Allstaff Services Obtained Job Applicants’ Consumer Reports Without Making Mandatory Disclosures, Suit Claims

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims staffing company Allstaff Services, Inc. obtained background checks on potential employees without authorization or providing proper disclosures.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff received an offer on June 24, 2019 to begin working with Allstaff on July 3. On June 25, the defendant allegedly directed a third-party agency to obtain a copy of the plaintiff’s consumer report to determine his eligibility for the job. On the day he was supposed to start, which was pushed back to July 10, the plaintiff allegedly called Allstaff and was informed that his employment offer had been rescinded based on the results of the report.

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the lawsuit explains, companies are prohibited from running background checks unless they make a clear and conspicuous disclosure in a standalone document that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes. The company must then receive written authorization from the applicant or employee, as well as provide a reasonable opportunity for them to contest information contained within the report, the case states.

Allstaff, according to the complaint, ran afoul of the FCRA in that it never provided the plaintiff with a proper standalone disclosure informing him that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes. The plaintiff further claims he never received from Allstaff a pre-adverse action notice, a copy of his report, or a summary of his rights under the FCRA. Furthermore, the case claims the defendant did not provide the plaintiff with an opportunity to respond to or dispute any information contained in his consumer report before Allstaff rescinded its job offer.

The lawsuit looks to represent a putative class of all individuals whose consumer reports were obtained by Allstaff for employment purposes within the last five years, as well as a separate class of persons against whom the defendant took adverse action based on their consumer reports within the same time span.