Why Freshly Retrieved Data
Is Mandatory
Companies like The Integrity Center, Inc. which sell reports
containing consumer information have been defined by the
FCRA as Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs). Section
613(a) of the FCRA says that "a CRA which furnishes a consumer
report for employment purposes and which for that purpose
compiles and reports items of information on consumers which
are matters of public record AND ARE LIKELY TO HAVE an
adverse effect upon a consumer's ability to obtain employment
shall --"
Section 613(a)(2) --- "maintain strict procedures designed to
insure that whenever public record information which IS LIKELY
TO HAVE AN ADVERSE EFFECT on a consumer's ability to obtain
employment is reported IT IS COMPLETE AND UP TO DATE. For
purposes of this paragraph, items of public record relating to
arrests, indictments, convictions, suits, tax liens, and
outstanding judgments SHALL BE CONSIDERED TO BE UP TO
DATE IF THE CURRENT PUBLIC RECORD STATUS OF THE ITEM,
AT THE TIME OF THE REPORT, IS REPORTED."
Note at this point that ALL reports on consumers relating
to employment MUST comply with the FCRA.
Therefore, the two main questions that the Federal Trade
Commission considers when enforcing the use of freshly
retrieved data are:
Is the Consumer Report furnished to the employer LIKELY
to have an adverse effect upon a consumer's ability to
obtain employment ? (Which one must ALWAYS assume
is "Yes", because it is too late to follow the FCRA procedures
AFTER a report has been furnished to the employer.)
Is the information in the Consumer Report up to date ?
That is, on the date of the report, is the information
in the report THE SAME AS the information at the Source
( e.g.: court, or DMV ) on that same date ?
Just think about stored data from gigantic accumulated
databases. If the updates from the respective jurisdictions
were even done every month, never mind every 3-24 months
as is actually the case, by definition, the data CANNOT BE
UP TO DATE because that means OF THE SAME DATE.
Therefore using stored data for employment purposes
CANNOT BE LEGAL because those data are at least 30 days
out of date from the Source.
Also see GAPS.
ONLY FRESHLY RETRIEVED DATA ARE
LEGAL FOR EMPLOYMENT PURPOSES.
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