FCRA willful violation claim advances against consumer reporting agency

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires employers to present a conditional job offer to a candidate and obtain written consent from the candidate before accessing a consumer credit report for hiring decisions. If an adverse action (e.g., revocation of job offer) is taken based on a report, employers must provide a copy of the report, a summary of FCRA rights, and an opportunity to dispute inaccuracies before finalizing the decision. If a report is inaccurate and a job offer is rescinded after it’s made known that the report is inaccurate, who can be held liable to the candidate for the lost job opportunity?

Setting the scene

Daniel Wright interviewed for a job with a potential Arizona employer. During the interview process, he disclosed a 2013 conviction for a drug-related felony. He didn’t disclose a 2015 conviction, a class-six undesignated felony for facilitation to commit trafficking in stolen property. (In 2020, the 2015 conviction was redesignated as a misdemeanor at his request, after he fulfilled his conditions of probation.)

After a verbal job offer was presented, the potential employer asked HireRight, LLC (a consumer reporting agency) to prepare a background check on Wright. The report generated labeled both the 2013 and 2015 convictions as felony convictions.