Class Action Claims Amazon Flex Drivers Deprived of Mandatory Disclosures Prior to Background Checks

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A proposed class action alleges prospective Amazon Flex delivery drivers were not provided with certain statutory disclosures before Amazon obtained their background checks as part of the hiring process.

According to the lawsuit, a job applicant must be given a standalone disclosure form, stating that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes, in order to satisfy the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a law designed to ensure that consumers are properly informed of and authorize any background checks of which they are the subject.

The case claims defendants Amazon.com, Inc.; Amazon.com Services, Inc; and Amazon Logistics, Inc. have either failed to provide job applicants with an FCRA-compliant disclosure form prior to conducting a background check or provided a form that contained “extraneous and irrelevant information” in violation of the federal law’s mandate that the form be presented in a standalone document.

“For these reasons, among others, Defendants’ failure to provide a disclosure form or, alternatively, the disclosure form provided by Defendants violated the law,” the complaint alleges.

The plaintiff in the case claims to have been hired as an Amazon Flex driver in October 2019. It wasn’t until August 2020, however, that the plaintiff allegedly discovered Amazon had violated his privacy rights by obtaining his background report without proper authorization to do so. According to the suit, the plaintiff obtained a copy of the report and related documents from Amazon’s third-party background check provider, Accurate Background, and found that no statutory disclosure form bearing his signature was included.

The suit alleges that the disclosure form provided to prospective Amazon Flex delivery drivers contained “extraneous information” and/or was not reasonably understandable to applicants. Per the case, the form included various information specific to applicants in individual states without explaining that applicants outside of those states may be entitled to the same rights. Moreover, the form allegedly contained an “evergreen consent” provision purporting to grant the defendants with authorization to obtain an investigative report on the individual at any time, which the suit says “directly contravene[s]” a California state law requirement that such reports may be procured for only “a permissible purpose.”

The lawsuit goes on to claim that Amazon’s disclosure form violated California law by, among other apparent omissions, failing to inform applicants of the specific basis for the use of their background report and its source, as well as include a check box allowing the applicant to indicate that they would like to receive a copy of the report.

Moreover, Amazon allegedly failed to provide applicants within three days of requesting their consumer reports a disclosure informing them of their right to request additional disclosures, as specified in the FCRA, and a summary of their FCRA rights.

Initially filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in September 2021, the lawsuit was removed to California’s Central District Court on November 4.

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s newsletter here.