HR People, did you hear the one about the guy that walked in for an interview, his background came back wrong, he never received adverse action, then the company paid him $700k?
Not funny, is it?
A settlement was reached against the parent company of Calvin Klein, Izod, G.H. Bass and Van Heusen. Luiz Rodriguez filed the claim after being denied a job because of incorrect information that was revealed on his background check. His report stated several felony and misdemeanor charges that belonged to, you guessed it, someone else!
Two words… ADVERSE. ACTION.
To make matters worse, Mr. Rodriguez was not given a copy of the report, which could have provided him a chance to make things right, until after he was denied the position. Once Mr. Rodriguez corrected his background check report, he then went back to the company, but the position had already been given to someone else.
Although the parent company did not admit any wrongdoing, they did agree to pay more than $700,000 dollars, just to avoid a trial.
HR People, are you handling the background check process of your hiring practices correctly? Are you correctly following the FCRA’s pre-adverse action and adverse action guidelines? We have posted many articles on our corporate blog related to adverse action…. but do you FULLY understand it?
Bottom line is this: if you are not properly following legal hiring procedures, a class action lawsuit will eventually happen to you. Period.
If you are not 100% confident that you are compliant in your hiring policy, STOP where you are, right now. Contact your legal counsel, your employee background check vendor and gather your human resources team. Make sure you are ALL on the same page.
If you need updated forms or information, have any questions regarding the employee background check process, including adverse action, safe hiring practices or legal forms/documents, ASK FOR IT!
