FCRA Staff Opinion

October 1, 1999       

You CAN Take An Adverse Action
If An Employee Or A Candidate
Refuses To Give You Permission
To Do A Background Check


The FCRA staff was asked by the Equal Employment
Advisory Council in Washington, D.C. for their "position
on the issue of whether an employer can take adverse
action against an employee, up to and including termination,
or refuse to hire an applicant, if the individual refuses
to give an employer permission to obtain a consumer
report or investigative consumer report as defined by
the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)."  Their answer:

"As we read the FCRA, it is silent on the issue you
posed.  It thus does not prohibit an employer from
taking adverse action against an employee or applicant
who refuses to authorize the employer to procure a
consumer report.  By the same token, of course, it
does not specifically authorize such action."

Remember, each and every kind of report that you might
obtain on an employee, e.g.: criminal conviction history,
is itself a "consumer report" under the amended law ---
NOT just credit reports as many companies think.

Read the letter that presents the FTC/FCRA opinion.