Publix joins a growing list of companies that have settled class action lawsuits alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). In this settlement, Publix admits to no violations of the FCRA but agrees to pay a total of $6.8 million.
The issue in the case was the assertion that Publix failed to provide adequate disclosure of its intent to conduct background checks on job applicants. The company’s application form did include a request for authorization to do the checks, but plaintiffs argued that the method was not a standalone document as required under FCRA.
Even more striking than the recently publicized Dollar General FCRA case that was settled in October 2014 for $4 million, Publix was sued for a seemingly technical violation–a simple procedure to provide background check disclosure using a separate document could have prevented this particular lawsuit.
The message is clear: No bending the FCRA rules.
