Aaron’s Hit With Fair Credit Reporting Class Action Lawsuit

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A class action lawsuit has been filed against furniture rental company Aaron’s, Inc., alleging that it failed to provide copies of the background checks and credit reports that it performed on job applicants and employees even though the results may be the reason a person loses his job or isn’t offered employment.

The Aaron’s class action lawsuit was filed by Plaintiff Missouri resdient Daniel Antoine saying that the company’s actions are a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

“Specifically, Plaintiff challenges Defendant’s failure to provide pre-adverse action notice under the FCRA to its job applicants and employees — including a copy of the consumer reports relied upon and summary of the applicants’ or employees’ FCRA right — prior to taking any adverse action based in whole or in part on the information obtained through the procurement of such consumer reports,” the FCRA class action lawsuit states.

Antoine claims that he had his resume posted on the website www.careerbuilder.com when he was contacted by a manager from Aaron’s Kansas City, Missouri location to come in for an interview for a sales associate position.

Antoine was subsequently interviewed by the manager and a district manager. Following the interview, he was told he would get the job after the background check was completed.

Once the background check was completed, “the Aaron’s interviewer informed Antoine that he would not be hired because of information contained within the background check.” And Antoine was not given a copy of the consumer reports Aaron’s used in deciding Antoine’s employment with the company.

Antoine later asked Aaron’s if he could have a copy of the report. He was told to contact Accurate Background, the company that performed the background check.

Once he received a copy of the report, he claims in his FCRA class action lawsuit, that it included inaccurate information such as an item “suggesting that Antoine had a felony conviction,” which he says is not true.

Because he was not given a copy of the report before Aaron’s made it’s decision not to hire Antoine, he was not able to explain that the information was inaccurate.

“In using a consumer report for employment purposes, the FCRA mandates that an employer (or prospective employer) must provide to the consumer to whom the report relates with a copy of the report and a description in writing of the rights of the consumer under the FCRA,” the class action lawsuit against Aaron’s states.

“Importantly, the provision of these two required items must occur before any adverse action takes place that is based in whole or in part on that report,” it adds.

According to the FCRA lawsuit, Aaron’s still uses the data to decide on an employee’s or applicant’s employment “without providing the written materials” it is required to give to the individuals under federal law “before taking adverse action against them.”

“Rather, any copy of the report or description of rights required under the FCRA is provided after the applicant or employee has already been notified of the adverse action — stripping applicants and employees of their ability to explain any errors or discrepancies present in the reports,” Antoine explains in his Fair Credit Reporting Act class action lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, “such a denial entitles him to statuatory damages of not less than $100 and not more than $1,000 for each willful violation.”

Antoine is proposing the Class to include “all persons in United States who were subject to adverse employment action on or after July 1, 2012 based in whole or in part on any consumer report procured by Defendant and who did not receive either a copy of the report or a summary of rights before Defendant Aaron’s took such adverse action.”

Counsel for Aaron’s wasn’t immediately available.

The plaintiff is represented by Christopher L. Dore and Steven L. Woodrow of Edelson PC, and Jennifer Auer Jordan of The Jordan Firm LLC.

The Fair Credit Reporting Class Action Lawsuit is Daniel Antoine v. Aaron’s Inc., Case No. 1:14-cv-02120, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.