Background Check Lawsuits

You may be able to sue the company that ran the report – for either employment or apartment rental purposes – if:

The wrong person’s information was on your report.

Background check companies can make mistakes. In some cases, the background check or tenant screening company will confuse two people’s identities. This can happen when people have similar names or birthdays. In many cases, the companies are not checking Social Security numbers to ensure they’ve pulled the right file. Job and apartment applicants who noticed false information on their background checks often wrongly believe that they have been victims of identity theft when, in reality, it was an error by the company that ran the report.

Dismissed, old or expunged charges are showing up on your report.

Under the “seven-year rule,” the following information cannot show up on your report if it took place seven or more years ago:

• Evictions
• Arrests
• Dismissed charges, including DUI cases

If your conviction, dismissal or arrest has been expunged or pardoned, this information should not show up on your criminal background check.

Some companies don’t update their records often enough and, in turn, report expunged charges.

There’s an error or discrepancy in your file.

In some cases, a person with a pristine history will have a crime, felony, conviction or arrest mistakenly show up on their report. There are also cases in which the background check or tenant screening company prints the same incident twice on a report, making the applicant look worse.

You may be able to sue the company you applied to if:

You didn’t know the company was running a background check.

Companies are required to inform their job applicants that they’ll be running background checks. This disclosure is required under a federal law known as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The company must notify the job applicant in writing that a background check will be run – and this notice can’t be hidden in the employment application. It must be separate from all other paperwork.

You knew the company was running a background check on you, but you didn’t give written permission.

Even if the company notified you in writing that a background check would be performed, it must still get your written authorization before running the report.

You never got a copy of the report.

If you didn’t get a job because of your background check, the employer must send you a copy of the report. This includes instances in which you were turned down for employment or had your job offer rescinded after the background check was run. You should also receive a document titled “A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.” In some cases, job applicants are never contacted by the employer and have no idea why they didn’t get the job.

If your lawsuit is successful, you may be entitled to:

• Up to $1,000 in statutory damages, which are a standard award set by the FCRA, or money for damage you incurred as a result of the error, such as a lost deposit or job
• Punitive damages, which are an additional monetary award given to the plaintiff to punish the defendant and discourage other companies from violating the FCRA
• Attorneys’ fees and costs