Colorado Technical University

Fair Credit Reporting Act rules and employment ?

This morning, my boss instructed me to call a manager-in-training candidate who received and accepted a job offer this week and rescind the offer based on information learned through a background check. The candidate was convicted of possession of marijuana in 1998 and also drunk driving in 1995. We did not go through a thrid party so the 7 year rule does not apply here. On the original employment application, the candidate was asked if she had ever been convicted of a crime in the last 7 years and truthfully answered "No." Her drug screen came back clean as well. Nonetheless, the HR manager instructed me to call her and tell her that we decided to go with another candidate. To my knowledge, there is no other candidate. Normally, when someone is declined employment based upon the check, FCRA rules compel us to provide the candidate with a copy of the report so that they may check for accuracy and dispute it if they wish. I told my superiors that this lady is going to want to know why we are suddenly rescinding the offer when I was quite obviously enthusiastic about hiring her this week and she noted my enthusiasm. They simply told me to tell her this: "Well, sometimes you just don't like a person." This way they can avoid having to provide her with a copy of the report. Normally, I would contact our legal affairs dept. and have them or HR handle this but both are closed on Saturday and HR left this email for me on Friday afternoon. This lady was suppose to start on Monday so I have no choice but to make the call myself. I do NOT want to follow HR's instructions because it isn't entirely honest and this is something that should be handled at the corporate level and not at the store level. ( I work for a regional retailer). However, I can't ignore it without placing my own job in jeopardy. Should I tell this lady the real reason why she is being denied employment so that she may request a copy of the report? Legally, I feel that I would be in the right by doing so but it could lead to a reprimand and I don't want to hurt my own career. Thank you.

Public Comments

1. FCRA deals with credit. These are criminal convictions from the background check. Just tell her that HR decided to go with someone else and let it go. It is perfectly legal to not hire someone due to criminal convictions.
2. obviously ' bdancer2..' does NOT know the law. FCRA applies to all consumer reports BUT it does NOT apply in this case since the check was done in house. FCRA only applies when you use a third-party reporting agency. http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf if you had used a consumer reporting agency you would have allowed the applicant to have this information corrected but you could still decide to NOT hire them as long as your reasoning was not discriminatory and not based solely on the erroneous information....... you did NOT use a consumer reporting agency so you do NOT have to provide a copy of the information that was found in the public record.... your HR department knows this and that is why they have instructed you to handle this.... the HR manager and the company have done NOTHING illegal in this situation. there is no law that states you can't tell an applicant that you are going with another candidate even when there is not one. your enthusiasm seems to be the real issue here, that is a mistake that you won't make again.... SO, You need to do as instructed by your boss, if there is an issue it will be up to your boss to deal with it.
3. Angela - This is one tough part of being a person that does interviewing and hiring. As stated FCRA applies to companies that use a 3rd party vendor and not those that perform in house checks. I do not see responses remembering that there is STATE Employment law. I'm inclined to agree to follow the advise of your manager. You have to think of your career. You can use this experience to grow and speak to HR about concerns / tips on handling. Check this out: http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs16-bck.htm IF she has the right to request a copy of the background check it will not matter how you phrase 'the rejection'. You are under no obligation to remind her what she signed or to offer the exact reason.