Steps HR can take to avoid a lawsuit

According to an article in law.com, the failure of a background vendor, Checkr, and their clients to follow Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) guidelines resulted in a complaint filed in the Eastern District of New York on August 27, 2021 against the vendor, Uber and Lyft.

The complaint claimed that Checkr provided inaccurate information to Uber and Lyft during a required annual check and in doing so, violated the FCRA. The plaintiff who had driven for Uber and Lyft for many years was informed he could not continue driving for their companies until the issue with his background check was resolved.

It is alleged that the plaintiff provided documentation to Checkr that proved the information in the report was inaccurate and was still unable to rectify the situation. The failure of Uber and Lyft to allow the plaintiff to return to his job as a driver after submitting the documentation resulted in the filing of the complaint.

The complaint alleges that Checkr willfully violated the FCRA and that Uber and Lyft did not provide a copy of the background report to the plaintiff, an action that is required by the FCRA, if the employer intends to deny employment, in whole or in part, due to information contained within a background investigation.

The take away from this complaint, employers should take steps to ensure that their background vendor is FCRA compliant and that employers should periodically audit their processes to ensure Human Resources follows the adverse action guidelines in the FCRA.