Walmart Workers Seek Class Cert of Background Check Lawsuit

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The plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit alleging Walmart violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act during its employment process urged a California court to certify the proposed Class of 5 million workers.

Lead plaintiffs, Randy Pitre, Cassandra Walters and Desirae Wilson, claimed in the Walmart background check class action lawsuit that the retail giant had improperly solicited and obtained credit reports and background checks on job seekers and employees.

Workers and would-be workers were not provided proper notice that their information would be gathered by Walmart as a part of the application process, alleged the Walmart class action lawsuit.

The Walmart job applicant class action lawsuit alleges that Walmart violated the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), as well as California state laws.

The plaintiffs are now asking a California federal judge to certify their proposed Class of approximately 5 million Walmart employees and job applicants.

According to the plaintiffs’ motion for certification, Walmart hid the fact that it was going to access and obtain applicants’ credit and even criminal history.

The job application, rather than providing a clear and concise statement about the background check, reportedly included confusing and “extraneous” information about state laws.

“Even after Nov. 5, 2015, [Walmart] presented applicants with multiple forms, containing similar disclosure language, unlawful surplusage, and irreconcilably inconsistent provisions likely to cause confusion,” contends the plaintiffs in their motion urging certification of the proposed Class.

The plaintiffs say that Walmart’s job application was out of compliance with the FCRA from 2012 until 2015.

Further, argues the Walmart class action plaintiffs in their motion, Walmart has created an even bigger mess by attempting to fix the FCRA materials in November 2015. Instead of seven pages of material, job applicants were faced with “a sprawling, 12-­page packet of material” that still violated the FCRA.

The Walmart background check class action lawsuit was initiated by a single plaintiff, Randy Pitre, in July 2017. Pitre alleged that he worked for Walmart in November 2015 and was subject to a background check.

The other plaintiffs allege that they were also hired by Walmart in California in November 2015.

The Walmart background check class action lawsuit is seeking damages on behalf of current, former, and prospective employees.

These employees and job applicants were subject to an unauthorized background check within the past five years, allege the plaintiffs, in violation of state and federal law. The plaintiffs seek to represent both a nationwide and California subclass.

The Walmart FCRA class action plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary approval of their proposed Class estimates that more than 5 million consumers were subject to allegedly unauthorized background checks by Walmart starting in 2012.

The plaintiffs and proposed Class are represented by Shaun Setareh, Thomas Segal and H. Scott Leviant of the Setareh Law Group.

The Walmart Background Check Class Action Lawsuit is Randy Pitre v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., et al., Case No. 8:17-cv-01281-DOC-DFM, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

UPDATE: On Jan. 17, 2019, around 5 million Walmart job applicants have earned Class certification of their lawsuit claiming the company added extra material to background check notifications in violation of federal law.