Employers in the state of California are being urged to stay alert and remain vigilant when it comes to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), as the plaintiff’s bar continues to pursue actions against employers that operate in plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions. The FCRA imposes requirements on employers who use “consumer reports” or “investigative consumer reports” for “employment purposes.” The requirements could be broken down into two categories – those guidelines employers must follow before obtaining a consumer report and those that must be followed if they intend to take “adverse action.” The increase in California FCRA suits could be blamed on several factors: statutory damages, concurrent jurisdiction in state courts, California’s FCRA, and plaintiff-friendly rulings in the Ninth Circuit.
