Wegmans Class Action Alleges Illegal Background Check Disclosure

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Two Wegmans Food Market employees are accusing the supermarket chain of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act by inappropriately using consumer background checks to screen job applicants and not telling them first.

New York plaintiffs Ashleigh Wheeler, who was hired in 2013 by Wegmans as a cashier, and Jerah Brewster, who was hired in 2015 by the grocer as a pharmacy technician and later worked as a coffee shop attendant filed the proposed class action lawsuit in New York federal court.

Wheeler and Brewster say they completed Wegmans’ standard electronic documents related to their anticipated employment and that included authorization to conduct a background check which included a credit check.

However, the pair contend that Wegmans’ online authorization for a background check failed to properly notify or disclose to them that grocery chain would obtain consumer background reports.

“Using the services of a third party, Wegmans routinely obtains and relies on information in the consumer report to evaluate prospective and current employees,” the lawsuit states.

According to the class action, Wegmans, “acted willfully and in deliberate or reckless disregard of its obligations and the rights of plaintiffs Wheeler, Brewster and other class members without making the required disclosure.”

At the center of the lawsuit is whether or not Wegmans violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FCRA promotes the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of consumer information contained in background check reports, including protecting consumers from the willful and negligent inclusion of inaccurate information in their reports.

Essentially, this means the Wegmans background check should have clearly provided a written disclosure statement, but Wegmans reportedly had no such statement on their online background check authorization document.

Additionally, under the FCRA, job applicants have a right to obtain their consumer reports and to have errors in the reports corrected. But Wegmans’ background check authorization document allegedly failed to inform job applicants of this right.

Instead, the lawsuit states that the document contained wording that released Wegmans from all liabilities related to information found in the background check.

The authorization allegedly included the following language: “I hereby release Wegmans, my former employers, and all other persons or entities contacted by Wegmans from any and all claims, demands, or liabilities arising out of or in any way related to the release, disclosure, and use of such information.”

Wheeler and Brewster allege that the inclusion of this provision in the same document as the background authorization is a direct violation of the FCRA.

The pair claim they were misled about the nature and purpose of giving consent for the consumer background check and had their privacy subsequently invaded.

They are seeking to represent a nationwide Class of all Wegmans employees and job applicants who were the subjects of consumer reports obtained by the supermarket chain over the past five years.

The lawsuit is requesting not less than $100 but not more than $1,000 in compensation for each FCRA violation as well as punitive damages.

The plaintiffs are represented by J. Nelson Thomas, Michael L. Lingle, and Jessica L. Lukasiewicz of Thomas  & Solomon LLP.

The Wegmans Background Check Class Action Lawsuit is Wheeler, et al. v. Wegmans Food Markets Inc., Case No. 6:16-cv-06825, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.