GIS Background Screening Class Action Lawsuit Alleges False Reports

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General Information Services, a background screening service for employers, has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging that the service incorrectly reports those who post bail for others as those who were convicted of crimes.

Lead plaintiff, Kentucky resident Betty Lacy, filed the General Information Services class action lawsuit on May 15, alleging that an employment offer she received from Dollar General was rescinded after General Information Service erroneously reported to her prospective employer that she had been convicted of 21 counts of theft, including 13 felonies. In actuality, in 2009 Lacy had posted bail for an in-law charged with the thefts, but General Information Service had allegedly misreported the incident to Dollar General, according to the class action lawsuit.

Additionally, the GIS background screening class action lawsuit alleges that “GIS mailed a notice dated June 12, 2013 to Ms. Lacy, ‘on behalf of’ Dollar General, stating that ‘a decision has been made regarding your application for employment, continued employment, or work through a third-party employer at Dollar General Corporation….” (Emphasis added).” The letter stated,”‘[d]uring the course of its pre-employment investigation, Dollar General ordered a consumer report(s) and may have obtained an investigative consumer report about you from us….’ ‘We are writing to inform you that any contingent offer of employment made to you by Dollar General has been rescinded, or, if applicable, that your employment has been terminated, based in whole or part on information contained in the consumer report previously provided to you.'”

The GIS class action lawsuit further states, “[t]he notice went on to state that Ms. Lacy had the right to dispute with GIS the accuracy or completeness of the information in the report.” According to the class action lawsuit, Lacy disputed the report and obtained a report that verified that she did not have any criminal record, however, “as a result of GIS’s conduct, Dollar General rescinded Ms. Lacy’s offer of employment.”

Lacy points out in her class action lawsuit that “[t]he Hopkins County, Kentucky public records database lists the names and addresses of the parties to criminal prosecutions, clearly identifying them as, inter alia, defendants, attorneys, complaining witnesses or sureties,” and “[t]he designation ‘surety’ identifies the person who posted bail for the defendant.” Further “[u]pon review of the complete Hopkins County, Kentucky public records, any preparer of a background check would have been aware that Ms. Lacy was the surety, and not the defendant, in Mr. Browning’s criminal prosecution.”

Lacy alleges in the class action lawsuit that she was not provided with proper and timely notice by GIS of the fact that it sold a report about her to Dollar General with a criminal record history, thereby depriving her of the opportunity to address GIS’s alleged false reporting with her employer before adverse action was taken. Lacy also “suffered embarrassment and humiliation as a result of GIS’s unlawful conduct,” the GIS class action lawsuit says.

Lacy argues that GIS violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act “for negligently and willfully violating FCRA section 1681k by … [f]ailing to notify consumer contemporaneously of the fact that adverse criminal record information is being provided to employers or prospective employers; and b. Failing to maintain strict procedures to insure that the adverse information being reported is complete and up to date.”

Lacy is seeking to represent all U.S. residents who, withing the past two years, were the subject of any GIS employment screening consumer report which included a criminal record for which they were the surety and not the defendant, and who did not receive a notice of the report.

Lacy is represented by Ronald Burdge of Burdge Law Office Co. LPA, and James A. Francis, John Soumilas, and David A. Searles of Francis & Mailman PC.

The General Information Service Background Screening Class Action Lawsuit case is Lacy v. General Information Services Inc., Case No. 4:14-cv-00051, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.

UPDATE: General Information Services has reached a class action lawsuit settlement in another case over allegations it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act. See if you qualify to claim $40 or $1,500 from the GIS background check class action settlement.