Class Action Claims The Salvation Army Failed to Provide Proper Background Check Disclosures to Job Applicants

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The Salvation Army has failed to provide proper disclosures and obtain authorization before conducting background checks on job applicants, a proposed class action claims.

Filed against The Salvation Army, Salvation Army of the United States, and The Salvation Army El Sobrante Residences, Inc., the lawsuit alleges in particular that the defendants’ background check disclosure and authorization forms were “embedded with extraneous information” and were not presented to job applicants in a “clear and unambiguous” standalone document. As a result, The Salvation Army never obtained proper authorization from prospective employees to obtain criminal, consumer, and investigative reports, known as background checks, the suit says.

The lawsuit claims the disclosure form purporting to seek job applicants’ authorization to perform a background check did not to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) in that it was not “clear and conspicuous.” According to the suit, the disclosure regarding the defendants’ intention to obtain a consumer report was not written in all capital letters and set in boldface to mark it off from the rest of the document or included separately from the employment application as a standalone document as required by law.

Moreover, the disclosure form contained “extraneous information” such as a liability release and information concerning state law differences that “reduces clarity as to what rights each applicant or employee possesses,” the case avers. 

The suit goes on to allege that The Salvation Army failed to provide a proper summary of consumers’ rights under the FCRA along with the disclosure explaining that an investigative background report may be obtained.

Per the complaint, the defendants’ apparent violations of the FCRA were willful and have harmed the following proposed class comprised of:

Initially filed in San Mateo County, California Superior Court on November 11, the lawsuit was removed to the state’s Northern District Court on December 4, 2020.

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