Workforce Bulletin

On January 29, 2020, the House of Representatives passed the Comprehensive CREDIT Act of 2020 (the “Act”), which would change federal laws pertaining to consumer reporting agencies and credit checks in a number of ways. Significantly for employers, the Act includes an amendment (originally H.R. 3614 - “Restricting Credit Checks for Employment Decisions Act”) to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), which would restrict the use of credit information for most employment decisions.

Currently, the FCRA does not expressly prohibit employers from using credit checks ...

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently issued guidance discussing certain disclosure and authorization requirements that employers must satisfy prior to obtaining background screening reports for prospective employees.  If your company obtains background information to screen prospective employees, now is a good time to make sure you are complying with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”).

Under the FCRA, background screening reports are either “consumer reports” or “investigative consumer reports” when they are used for employment purposes ...

With the ever-increasing amount of information available on social media, employers should remember to exercise caution when utilizing social media as a part of their Human Resources/ Recruitment related activities.  As we have discussed in a prior blog post, “Should Employers and Facebook Be Friends?” we live in a digital-age, and how people choose to define themselves is often readily showcased on social networking sites.  Whether – and how – employers choose to interact with the online presence of their workforce will continue to develop as the relevant legal standards ...

by Jeffrey M. Landes, Susan Gross Sholinsky, Steven M. Swirsky, and Jennifer A. Goldman

On January 25, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") sent warning letters to three companies that market, in total, six mobile phone applications ("Apps") that provide users with background check reports. In the warning letters, the FTC states that the Apps may violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"). According to a press release issued by the FTC on February 7, 2012, the FTC cautioned the Apps' marketers that, if they have reason to believe that the background reports provided will be ...