RELIABLE BACKGROUND SCREENING INDUSTRY NEWS AND ARTICLES

Michael Stores, the recipient of three separate class action lawsuits for alleged violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA – the federal law that regulates employee background checks, and which imposes significant rules and disclosure requirements upon employers), will now have a consolidated venue of New Jersey for all three federal cases. Last month, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered that the District of New Jersey become the venue for all three lawsuits. In New Jersey, Judge Kevin McNulty was the first to preside over any of the cases, since this case was the first one that was filed (the [...]

As I have been writing for well over a year, Fair Credit Reporting Act class action lawsuits (FCRA – the federal law that governs employee background checks, and which places very specific disclosure requirements upon employers) have been and are continuing. In Brown v. Delhaize America, LLC, the Food Lion parent company agreed to settle for $3 million, and it is easy to understand why. With nearly 60,000 total class members, the Food Lion parent company was facing a potential liability of nearly $60 million in statutory damages, plus punitive damages and attorneys’ fees. Thus a settlement that equates to about 5 [...]

If someone told you that you could obtain information that would help you select the best-qualified franchisee applicants… and that if you plan correctly, you can do this at no “out-of-pocket” expense to you, the franchisor, would it not be a “no-brainer” for you to do? Well yes, there is a “free lunch” after all. Since franchisors typically collect a significant Franchise Fee as part of their franchisee onboarding process, Franchisee Screening should never really be an expense to the franchisor. The cost for Franchisee Screening can be added to or incorporated into the Franchise Fee, or it can be listed as [...]

Last week the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was handed another defeat in its ongoing attempts to exert its control in the area of employee background checks. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit denied the EEOC’s claim of Disparate Impact in EEOC v. Freeman, No. 13-2365. This decision affirms the ruling from last August, where in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Judge Roger Titus dismissed the EEOC’s case due to it using unreliable expert analysis. The EEOC had alleged that Freeman, Inc. had illegally employed background checks, resulting in a Disparate Impact on African-Americans and [...]