District Court Rejects Notion That An Improper Background Check Disclosure Automatically Renders A Subsequent Background Authorization Improper

In the world of background check litigation under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"), one theory that plaintiffs frequently assert is that if the background check disclosure provided by the employer violates the FCRA, then the authorization based on that disclosure is also necessarily inadequate.  Under the FCRA, an employer desiring to obtain a criminal background check is required to provide a stand-alone disclosure, without extraneous material, of the fact that a background check is being procured.  In addition, the employer is required to obtain the consumer's written authorization for the background check.  The disclosure and authorization can, but are not required to be, included in a single form.  A recent decision out of the Northern District of California implicitly rejects the proposition that an inadequate disclosure in a form automatically invalidates the authorization obtained on the same form.