit reports as part of the employment hiring decision. Except under limited circumstances, it will be illegal for employers to utilize and consider an individual’s consumer credit history in the employment process – be it at initial hire, or later during the employment process, i.e., to determine future compensation, job promotion, etc. New York City joins ten states that have some type of legislation which curtail the use of credit reports in the employee hiring process. Those states include: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, Oregon, [...]