Driving Record Release Form

The name, address, and phone number of the consumer reporting agency that furnished the report.

A statement that the consumer reporting agency did not decide to take the adverse action and is unable to provide the consumer with specific reasons for the action.

A notice of a consumer’s rights to obtain a free copy of his or her report from the consumer reporting agency within 60 days.

The individual has the right to dispute the accuracy or completeness of any information in the report.” FCRA §615.

This is called a Pre-Adverse Action letter, since it must be sent before the adverse action is taken. In other words, if an employer feels that the information contained in a background check and/or a driving record report may impact the hiring decision, then at that time the employer must send the Pre-Adverse Action letter. The purpose of this process is to give the applicant an opportunity to dispute the accuracy of what was reported. Section 604 of the FCRA requires that before taking any adverse action employers provide to the applicant with:

The purpose of these documents is to give an applicant the opportunity to see the report that contains the information that is being used against them. If the report is inaccurate or incomplete, the applicant then has the opportunity to contact the CRA to dispute or explain what is in the report. Otherwise, applicants may be denied employment without ever knowing they were the victims of inaccurate or incomplete data.

The FCRA is silent on how long employer must wait, but the best practice is to give applicant a meaningful opportunity to review, reflect and object. A minimum is five (5) business days suggested.

Not caring can be expensive. The FCRA requires an employer (when obtaining background reports from a third party) do very specific things during the employment process. Employers are frequently sued in federal court for alleged failure to meet these FCRA requirements. In June of 2016 alone, 409 FCRA lawsuits were filed.

Litigation is costly to employers in terms of time, legal fees, financial settlements, brand damage, and distraction from business goals. Examples of financial settlements include: 

“FCRA” is the abbreviation for the “Fair Credit Reporting Act.” It is a U.S. Federal law.  In 1996, the scope of the FCRA was expanded to include other reports about consumers, including background reports prepared for employment screening purposes. And, the FCRA has been further amended since 1996.

The FCRA is designed to protect consumers by regulating employers as users of background reports and background screening companies as providers of background reports. It applies anytime an employer obtains a background report for employment purposes from a third party. Importantly, it applies to background reports whether or not the report includes credit information.