A former employee filed a class action against Cardinal Logistics Management in early July, claiming the alleged acquisition of background reports for employment matters were lacking proper disclosures and written authorization (ClassAction.org).
The lawsuit seeks to include current, former, and prospective employees who applied for a job and had a background check performed for the company within the last five years before the complaint was presented, until a date that is to be determined.
The FCRA requires that employers provide a “clear and conspicuous” disclosure prior to procuring an employee’s consumer report as well as the individual’s authorization. The lawsuit specifies ways in which Cardinal allegedly breached the FCRA:
- Concealing the disclosure in small font within a document with extra information
- Did not get written authorization before running the background check
- Incorporating a liability waiver in the same document as the disclosure
- Inserting a misleading authorization for third parties to disclose consumer information to Cardinal that is different from the consumer report authorization
- Depriving subjects of its background checks of a summary of their rights under the FCRA.
