PCCA Journal|2
nd
Quarter 2013
38
million to settle a national class-action
lawsuit on behalf of 31,000 people
whose consumer rights were violated
when their consumer reports were sold
to debt collectors. In addition, Sterling
has numerous lawsuits pending for the
violation of the FCRA, alongside many
previously settled lawsuits regarding
misinformation on consumer reports that
denied candidates a position.
As required by federal law, all CRAs
are expected to take the reasonable and
required steps to ensure all consumer
information on reports is valid, accurate,
and up-to-date. GIS, HireRight, Lexis-
Nexis, and Sterling all failed to follow
these procedures by providing inaccurate
information on candidates to potential
employers, including records belonging
to the wrong person, records that were
not up-to-date or accurate, and records
that were not reportable under the
FCRA.
While many employers believe they
are getting an all-encompassing back-
ground screen for less than $15, current
litigation has come to show that these
background screens include information
from databases not from the state and/
or county level. In many instances, these
databases are not up-to-date or accurate,
and the information must be confirmed
at the state and/or county level to ensure
true, up-to-date information on a can-
didate. Unfortunately, many CRAs are
deferring from this practice and provid-
ing the information found in a simple
database search that offers instant
results, giving clients a “cost savings” as
well as faster turnaround.
Unforeseen Costs
Unfortunately, time is money and many
CRAs are using time constraints for hir-
ing to their benefit, offering a database
search with instant results for a low
price to employers. Misguided with
inaccurate results, employers are making
invalid hiring decisions, and in many
cases these results end up costing the
employer more than the price of a truly
all-encompassing pre-employment back-
ground screen.
At Global HR Research, we make it
our first priority to follow the FCRA in
all reporting as to ensure the best pos-
sible outcome for our clients as well as
the candidates on whom we run con-
sumer reports. Not only do we require
that all adverse information be checked
at the county and/or state level, but we
also take disputes very seriously and
in most cases have these settled within
one to three business days, allowing the
employer to make an educated hiring
decision in a timely manner.
By first researching your chosen CRA
HR Update
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