At Consumer Justice Law Firm, we help you recover from the harmful consequences of background check errors by upholding and protecting your rights under federal and state law. This includes enforcing your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and doing everything the law allows to hold background check companies accountable for the reckless way they handle your data.
Justice for background check errors looks like this: Making background check companies (1) fix their mistakes, (2) pay you compensation for the harm they caused, and (3) pay for your legal bills because you had to force them to do the right thing.
The Most Common Types of Background Check Errors
There is a very good chance that your background check will include incorrect information. Statistical estimates range from 50% and higher, with the National Consumer Law Center describing background check errors as “rampant.”
Background check errors include any inaccurate, misleading, or false information, including information that should have aged off of your report (like an old conviction) or should never have been reported (like an expunged or sealed record). Three of the most common types of background checks are (1) employment- conducted either during the pre-hiring process or periodically throughout employment; (2) tenant screenings- conducted during the application process for confirming eligibility to rent a house, apartment, or vacation rental; and (3) insurance- conducted prior to issuance of an insurance policy in order to mitigate the risk of fraudulent claims. Background check errors can harm you in any of the following ways and more:
How Background Check Errors Harm You
- Job rejections. Whether you’re a new candidate or a current employee, if a clean background is part of your assessment, you can be let go or passed up due to bad data. Ride-share and store shopper positions face frequent issues with wrong info.
- Promotion denials. Opportunities for advancement can be limited by false information.
- Rental denials. Whether you’re looking for a long-term rental for housing or a vacation rental for fun, you can be falsely flagged as a rental risk and turned away. People can actually be left unhoused by these errors, relying on family and friends for shelter.
- Insurance denials. When you seek insurance or other financial products, some require a background check for approval, and you can be denied for falsely failing to meet the standard.
- Security clearance rejections. Many career paths require a security clearance, sometimes at varying levels. Failing yours because the report is wrong is infuriating.
- Reputational damage. Unlike other consumer mistakes, wrongful background check data can be reputation-destroying. Ever been wrongfully reported as a sex offender?
- Mental and emotional distress. From missing out on long-awaited opportunities to losing sleep due to worry or being plagued by anxiety, the toll these errors take is real.
Steps To Take After Discovering Background Check Errors
Step 1 Talk to a lawyer
The law upholds your right to accurate background data and obligates companies to investigate and fix their mistakes, but the system itself is broken. Investigations are frequently inadequate, and stalls, delays, and unfixed errors are common. A lawyer will clearly set out your rights, guide you through the dispute and recovery process, and get you compensation.
Step 2 Dispute the errors
Carefully review your background check report, clarify which specific information led to your lost opportunity, and dispute any inaccurate, misleading, false, or unreportable data. If you’re working with us, we’ll handle this process for you. If you’re not, file your disputes via certified mail to preserve all of your legal rights.
Step 3 Make them fix it
If you know that the data in your background check report is wrong, never accept their nonsense when they say they’ve investigated and confirmed that it’s right. This is a common outcome of shoddy internal investigations and does not meet their legal obligations to do the right thing. But a lawsuit usually gets the job done.
How A Background Check Error Attorney Leads You to a Full Recovery
Legal Guidance
Correcting background check errors shouldn’t have to be a complicated and convoluted process, but it frequently is. Working with an experienced attorney gives you the best shot at a full resolution and maximum compensation.
Here’s how we help you:
- We know the law. We know the laws that protect you and how to go after these careless mega-corporations using every possible legal option available.
- We know the problems. We’ve seen, heard, and handled every type of background check report error and put our full knowledge and resources into everything we do.
- We know the tricks. We know the tactics used by these companies to delay doing anything to fix reporting mistakes. They’d rather convince you it’s a lost cause. We know otherwise.
- We provide legal guidance. We help you gather necessary data and evidence, craft and file legally sound disputes, and advise you of your rights and best practices along the way.
- We file a lawsuit. If your errors aren’t corrected or the fallout persists, we file a lawsuit to hold companies accountable.
- We get you money. If you’ve been harmed by background check report errors and you’re entitled to compensation, we know how to maximize it.
Don’t underestimate the peace of mind that comes from knowing every next move is the right move toward recovery.
The Role of the Fair Credit Reporting Act
Background check data errors are the consequence of a fast and furious data industry that depends largely on the ability of monstrously large corporations to gather, process, and report data for tens of millions of individuals on a rolling basis. In the balance between speed and profit, accuracy is the first thing to go. And you pay the consequences. Because background check errors are part of a persistent, systemic problem, and because they cause genuine harm to people every single day, the federal government passed an important piece of legislation- the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to try to protect you.
We rely heavily on the FCRA to build the best possible cases and get the best possible outcomes. The FCRA gives you critical consumer reporting rights, including the right to:
- review your background check at the time that it’s run
- know which data in a background check was used to deny you an opportunity
- dispute background check errors
- file lawsuits against the responsible parties
- seek compensation for harm suffered
- make the wrongdoers pay for your legal costs and fees
How to Dispute a Background Check Error
- Review your background check report for mistakes.
- Gather any evidence and documentation you have to support your dispute.
- Write a thorough and clear letter explaining exactly which information in your background check report is wrong and why.
- Mail your letter, along with copies of the supporting documents, via certified mail to the background check company reporting the errors. This preserves your rights and leaves an easily traceable trail. Avoid using online dispute platforms.
- Keep a copy of the letter and documents for your file, along with the mail receipt.
- Track the days. They have 30 days to respond.
- Don’t give up. If they don’t respond, don’t investigate, don’t fix the errors, or claim that their investigation confirmed the bad data, you need a lawyer NOW.
How Fee-Shifting Makes the Wrongdoer Pay Your Legal Bills
One of the most important and least known facts about embarking on the background check error recovery journey is that you don’t have to pay out of pocket for legal help. Under the FCRA, you are not expected to spend your own money or take on debt just to dispute background check errors and demand corrections of your data since you didn’t create the problem in the first place. The ones who made the problem have to pay to fix it.
At Consumer Justice, we respect this fee-shifting provision for the role it plays in our legal system, especially since it serves as an equalizer, bringing justice to everyone, including those who otherwise couldn’t afford to work with an attorney. We value each and every client and every case, and appreciate that the law has carved out a way to center equity and fairness in legal representation for consumers harmed by big business data errors.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I check my background check report?
If you had to submit to background check because you applied for a new job, new position, security clearance, rental, or other opportunity, and you want to know what it says about you, you have rights. Frequently, when you create an account and answer questions to facilitate the background check, you can opt to receive a copy of your background check report as soon as it’s complete. If you don’t receive a copy automatically, you still have a right to review it. Ask the employer or the background check company for a copy directly.
If I lost a job due to a background check error, does the employer have to hire me?
Unfortunately, the answer to this is no. Even if the employer’s decision not to hire, promote, assign, or clear you for a position is entirely related to false, misleading, or inaccurate information in your background check report, the employer does NOT have to reconsider you for the position. This is true even if you promptly inform them of the error and successfully dispute the bad information. While some employers will hold a position for you while you’re clearing up the error, or invite you to reapply once the background check error is fixed, there is no legal obligation to do so. However, if you do lose out on an opportunity because of a background check error, the background check company can be held legally accountable and may have to fix their mistakes and pay you money. Call us to learn more.