GoodHire Background Check Errors

If a GoodHire background check is standing between you and a job, an inaccurate report is not something you have to accept. GoodHire is a consumer reporting agency under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), so you can see what it reports and force it to correct mistakes. You can learn more on our Employment Background Checks page.

What is GoodHire?

GoodHire is an employment background-check company and is now a Checkr company (Checkr acquired GoodHire; it was previously part of Inflection). It sells criminal, employment, and education screening to employers and reports the results as a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA. When those results are wrong, the FCRA gives you a path to fix them.

How to contact GoodHire

You can request your report and file a dispute directly:

• Company: GoodHire (a Checkr company), San Francisco, CA area
• Website: goodhire.com (applicant / consumer portal)
• Request: ask for a copy of your report and dispute errors through GoodHire

Confirm the current dispute address on your report before mailing anything, and keep copies of what you send.

Common GoodHire errors we see

• A criminal record matched to you because you share a name or date of birth
• Expunged, sealed, or dismissed cases still showing as open or as convictions
• The same case reported more than once
• A charge reported as a conviction, or a misdemeanor reported as a felony
• Records reported beyond the FCRA's limits (generally seven years for certain older items)
• Incorrect personal information — wrong name, address, or Social Security number

How a GoodHire error hurts you

Background reports usually land after an offer, so one inaccurate entry can cause an employer to pull the offer back. The FCRA gives you the right to see the report and dispute it before you lose the job for good.

GoodHire's track record with regulators

GoodHire and the screening industry it belongs to have drawn steady FCRA scrutiny.

GoodHire and its parent, Checkr, are frequent targets of consumer FCRA litigation over report accuracy and adverse-action procedures, and federal regulators have pressed background-report providers on FCRA compliance and transparency. Source: Federal Trade Commission. If your GoodHire report is inaccurate, that is a strong reason to demand a correction rather than accept it.

Your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act

GoodHire must follow the FCRA. It must use reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy (§1681e(b)); it must reinvestigate disputes (§1681i); public-record information reported for employment must be current and complete (§1681k); and before an employer rejects you, it must give you the report and a summary of rights (§1681b(b)(3) pre-adverse-action).

How to dispute a GoodHire background check

1. Ask the employer for the copy of the report and summary of rights they must provide.
2. Identify every inaccuracy and gather proof — court dispositions, expungement orders, ID.
3. Dispute in writing to GoodHire, enclosing copies and keeping a dated record.
4. Ask the employer to hold the decision while the dispute is investigated.
5. If it is not corrected, or the report already cost you the job, contact an FCRA attorney.

This information is general and is not legal advice for your specific situation.

Did an inaccurate GoodHire background check cost you a job?

Employment background reports are consumer reports under the FCRA, and GoodHire has to follow strict accuracy rules. When a report is wrong and it costs you a job, you may be entitled to money damages — and our review is free.

How The Kim Law Firm helps

We are consumer-protection lawyers who handle FCRA cases nationwide. We help people whose GoodHire report is inaccurate — wrong person, expunged records, outdated or duplicated cases. We do not help people trying to hide accurate records. If your report is wrong, we pursue the correction and any damages, and you do not pay unless we win.

Admitted in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; available to appear pro hac vice in other federal courts.

Self-service screening and the small-employer market

A whole tier of the industry sells background checks the way software is sold: no contract, no minimum order, a credit card and a browser. The buyer is often a restaurant, a small staffing agency or a five-person office with nobody trained in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The screening company still has to follow the statute, but the employer at the other end may not know that a pre-adverse action notice exists, let alone that it has to send one.

• Checkr — the platform screener that acquired this business.
• ClearChecks — a self-serve screener built for smaller employers, later acquired by HireRight.
• backgroundchecks.com — described in HireRight's own securities filings as the group's self-service channel for small and mid-sized business customers.
• ScoutLogic — a contrast case, selling a managed, recruiter-style service rather than instant checkout.
• Backgrounds Online — a smaller California screener serving the same end of the market.

If a small employer rejected you after an instant check, ask them in writing which company produced the report and request a copy. Then request your file from the screening company itself. Your rights do not shrink because the employer bought a cheap product, and the two most common failures in this tier — no advance notice and no copy of the report — are violations you can document with nothing more than the dates on your own emails.

Screened by a different company? We also handle HireRight background check errors, Sterling background check errors, Checkr background check errors, and First Advantage background check errors — and you can start with our overview of the major background check companies.

Frequently asked questions

How do I dispute a GoodHire background check?

Get the report from the employer or GoodHire, identify the errors, and dispute them in writing with supporting documents. If it is not fixed, an FCRA attorney can help.

GoodHire says my check is still processing — can a delay violate the FCRA?

A report must be accurate and complete, and unreasonable delays or inaccurate 'in progress' entries that cost you a job can raise FCRA issues.

Can I sue GoodHire for a background check error?

Possibly. If GoodHire reported inaccurate information or ignored the FCRA's adverse-action rules and you were harmed, you may have a claim.

What if a GoodHire mistake cost me the job?

That concrete harm is what the FCRA addresses. Keep the paperwork and contact us.

Is the case review really free?

Yes. There is no charge, and you pay nothing unless we win.

Where we practice, and what to do if you are somewhere else

The Kim Law Firm is licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and that is where we handle matters directly.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a federal statute. It applies the same way in every state, it is enforced in federal court, and the deadlines and remedies do not change when you cross a state line. So the answer to "does this apply to me in Ohio" is yes — but the answer to "can you represent me in Ohio" depends on the case and on where it would be filed.

If you are outside Pennsylvania and New Jersey, contact us anyway. Some matters can be handled from here. Some are better sent to a consumer lawyer admitted where you are, and we will tell you that plainly rather than let a deadline run while you wait. Either way you will get an answer, and the review costs nothing.

The one thing that does not wait is the clock. A claim under the Act generally must be brought within two years of the date you discover the violation, and in no event more than five years after the violation occurred. Finding out late does not extend the outside limit.