With businesses remaining the target in Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) class action lawsuits, employers should evaluate the background check process to ensure compliance with the FCRA, similar state fair credit reporting statutes, and substantive employment laws. In addition, employers should consider a privileged review of their background screening practices to ensure compliance with ban-the-box and other laws impacting background screening. In Illinois, for example, an amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act makes it more difficult for employers to reject applicants or terminate employees based on their conviction history, and Louisiana’s “Fair Chance” law prohibits employers from considering an arrest record or a charge that did not result in a conviction if the information was “received in the course of a background check.”
