By The Kim Law Firm, LLC

Many employers conduct background checks of job applicants. The Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA) puts the number at 90% of businesses and organizations in the United States. As a job candidate, what shows up on your background check matters. 

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law that provides some key protections against unfair employer background checks. Here, our employer background check violation attorney offers a comprehensive overview of key things to know about your rights under the FCRA. 

You Have the Right to Provide Written Consent Before a Background Check is Conducted

An employer cannot conduct a comprehensive background check—that being one that relies on consumer-based credit reports—without getting your authorization. Indeed, the FCRA requires businesses and organizations to obtain your written consent before conducting a background check. It is a legal requirement that helps to make sure that job applicants and employees are both aware of and agree to the screening process before it happens. Employers must provide a clear and conspicuous disclosure, separate from other employment documents. 

Note: You can deny your consent for a background check. Though, if you do so, an employer could decline to offer you a position based on that fact. 

You Have the Right to an Adverse Action Notice if the Employer makes an Unfavorable Decision

What happens if an employer decides that they do not want to offer a job applicant employment because of adverse information in their credit report? The answer is that the FCRA requires employers to notify the applicant of that fact—either in writing or orally. Most often, the notice will come in writing. The purpose of this requirement is to give you an opportunity to review the report and dispute any inaccuracies. As a best practice, employers should generally give an applicant a pre-adverse action notice to allow them to clarify issues and/or address inaccuracies. However, that is not required as a matter of law in all states. 

You Have the Right to Credit Reporting Agencies and Third Parties Liable for Inaccuracies

If your background check contains errors, the FCRA grants you the right to dispute those issues and hold credit reporting agencies, third party furnishers (debt collectors), and third party screeners (background check companies) accountable. Indeed, through an FCRA claim, consumers have the right to hold the at-fault party legally responsible for the full extent of the damages that they suffered because of inaccurate information. Being passed over for a job based on a credit report error is legally actionable under the FCRA. While the employer may not be responsible, a credit reporting agency, creditor, debt collector, or background check company may bear fault. 

Contact Our Employer Background Check Violation Attorney Today

At The Kim Law Firm, LLC, we help protect the rights of job applicants and employees who have had their rights violated in relation to an employment background check. If you have any questions about your options, please do not hesitate to contact us for a confidential consultation. 

Your rights run against the agency, not just the employer

Much of the discussion about background check rights focuses on what an employer must do: give notice, obtain authorization, deliver a pre-adverse action letter. Those duties are real, but the Fair Credit Reporting Act imposes a separate and equally enforceable set of obligations on the screening company itself. It has to follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy, it has to reinvestigate what you dispute, and it has to delete anything it cannot verify. Enforcing that half of the statute means knowing which company is on the other end.

• HireRight — among the most frequently named agencies in employment screening disputes.
• Checkr — supplies the reports behind most platform and gig onboarding.
• First Advantage — a large agency whose files reach employers nationwide.
• Sterling — a national screening vendor used across corporate hiring.
• Asurint — a provider building reports from direct court record pulls.
• Truework — handles employment and income verifications for lenders and employers.

When a report costs you an offer, the pre-adverse action notice is the document that names the agency, and that name is what makes the rest of your rights usable. Dispute directly with the agency in writing, keep the date, and note that the statute gives it a fixed window to complete the reinvestigation. If the entry was never yours, or was reported past the period the law allows, removal is the required outcome rather than a courtesy, and the corrected file can be sent back to the employer at your request.