Another Horrifying Background Check Story

A man who has no criminal background at all,
that has experience working in healthcare facilities, went in for a
job opportunity.  As his experience and interview reflect he
is fit for the job, he is hired pending his background check. 
Just two weeks into the job, his background check came in. 
Unfortunately, this person had a somewhat common name.  The
background check came back with a horrifying string of crimes from
drug possession, to solicitation of prostitution, to assault
charges.  This man did none of these crimes, but since his
background check came back with these items, he was promptly
terminated from his new job.

This story and many others just like it are popping up all over
as more and more companies turn to internet background
checks.  What is a person to do? 

As we have written in the past, these background checks and the
companies that provide this information are subject to the Fair Credit
Reporting Act.  That means, the company that provides the
background information has a duty to report with maximum possible
accuracy, and has a duty to conduct a prompt and reasonable
reinvestigation into the accuracy of their report once challenged
by the consumer.

If you are denied employment because of the background check,
find out the name of the company that provided the background
check.  Companies such as Lexis/Nexis, Accurint or HireRight
Solutions to name a few are ones that provide this
information.  Contact that company and demand to see a copy of
your report.  According to the FCRA, they are obligated to
provide you a report free of charge if you were denied employment
based upon their report.  Once you obtain the report, dispute
the information that does not belong to you directly to the
background reporting company.  By law, they have 30 days to
conduct an investigation and report the results back to you. 
A failure on their part to do any of the above violates the FCRA.

If you are losing employment because of inaccurate information
in a background check report, CONTACT US
for a free consultation.  SmithMarco,
P.C., has over 30 years of combined experience practicing law
protecting the rights of consumers around the country.