Our friends at Littler Mendelson P.C. recently posted this article:
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law that governs employment-related background checks. Most lawsuits asserting federal claims proceed in federal court.1 The FCRA is atypical in that FCRA claims can proceed in either federal or state court. A new opinion from a California court of appeal in Hebert v. Barnes & Noble is one of the few court of appeal opinions in California to consider such federal FCRA claims. The court reversed summary judgment for the employer, and in doing so, reinforced the need for employers to remain ever vigilant about complying with the FCRA’s hyper-technical requirements for obtaining authorization for background checks.