Employment Background Check Errors & Your Rights Under the FCRA

How a Background Check Error Can Cost You a Job

Losing a job offer, a promotion, or a job you already hold because a company reported false criminal history is devastating — and the error is rarely your fault. Specialized consumer reporting agencies compile these background checks, and their systemic negligence frequently costs innocent consumers their livelihoods.

Why Background Check Companies Get It Wrong

Background check companies market themselves as highly accurate, but many prioritize speed and volume over precision. To maximize profits, these agencies rely on automated algorithms to scrape public databases. They frequently use loose matching criteria — such as relying on a first and last name alone — rather than carefully verifying Social Security numbers or dates of birth. This careless data aggregation leads directly to damaging reporting errors.

What Does the FCRA Require Background Check Companies to Do?

Federal law treats employment background screening companies as consumer reporting agencies. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), these agencies are required to follow reasonable procedures to assure "maximum possible accuracy." When they fail — or when an employer fails to follow the FCRA's disclosure rules — we file suit in federal court to hold them accountable and pursue the damages federal law provides.

Common Background Check Violations We Handle

You may have a federal claim if a screening agency or an employer has engaged in any of the following:

• The 'Stand-Alone' Disclosure Violation: Federal law requires employers to provide a separate, stand-alone document disclosing that a background check will be pulled. If your employer buried this disclosure inside a job application, or included a liability waiver or release of claims in the document, they may have violated the FCRA.

• Mixed Files (Identity Confusion): The screening agency merges another individual's criminal record — often someone with a similar name or birthdate — into your background report.

• Failure to Report Final Dispositions: Reporting an old arrest or charge as 'pending' when the case was actually dismissed, dropped, or resolved in your favor.

• Reporting Expunged or Sealed Records: Disclosing criminal charges, arrests, or convictions that have been legally expunged, sealed, or dismissed by the court.

• Outdated Non-Conviction Information: Reporting non-conviction arrests, civil judgments, or paid tax liens that fall outside the FCRA's reporting time limits. These limits apply to non-conviction information; certain exceptions exist, including for positions above a federal salary threshold, and criminal convictions themselves may be reported without a fixed time limit.

• Pre-Adverse Action Failures: If an employer intends to deny you a job based on a background check, the FCRA requires them to first provide you with a copy of the report and a 'Summary of Your Rights' before making the decision final, with a reasonable opportunity to respond. Failing to provide this 'pre-adverse action' notice is a significant federal violation.

What to Do If You Lost a Job Because of a Background Check

If an employer is about to reject you — or already has — based on a background check, federal law gives you specific protections. Before an employer makes a hiring decision final based on a report, the FCRA requires it to give you a copy of the report and a "Summary of Your Rights," along with a reasonable opportunity to respond. This pre-adverse-action step exists so you can catch and challenge an error before it costs you the job — so if you receive that notice, read the report immediately and look for records that aren't yours, cases that were dismissed or resolved in your favor, or anything expunged or sealed.

If you find an error, dispute it in writing with the background check company, which the FCRA requires to conduct a reasonable investigation. Timing is critical here: the window between a pre-adverse-action notice and a final decision can be short, so the sooner an inaccurate record is identified and challenged, the better. The tool below can help you spot whether something about your background check or the hiring process may point to a violation of federal law.