May 18 2015 Class Action Lawsuit Against Whole Foods
The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act has strict guidelines in place to regulate background checks for pre-employment purposes. These guidelines are intended to protect an individual’s right to privacy. Disclosure and proper authorization must be obtained prior to a company issuing a background or credit check on an individual.
A company is required to provide a document solely for the purpose of disclosure, that requests authorization to allow an employer to obtain Credit information on an individual.
A class –action lawsuit has been filed in Tampa, Florida charging the Whole Foods Corporation with failing to obtain proper authorizations and disclosure prior to obtaining background checks on employees. It has also been asserted that Whole Foods inserted “liability release” provisions allowing them to obtain consumer report information for employment purposes through an online system.
This implies that Whole Foods employees or prospective employees within a five-year period through the date of the class action lawsuit who were the subject of inappropriate reporting without proper consent, are affected.
Authorization forms must adhere to the FCRA guidelines and employers must be careful and accurate when entrusting such sensitive consent forms to third party or online system.
