The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) just issued guidance for companies providing employment screening services. According to the FTC, they have “created new guidance for businesses aimed at giving employment background screening companies information on how to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).” The FTC is referring to it as an “FCRA brochure” … I guess like a travel brochure you would pick up at a travel agency. Anyhow, click here to view the FTC’s blog posting on this subject.
As a practitioner in this area I don’t see anything particularly ground breaking or earth shattering about the FTC’s publication. I think this publication will be most helpful for newer participants in the background screening industry.
My main takeaways for seasoned background screening firms is that the guidance provides insight into potentially what the FTC considers most important. FTC — if you are reading this, everything about you and the FCRA is important. Key points for background screeners to focus on with respect to their compliance programs:
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Accuracy of the reports — use your identifiers and check your identifiers on the reports (including middle initials); don’t provide reports with multiple entries for the same offense; and for crying out loud don’t report expunged or sealed records.
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Know your customer before furnishing consumer reports and get your section 604(b) certifications.
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Provide the appropriate federal notices to users and subjects of the reports.
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Have consumer dispute procedures in place to appropriately respond to disputes or file requests, conduct reasonable reinvestigations and provide notices to consumers about the results of any reinvestigation. And finally, don’t make it difficult or challenging for a consumer to request their file or dispute a report.
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When reporting public records that are likely to have an adverse effect on the consumer’s ability to obtain employment, either provide consumers with notice or follow “strict procedures” as per section 613 of the FCRA.
Above points shouldn’t come as a surprise to seasoned background screening firms. If they do, or you are not familiar with any of these points, speak with an FCRA attorney to come up to speed on these rapido (that’s Spanish for “fast”).
