Dollar Tree Facing Class Action Lawsuit Over Alleged Credit Report Violations

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges Dollar Tree has unlawfully failed to provide job applicants with an adequate opportunity to dispute or discuss inaccurate data in their background checks before taking adverse action against them based on the contents of the report.

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Specifically, the 12-page Dollar Tree lawsuit alleges the discount retailer has violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a federal law that requires an entity to provide a job applicant with a copy of their background check, an explanation of their rights under the FCRA, and timely notification before making adverse employment decisions based on a consumer report.

The suit contends that although Dollar Tree properly supplies job applicants with a copy of their report and a statement of their rights before taking adverse action against them, the company fails to amend its employment decisions in the event of a successful consumer dispute of purportedly erroneous information.

“These failures leave applicants without any meaningful opportunity to correct any errors on the report or to discuss the content of the report with Dollar Tree,” the case charges.

The plaintiff, a Georgia resident, says he was denied employment with Dollar Tree in October 2023 based on the contents of a background check provided by a third-party consumer reporting agency that contracts with the defendant. According to the complaint, the background check erroneously reported that the man was associated with numerous criminal convictions, which, in truth, belonged to a different person of the same name.

Per the filing, Dollar Tree relayed the results of the background check to the plaintiff, stating that he should contact the consumer reporting agency within seven business days to dispute the information and promising not to make a decision on his application during that time.

As the lawsuit tells it, the plaintiff successfully disputed the data, and the inaccurate criminal records were removed from his consumer report shortly thereafter.

However, Dollar Tree, despite receiving a corrected version of the applicant’s background check, did not hire the man or “make any effort to contact him at all,” the suit claims.

The case argues that, as such, the company fails to provide applicants with any real opportunity to challenge or correct erroneous information before making binding employment decisions.

“Although Dollar Tree purports to comply with the FCRA’s requirement that it provide notice, a copy of the background report, and a statement of FCRA rights before it takes adverse action, in reality it takes adverse action immediately upon receiving a negative background check,” the complaint says. “Any purported opportunity to dispute or discuss the contents of the report is illusory.”

The Dollar Tree class action lawsuit looks to represent any candidates for new or continued employment, transfer or promotion with Dollar Tree in the United States who, within the past two years, were the subject of a background report containing at least one item of adverse information which the company treated as disqualifying.

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