Valley National Bank Class Action Says Background Check Violated FCRA

New Jersey-based Valley National Bank stands accused of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by failing to disclose to job applicants that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes.

Under the FCRA, employers are required to make a clear and conspicuous stand-alone written disclosure to employees and job applicants that a “consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes.”

“The FCRA stand-alone disclosure requirement ensures that employees and job applicants know when consumer reports about them are being generated. This knowledge enables consumers to exercise a variety of other substantive rights conferred by the FCRA,” the lawsuit says.

In January 2015, plaintiff Philip Faraone states that he used Valley National Bank’s online application to apply for employment. His application was successful and he was hired in April 2015 to work for the bank.

Just before Faraone began working for Valley National Bank, the company provided him with a copy of a four-page document created by consumer reporting agency Sterling Infosystems titled “Consent to Request Consumer Report & Investigative Consumer Report Information.”

However, Faraone claims that at no time during the online application process was there a disclosure made by either Valley National Bank or Sterling Infosystems to job applicants that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes, a violation of FCRA.

“Defendant knowingly and willfully violated [the FCRA] by causing a report to be procured and actually procuring a report on named plaintiff and class plaintiffs for employment purposes without first providing named plaintiff and class plaintiffs a clear and conspicuous written disclosure, in a document consisting solely of the disclosure, that a consumer report may be obtained for employment purposes,” the complaint said.

According to the lawsuit, the Sterling form contained extraneous information about aspects of law of various states, a statement that the job applicant “fully understand[s] that all employment decisions are based on legitimate nondiscriminatory reasons”; a notification that the applicant will receive a copy of the consumer report if Valley National Bank “makes a conditional decision to disqualify me”; and that an applicant must dispute inaccurate information within five days of receiving a copy of the report.

Faraone argues these statements are unrelated to disclosing that a consumer report will be procurd for employment purposes.

Furthermore, the Sterling form is “printed in small, eye-straining type, and simply contains far more verbiage than is required to inform applicants that a consumer report will be obtained,” the complaint states.

The plaintiff brings his claims on behalf of a Class of individuals on whom Valley National Bank procured a consumer report for employment purposes during the period from 2014 to present. The size of the proposed Class is estimated at more than 1,000 people, the complaint states.

Faraone is seeking judgment against Valley National Bank for statutory damages in an amount of up to $1,000 per violation per Class plaintiff as well as punitive damages.

Faraone is represented by Matthew D. Miller, Joshua S. Boyette, Richard S. Swartz and Justin L. Swidler of Swartz Swidler LLC.

The Valley National Bank Background Check Class Action Lawsuit is Philip Faraone v. Valley National Bank, Case No. 3:16-cv-06575, in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.