In June of 2014, plaintiff Johnny Vera filed an online employment application with Illinois-based food and beverage company. Vera claimed that the disclosure pertaining to background checks was not provided to him as a standalone document, as required by the FCRA. Instead, the company’s application consisted of a scrolling webpage which requested  consent to a number of items including privacy and liability waivers regarding credit agencies, educational institutions, government agencies, criminal and civil courts and former employers.

Vera neither alleged that the company failed to disclose they were seeking to procure a background check or that he denied the company the right to conduct the search. He did allege that this instance constituted a violation of the FCRA because the webpage included extraneous information not related to the required standalone disclosure that the company would be procuring a background check for employment purposes.

“Indeed, Vera’s allegations demonstrate that the Statement Mondelez required him to review provided the information he argues Mondelez withheld, and that he consented to Mondelez’s investigation of his private information. If Vera had alleged otherwise, this would be a different case entirely,” the judge said.

Source: Law 360.com, 3/17/2017