The Rise of Background Check Discrimination Lawsuits—and How to Get Ahead of Them

Sports and entertainment giant Madison Square Garden recently reached a $1.3 million deal to end claims that it used criminal convictions from background checks to deny employment to minority applicants with criminal records without investigating the reports or giving candidates a chance to dispute them.

With this deal, Madison Square Garden joins a long list of companies, including Macy’s and 7-11, who’ve found themselves in violation of federal laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Earlier this year, Delta Airlines ended up in a similar situation when they failed to provide job applicants with standalone background check disclosures, resulting in a $2.3 million settlement and a string of bad press.

Settlements like these serve as a reminder that there’s still a vast gap in knowledge and awareness of background check compliance. Specifically, at Checkr, we see companies struggle to make sense of ever-changing compliance laws and stay on top of important FCRA and EEOC processes. It’s for this reason we’ve invested so much of our efforts into making education around background check compliance more accessible with our new Fair Assessment Course & Certification. The online course covers the steps you need to stay compliant with both FCRA and EEOC regulations, walks through strategies to review background checks, and reviews common scenarios encountered in hiring decision making.

The Fair Assessment Course & Certification is also a stepping stone for companies to think more critically about their hiring and open themselves up to consider people with records. In addition to staying in-line with federal guidelines and avoiding public incidents like the ones above, companies can also reap additional benefits: including reducing friction in their hiring process, opening up new pools of qualified talent, reaching their diversity goals, and elevating their brands in the public eye.

You can learn more about the Fair Assessment Course & Certification here. To get certified, use the free promo code: fairchance_web2019.