$174 Million Paid Over Background Check Lawsuits

Request for criminal background check; reference checking, security interviews

Employers resolving class-action lawsuits over alleged background check violations paid out a total of $174 million, a news report says.

The companies that provided those reports to employers paid another $152 million when they were sued directly by individuals for allegedly violating the Fair Credit and Reporting Act (FCRA).

Forty employers have paid out $1 million or more in FCRA employment settlements since 2011. The database includes settlements involving:

Wells Fargo ($12 million)
Target ($8.5 million)
Uber Technologies ($7.5 million)
Publix Super Markets ($6.8 million)
Amazon.com ($5 million)
Home Depot ($3 million
Domino's Pizza ($2.5 million)

More than 90 percent of employers conduct background checks, mostly during the pre-employment stage and 15 percent of the 6,500 HR professionals surveyed said they rescreen workers annually, 13 percent perform checks after specific events, 10 percent do them when an employee changes roles and four percent do them on a rolling basis.

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