Know your rights when your employer tries to dig up dirt during a background check.  After the first of the year, employers will need to provide job applicants and employees with the new Fair Credit Reporting Act “Summary of Rights” form before running any form of credit check.
Under the changes, employers must make clear that the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and not the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), is the agency that applicants and employees should contact with questions about their FCRA rights.
The employer will have to give this notification in any pre-adverse action notification that stems from the results of a background check. It also must provide this notification before obtaining a background check if the report includes information stemming from personal interviews conducted by a consumer reporting agency.
These regulations are a byproduct of the CFPB taking control of overseeing the Fair Credit Reporting Act from the FTC. A copy of the new Summary of Rights form that employers must begin using on or before January 1, 2013 can be found on the CFPB’s.
Kurt A. Scharfenberger