L’Oreal Class Action Lawsuit Filed Over Employee Background Checks

L’Oreal USA Inc. is facing a class action lawsuit alleging it fails to comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) when it procures consumer reports for employment purposes.

Plaintiff Deborah Hubbard initially filed the L’Oreal class action lawsuit in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco, and the case was removed to California federal court earlier this month.

Hubbard says that L’Oreal routinely obtains consumer reports in order to conduct background checks for employment purposes, but that it fails to comply with the FCRA when doing so.

“Although the procurement of a consumer report for employment purposes is not per se unlawful, it is subject to strict disclosure requirements under federal law pursuant to the FCRA,” the L’Oreal class action lawsuit says.

“Among other things, an employer may not procure a consumer report concerning a job applicant or employee unless a ‘clear and conspicuous’ disclosure is made in a stand-alone document that ‘consists solely of the disclosure’ informing the applicant or employee that a report may be obtained for employment purposes.”

According to the L’Oreal class action lawsuit, Hubbard applied for a job with the company in March 2015. As part of the employment application process, she was provided a “Consumer Disclosure and Authorization Form” that allegedly included 17 paragraphs in addition to the statement that a consumer report may be procured.

This extraneous information on the disclosure document violates the FCRA, which requires the disclosure to be made in a stand-alone document, Hubbard alleges.

She says that she did not find out that L’Oreal had procured a consumer report on her until she was provided a copy of the report in response to a personnel file request in November 2017.

Hubbard says that L’Oreal procured consumer reports about job applicants as part of its standard practice but failed to provide the applicants with a clear and conspicuous written disclosure, in violation of the FCRA.

Because L’Oreal failed to make a clear and conspicuous disclosure that it may procure a consumer report on job applicants, the consumer reports were procured without the proper authorization required by the FCRA, the L’Oreal class action lawsuit says.

Hubbard alleges these FCRA violations were willful and that L’Oreal acted in “deliberate or reckless disregard of its obligations” and of the rights of job applicants under federal law.

Hubbard filed the L’Oreal FCRA class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and a proposed Class of U.S. residents about whom L’Oreal procured a consumer report for employment purposes within the last five years.

The L’Oreal background check class action lawsuit is seeking statutory damages in the amount of $1,000 per violation, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and other relief the court deems appropriate.

Hubbard is represented by Lionel Z. Glancy, Marc L. Godino and Danielle L. Manning of Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP; Mark S. Greenstone of Greenstone Law APC; Thomas D. Rutledge and Brian R. Short.

The L’Oreal Employee Background Checks Class Action Lawsuit is Deborah Hubbard v. L’Oreal USA Inc., et al., Case No. 3:18-cv-05017-MEJ, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.