The Coffee Bean Faces Background Check Class Action Lawsuit

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Last week, International Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf LLC was hit with a proposed class action in California federal court accusing the company of improperly obtaining background checks and credit reports.

Lead plaintiff Danielle Miceli alleges in the class action lawsuit that International Coffee Bean violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) as well as state law when it did not request authorization from prospective employees before obtaining their consumer credit reports.

In her FCRA class action lawsuit, Miceli alleges that when she applied for a promotion at the International Coffee & Bean in October 2011, the company obtained a background check illegally.

“Defendant has a policy and practice of failing to provide adequate written disclosures to applicants and employees, before procuring consumer reports or causing consumer reports to be procured,” alleges Miceli in her Coffee Bean background check class action lawsuit.

The FCRA class action lawsuit claims the retail coffee chain failed to provide a necessary disclosure to prospective employees telling them that they could request a copy of their credit report at no charge in violation of California’s Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act and Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act.

According to the class action lawsuit, “The procurement of credit and background reports for employment purposes is subject to strict disclosure requirements under federal law pursuant to the FCRA and under California law pursuant to the CCRAA and ICRAA.”

“Among other things, an employer may not procure a credit or backgrounds report concerning a job applicant unless a ‘clear and conspicuous’ disclosure is made in a stand-alone document that ‘consists solely of the disclosure’ informing the applicant that a report may be obtained for employment purposes,” the background check class action lawsuit continues.

Miceli alleges in her class action lawsuit that International Coffee Bean & Tea violated the FCRA and state law because it “failed to properly apprise itself of the statutory mandates before seeking and acquiring credit and background reports; violated the express and unambiguous provisions of the relevant statutes; and/or failed to implement reasonable procedures to assure compliance with statutory mandates.” The plaintiff alleges this failure harmed her and her proposed Class by violating their statutory privacy rights.

The plaintiff seeks to represent a nationwide Class of prospective employees who applied for a position at Coffee Bean within the past two years, as well as a California subclass.

The plaintiff originally filed that action in California state court, but International Coffee Bean & Tea successfully removed the case to federal court this week. In their motion to remove, the company argued that because federal claims were made under the FCRA, federal court was more appropriate.

Similar class action lawsuits have been filed against Dollar Tree Stores Inc., Michaels Stores Inc., and Whole Foods Market Group recently.

Miceli is represented by Scott B. Cooper and Samantha A. Smith of The Cooper Law Firm PC, Jeffrey L. Hogue, Tyler J. Belong and Bryce A. Dodds of Hogue & Belong LLP, Marc H. Phelps of The Phelps Law Group, and Roger R. Carter of The Carter Law Firm.

The International Coffee Bean & Tea Background Check Class Action Lawsuit is Miceli v. International Coffee & Tea LLC, Case No. 2:15-cv-03865, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.