Delta Will Pay $2.3M to Settle Background Check Class Action

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A $2.3 million settlement has been reached in a Delta background check class action lawsuit.

The proposed Delta class action lawsuit was brought on behalf of 44,100 employment applicants who argued that the airline violated California and federal laws regarding their background check process.

The Delta class action lawsuit states that Delta directly violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by not giving employment applicants a background check document that only contained state law rights and the background check disclosure as required by law.

The Delta class action lawsuit argued that the airline failed to make this disclosure on a separate piece of paper when a job applicant submitted their materials for consideration.

The Delta background check class action alleges other details were included on the paperwork with the disclosure, but that legally the company was required to provide the disclosure facts on a stand-alone piece of paper.

The Delta class action lawsuit had been moving towards certification, and lead plaintiff Joseph L. Schofield noted in his request for preliminary approval that costs would rise on both sides if that were to happen.

Delta might have argued that no actual damages affected the proposed
Class Members, according to Schofield’s statement in support of the settlement approval. Each proposed Class Member would be entitled to receive slightly more than $50.

As outlined in the Delta class action lawsuit, the plaintiff accused Delta of non-compliance with the Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act and the California Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act.

The early settlement paperwork indicates that mediation and further negotiations beyond mediation were used to reach the agreement now before the court.

The process of obtaining a background check is commonplace for employers, who use this information in their determination of whether or not to make an employment offer.

When a company intends to use a background check through this hiring process, they are responsible for specific notification procedures.

In response to the Delta class action lawsuit, the airline filed a summary judgment request last August, alleging that the plaintiff knew that a background check would be completed as a result of paperwork that he signed in 2014.

The airline also argued that the plaintiff waited years after receiving his disclosure paperwork to bring his claims and that the plaintiff was terminated from his employment with Delta following multiple unnamed incidents.

Prior to a final decision coming down on the summary judgment bid, however, the parties accepted the mediator-suggested settlement.

The proposed Class in the Delta class action lawsuit would include anyone who applied for employment with Delta from October 2012 through February 2019 whose information was included in a consumer report obtained by the airline.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

The proposed Class in the Delta class action lawsuit is represented by Shaun Setareh, Thomas Segal, Farrah Grant, and Ashley Batiste of the Setareh Law Group.

The Delta Background Check Class Action Lawsuit is Joseph L. Schofield, et. al. v. Delta Air Lines Inc., Case No. 3:18-cv-00382, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.