Courtney Jorstad  |  October 17, 2014

Category: Labor & Employment

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dollar generalA Virginia federal court is being asked to give preliminary approval for a $4 million class action settlement with Dollar General retail stores as well as class certification and approval for how the settlement will be administered in a class action lawsuit alleging that the retail chain conducted background checks on job applicants without complying with federal law.

This settlement agreement against Dollar General was filed by plaintiffs Jonathan Marcum and Jackie E. Lewis who alleged that the retail company had violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act because the Dollar General job applicants were sent outdated notices that a background check was performed.

The original Dollar General class action lawsuit was filed in February 2012 by Marcum who alleged that the retail company “willfully failed to comply with the pre-adverse action notification requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) . . . prior to taking adverse employment action against him.”

An amended background check class action lawsuit was filed in October 2012, adding that Dollar General “willfully failed to comply with the disclosure and authorization requirements in [the FCRA] prior to obtaining a consumer report about him for employment purposes.”

This means that according to the FCRA, Dollar General was supposed to inform applicants that it planned to perform a background check on the applicants and obtain the applicants’ consent to the background check.

In addition, Dollar General was obligated to inform the applicants of the findings in the background checks before making a decision to either fire or not hire the applicant based on those findings. This includes a copy of the report and the rights of the applicant under the federal law.

Lewis was added as a plaintiff in the Dollar General background check class action lawsuit in February 2013.

Marcum and Lewis allege that “(a.) they were denied employment with the defendant because of their employment-purposed consumer report; (b.) either the adverse employment decision had been made before the plaintiffs received a copy of their report and summary of rights or the defendant did not provide these in a meaningful and reasonable time before this decision; and (c.) the Summary of Rights form defendant eventually sent was an outdated summary and not the current form required by both the [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] and the [Federal Trade Commission].”

Even though Dollar General agrees to the class action settlement, the retail chain “denies any wrongdoing and any liability to plaintiffs or to the putative class members.”

Marcum and Lewis want two classes to be certified — one that will receive settlement money and one that won’t.

The one that won’t receive monetary compensation will benefit from an injunctive relief in which Dollar General will be required to update its background check notification policy that to ensure that it is in compliance with the federal law. This class is permitted to pursue damages on their own, but are not allowed to file an additional class action lawsuit.

The class that will be compensated monetarily will receive an average of $24 each. The most someone in this class will receive will be $53.

The total amount that will be paid by Dollar General is $4.08 million. Twenty-five percent of that will cover attorneys’ fees, settlement administrator fees and compensation for the class representatives.

The plaintiffs are represented by Leonard A. Bennett, Matthew J. Erausquin, Susan M. Rotkis and Casey S. Nash of Consumer Litigation Associates PC, and Christopher C. North and William L. Downing of The Consumer & Employee Rights Law Firm PC.

Dollar General is represented by David Neal Anthony, David Michael Gettings and John C. Lynch of Troutman Sanders LLP.

The Dollar General Class Action Lawsuit is Marcum v. Dolgencorp Inc., Case No. 3:12-cv-00108, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

UPDATE: Viewers are reporting that they have received checks from the Dollar General background check class action settlement. Congratulations to everyone who submitted claims and got PAID!

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33 thoughts onDollar General $4M Background Checks Settlement Reached

  1. Jeffery Matthew cKing says:

    Hello my name is Matt King and I was a key holder and Assistant Manager at the Dollar General for many year. I was very curious as the info on the class action suit against Dollar General pertaining to the background incident. I cannot find the section informing about who receives a settlement and who does not. Please send me info back about these facts it would be greatly appreciated.My email is michelleking1606@gmail.com or my telephone number is 7063070804.

  2. Margaret says:

    Can anyone please provide me with a number to to have the check reissued I did not cash it by the deadline I did not have an ID a proper ID I called the number on the check and it says it is an invalid number can anyone help me with this

  3. penny says:

    I would like to contact the lawyers in this case because thos is the 2nd time that my background has stopped them from hiring me. Something that happed a long time ago that is still being held over my head. I exsplained it to the district manager when she offered me the job and she said it was old enough that it would not be held against me. But it is. I was offered the job and called ever other day to check on it. And for a month i was lied to being told the background check had not come in. So they lied to me but they are gonna use something i was upfront about against me.but yet my last job i handled muliti million dollar accounts. And never had a complaint from my coustomers.

  4. Jacquelina Simon says:

    still waiting on my $53.00 in SC

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