Dish Network Settles FCRA Class Action Lawsuit for $1.75 Million

By The Kim Law Firm, LLC

Many employers require potential employees to undergo a background check.  Background checks include information such as credit history, criminal history and employment history.  While intrusive, background checks provide employers with information they feel is necessary to make the right hiring decisions.  As part of this process, employers must provide notice, and obtain consent from a prospective employee prior to conducting a background check.  These requirements are governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”).

Allegations Against Dish Network

In this class action lawsuit, Plaintiff alleged on behalf of the putative class that Dish Network violated the FCRA in the following ways:

• Reporting outdated consumer information that was more than seven years old;
• Obtaining consumer reports without the valid authorization of prospective and current employees;
• Failing to inform prospective employees how consumer reports would be obtained; and
• Using information obtained in consumer reports to make hiring decisions without providing applicants with a copy of the report and an opportunity to correct any inaccurate information contained in the report.

The background check system used by Dish Network rated prospective employees, and current employees considered for promotions as: “high risk,” “low risk,” or “review”.  However, these ratings were developed through acquiring background information from prospective and current employees without obtaining their consent, or providing appropriate notice, as required under the FCRA.  In other words, the rating system of Dish Network was a clear violation of the law.

Dish Network Settles Lawsuit

Dish Network settled all claims associated with this class action lawsuit for $1.75 million.  This settlement leaves the one class of plaintiffs (contractor technicians) with approximately $480 each, with another class of individuals receiving approximately $80 each for the Defendants FCRA violations. 

If you were screened without the notices the statute requires

The Dish Network case is worth reading for what it turned on: not whether the reports were accurate, but whether the workers were given the standalone disclosure before the check and the notices after it. Those failures are usually company-wide, which is why they are brought as class actions. If a prospective or current employer ran a background check without a standalone written disclosure and your authorization, or acted on one without first giving you a copy of the report and a summary of your rights, keep the paperwork you were given and the date of the decision. What to do when an offer is pulled after the background check sets out what each notice has to contain, and the FCRA class action page covers when one worker’s case is everyone’s. An FCRA claim must be filed within two years of the day you discovered the violation, and never more than five years after it happened. I review the file at no cost and bring these cases on contingency: you pay nothing unless we win.

Sources: 15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)(2)–(3), §§ 1681n, 1681o and 1681p; the settlement described above, as approved by the court in the class action against Dish Network, L.L.C.

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