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Welcome to the June edition of the ‘SRA Screening Insights’ newsletter.
Message from the Editors:
The SRA team wishes all of our readers a fun & safe July 4th holiday!
Did you know?
Many states and municipalities have strict laws regarding fireworks use, leading to numerous arrests and fines for individuals possessing or using illegal fireworks during the holiday.
Inside this Edition
- Legal Speed Bumps – Lyft Driver’s Record Sparks Lawsuit
- Behind the Counter – Walgreens Settles Background Check Class Action
- Equifax Work Woes – Antitrust Suit Hits Verification Services
The lawsuit claims Lyft is “negligent for failing to conduct a proper, adequate and sufficient background check” after a recent accident in which a passenger was left needing back surgery.
A review of the driver’s record found the Florida Highway Patrol cited him for driving 98 miles per hour on Interstate 95, where the posted speed limit was 65 mph last year. He pleaded no contest. The speeding incident happened six months before his crash in Jupiter.
However, the suit claims that’s not the only event that should have kept Lyft from employing this driver. He made headlines in New York City from 2015 to 2018 after a sexual assault on city subway where police circulated a picture of a man authorities say was the same individual running shirtless away from a subway station.
Further investigation into his background in New York revealed two sex crime convictions, and a probation violation after spending two years in prison before moving to Florida.
Walgreens agreed to a class action lawsuit settlement to resolve claims it wrongfully denied applicants job opportunities due to background checks without providing the required notices.
The settlement benefits individuals who applied to work at Walgreens and were denied employment based on a background report obtained by Walgreens between March 30, 2020, and May 17, 2022.
According to the class action lawsuit, Walgreens failed to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) when denying job applicants employment based on their background reports. The pharmacy chain allegedly sent email notifications that did not meet FCRA requirements.
Under the terms of the settlement, all class members are eligible for $100 payments. Class members may also be able to receive an additional payment of up to $818.28 if they intended to contact Walgreens to explain or dispute their background check but did not do so due to the email they received.
Data analytics giant Equifax (EFX.N) has been accused by a pair of home mortgage lenders of monopolizing the market for electronic income and employment verification services, leading to higher prices.
The lawsuit alleged Equifax, through its Equifax Workforce Solutions unit, has violated antitrust law through exclusive contracts and buying up would-be competitors. The industry domination, according to the lawsuit, has allowed Equifax to charge for its services “far higher than a competitive market would bear.”.
Equifax’s multiyear, exclusive agreements with payroll software providers and large employers have denied competitors’ access to essential data inputs, “making it impossible for rivals to build databases of sufficient size and scale,” the lawsuit claimed.
Equifax “spent billions of dollars acquiring companies that might present a risk of competition to its monopoly,” the plaintiffs said.
The lawsuit demanded unspecified monetary damages, and it seeks an injunction to stop Equifax’s alleged anti-competitive practices.
