Courtney Jorstad  |  March 4, 2015

Category: Labor & Employment

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food-lionA group of job applicants say they support the almost $3 million class action settlement reached with Food Lion, LLC and its parent company Delhaize America, LLC over allegedly illegal background check procedures by the east coast grocery store chain.

Lead plaintiff Jeneen Brown is asking the North Carolina federal judge to approve the class action settlement for the almost 60,000 class members in the March 2 memorandum in support of the unopposed motion for preliminary approval of the class action settlement.

The class is for those who applied to work at grocery store chains owned and operated by Delhaize America such as Food Lion, Hannaford, Bottom Dollar, Harvey’s Supermarket and Sweetbay.

There are two classes in this illegal background check class actions lawsuit: “a class that allegedly failed to receive the required ‘stand-alone disclosure’ that [Food Lion and Delhaize] were going to conduct an employment related background check.”

The second class is for those “that allegedly failed to receive the required notice before adverse employment action was taken backed on the background check.”

The class members in the illegal background check class action lawsuit who did not receive the stand-alone disclosure will receive $48, and the class members who did not receive notice of the background check report before adverse action was taken will receive $96.

These amounts are consistent with other Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) class action settlements, which other federal courts have approved, the motion to approve the class action lawsuit states.

“The settlement is fair and reasonable, and should be granted preliminary approval,” the motion adds.

“Viewed in the context of the litigation risks faced, as well as the substantial delay, fees and costs that class members would incur to litigate this matter through trial, this settlement provides substantial monetary and prospective relief and is in the best interests of the named plaintiff and the settlement class members,” the plaintiffs said in the motion.

The class action lawsuit was filed on March 7, 2014 allegeing that Delhaize violated the FCRA when Brown applied for a job at Food Lion and that the grocery store chain, “failed to disclose to her, in a document that consisted solely of the disclosure, that it would obtain a background check on her,” while the FCRA requires “a clear and conspicuous disclosure” when the report is being “obtained for employment purposes.”

This is often referred to as a “stand-alone disclosure.”

This report allegedly resulted in Brown’s termination from Food Lion based on a false report which said she was a convicted felon. The class action lawsuit says that the supermarket was required under the federal reporting law to provide a “‘pre-adverse action notice’ before it terminated her employment” based on what she says is an “erroneous background report it obtained.”

According to the illegal background check class action lawsuit, “the FCRA requires that ‘before taking any adverse action based’ on a consumer report, an employer must provide a copy of the report and a summary of the consumer’s rights under the FCRA.”

An investigation during the course of the litigation process revealed that the practice at Food Lion was reportedly an uniform policy throughout all of Delhaize’s grocery store chains.

The plaintiffs are represented by Daniel C. Bryden and E. Michelle Drake of Nichols Kaster PLLP.

Delhaize is represented by Reid L. Phillips of Brooks Pierce & Leonard LLP, and Kevin J. White, Robert T. Quackenboss and Melissa A. Romanzo of Hunton & Williams LLP.

The Illegal Background Check Class Action Lawsuit is Jeneen Brown v. Delhaize America, LLC et al. Case No. 1:14-cv-00195, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.

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3 thoughts onFood Lion Job Applicants Reach $3M Background Check Class Action Settlement

  1. AG Nettles says:

    Never received a check

  2. Ashley Mills says:

    I’m wondering if this pertains to me? I was hired in 2014 for Food Lion. I know some whom have got a post card back a while ago and I read one; I was employed in the time frame it says. Some have started receiving checks.

    1. Dana Peterson says:

      I just got my daughters check dated Sept 11, 2015.

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