Home Depot Class Action Says Employee Credit Check Forms are Illegal

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A Home Depot class action lawsuit brought on behalf of job applicants says the home improvement store is using forms that violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act in requesting consent to perform credit checks.

The lead plaintiff in the Home Deport class action lawsuit, Ross Mitchell, claims he applied to work at a Home Depot location in California.

Mitchell says that during this time, he was given a standard form that failed to included legally-required disclosures about the credit check process.

According to the Home Depot class action lawsuit, the company failed to comply with the FCRA since the credit check disclosure document had to be a standalone one, rather than be included on other application materials.

Mitchell says since he never obtained an appropriate disclosure as is required by law, the company was not eligible to conduct a credit check on his job application.

He alleges in his Home Depot class action lawsuit that the company acted in reckless or deliberate disregard of his rights.

The Home Depot class action lawsuit seeks to represent a Class of other job seekers who applied with Home Depot over the last five years for whom the retail store obtained a consumer report. The lead plaintiff expects that this will include more than 1,000 people.

Although this is the most recent Home Depot class action lawsuit, it’s not the first. A 2017 proposed class action also accused the retailer of violating the FCRA.

The current Home Depot class action lawsuit explains that one of the core protections inside the Fair Credit Reporting Act is that consumers be given a copy of a written summary of their rights under that law as well as the report itself.

The plaintiff says that his 2014 application to work at a Santa Rosa store did not come with a separate disclosure form.

The Home Depot class action lawsuit argues that other employees likely had their information collected under false pretenses if they were not given the proper disclosure forms at the time of their application.

Violations of the FCRA invalidate any consent provided by an employee applicant and lead to statutory damages under the FCRA of as much as $1,000 for each applicant who had their consumer report obtained without a valid disclosure.

The Home Depot job applicant class action lawsuit also seeks to recover equitable relief, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees and costs due to the lack of a “clear and conspicuous” disclosure on the proper form.

Employers are within their rights to request these details and to get approval for the credit check so long as that request complies with laws.

The Home Depot job applicants are represented by Stanley D. Saltzman and William A. Baird of Marlin & Saltzman LLP and James R. Hawkins and Gregory E. Mauro of James Hawkins APLC.

The Home Depot Employee Credit Check Class Action Lawsuit is Ross Mitchell v. Home Depot USA Inc., Case No. 3:19-cv-00593, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.