The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sent letters to ten data broker companies to warn them that their practices could violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The letters were issued as part of a global privacy protection effort after a test-shopping operation by the FTC indicated the ten companies were willing to sell consumer information without following FCRA requirements. A news release from the FTC about the warning letters is available at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2013/05/databroker.shtm. (more…)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved a final order settling charges that Filiquarian Publishing LLC, Choice Level LLC, and their CEO operated as a consumer reporting agency (CRA) that provided criminal background check reports to be used for employment decisions without taking consumer protection measures required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).  A press release from the FTC about the final order is available at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2013/05/filiquarian.shtm. (more…)

A comprehensive immigration bill introduced in the Senate – S. 744 – would require all U.S. employers to use E-Verify, a free web-based employment eligibility verification system that compares information from the Employment Eligibility Verification, Form I-9 all newly hired workers must complete to records in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) databases to verify their legal work status. The full text of S. 744 is available at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113s744is/pdf/BILLS-113s744is.pdf. (more…)

A U.S. company providing risk management solutions has agreed to pay $13.5 million and overhaul its background check search product to settle a national class action suit that claimed the firm sold background check reports to debt collectors without following consumer protection laws, according to a report in the Dayton (OH) Daily News that cites the Law360 website. The full story is available at http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/business/lexisnexis-pays-135m-to-settle-suit/nWxJQ/. (more…)

Attorney Lester Rosen, a safe hiring expert and founder and CEO of background check firm Employment Screening Resources (ESR), will present a session titled ‘Practical Steps to Comply with the New Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Criminal Record Guidance’ at the 2013 Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) NM Employment Law & Legislative Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Monday, February 25, 2013 from 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM MST. For more information and to register for the SHRM conference, visit http://www.shrmnm.org/2013_Legislative_Conference.aspx. (more…)