Check your background check disclosure forms. Now.
The Ninth Circuit has now declared that background check
disclosure forms that include state law disclosures are illegal. Gilberg v. California Check Cashing Stores,
LLC, Case No. 17-16263 (9th Cir. Jan. 29,
2019).
Under the Fair Credit Report Act (FCRA), a pre-employment
disclosure form for background checks must be in a "stand
alone" document. Courts have generally interpreted that rule
to mean that disclosure forms cannot include extraneous
information, like a waiver, and cannot be combined with a job
application. It has been a common practice, however, to include
federal and state disclosures in one document. In the Gilberg case,
the employer combined its federal FCRA form with one containing the
similar disclosures under California law. The plaintiff, who had
successfully applied for work and had signed the combined form,
brought suit in district court in California on her own behalf and
on behalf of a
