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Not Hired due to old arrest records

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manzi0681

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FLORIDA

I was informaly hired for a job last Weds. They gave me my salary and told me to come in to fill out background check information and drug test. When I showed up for work Monday morning I was told that I could not be hired due to my backround check. When I asked what it was I was informed that it would be mailed to me and recieved by Weds. In the mean time I pulled my own background and found that I have a arrest record from when I was 16 and 21 which was 12 years ago and 8 years ago. I was never convicted of either crime and the report says dismissed from court. I had paid for the misdomeanor charges from 8 years ago to be expunged but for some reason they showed up on the background check that I did. Either way after researching laws from the FTCA unless I am understanding it incorrectly, companies can not use arrest records against me if they are older then 7 years old. What can I do? I had put in my notice and left my old job for this one and now I am unemployed so I am freaking out!!!
 


manzi0681

Junior Member
Fcra support

605. Requirements relating to information contained in consumer reports [15 U.S.C. §1681c]
(a) Information excluded from consumer reports. Except as authorized under subsection
(b) of this section, no consumer reporting agency may make any consumer report
containing any of the following items of information:
(1) Cases under title 11 [United States Code] or under the Bankruptcy Act that, from
the date of entry of the order for relief or the date of adjudication, as the case may
be, antedate the report by more than 10 years.
(2) Civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest that from date of entry, antedate
the report by more than seven years or until the governing statute of limitations
has expired, whichever is the longer period.
(3) Paid tax liens which, from date of payment, antedate the report by more than
seven years.


Also, this is not the statue but here is a link to something else I have read.

Criminal background screening ideally encompasses all information about a person’s interactions
with the law that a company is entitled to consider in making employment decisions. Given
limitations on record maintenance and retrieval, however, this goal is unrealistic and impractical.
The first thing an employer must understand is that there is a significant difference between what
a CRA can report versus what an employer legally can use when making employment decisions.
CRAs can report most varieties of adverse information (including, for example, arrest records)
going back seven (7) years under the FCRA, and there are no time restrictions on a CRA’s
reporting of criminal convictions. The restrictions on an employer considering criminal histories
for employment purposes are driven primarily by state law and are much more limiting.

Thank you for your response!
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
There is also a question here of exactly why they failed to hire you.

If they failed to hire you for no reason other than that you have an arrest record, that is *probably* illegal.

If, however, they failed to hire you because they believe (rightly or wrongly) that you lied about your arrest record, that is quite legal.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
605. Requirements relating to information contained in consumer reports [15 U.S.C. §1681c]
(a) Information excluded from consumer reports. Except as authorized under subsection
(b) of this section, no consumer reporting agency may make any consumer report
containing any of the following items of information:
(1) Cases under title 11 [United States Code] or under the Bankruptcy Act that, from
the date of entry of the order for relief or the date of adjudication, as the case may
be, antedate the report by more than 10 years.
(2) Civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest that from date of entry, antedate
the report by more than seven years or until the governing statute of limitations
has expired, whichever is the longer period.
(3) Paid tax liens which, from date of payment, antedate the report by more than
seven years.


Also, this is not the statue but here is a link to something else I have read.

Criminal background screening ideally encompasses all information about a person’s interactions
with the law that a company is entitled to consider in making employment decisions. Given
limitations on record maintenance and retrieval, however, this goal is unrealistic and impractical.
The first thing an employer must understand is that there is a significant difference between what
a CRA can report versus what an employer legally can use when making employment decisions.
CRAs can report most varieties of adverse information (including, for example, arrest records)
going back seven (7) years under the FCRA, and there are no time restrictions on a CRA’s
reporting of criminal convictions. The restrictions on an employer considering criminal histories
for employment purposes are driven primarily by state law and are much more limiting.

Thank you for your response!
now you are quoting the FCRA. Your post said the FTCA which is why I asked you to cite anything you felt applicable in the FTCA.

as to the FCRA. that does not mean they cannot hire you due to an older than 7 years arrest. That simply means the entities the FCRA controls cannot report anything older than 7 years old. That is a huge difference and places no limitations on, in this case, your prospective employer from acting on information they discover by whatever means. It, at most, would give you a cause of action against the reporting agency if they are in fact under the control of the FCRA.


additionally, unless the FCRA is applicable to the source of the info, nothing the FCRA states means anything.

so, the question is: is it actually illegal to use an arrest record more than 7 years old as a basis of refusing to hire you.

so, got anything to support that?
 

manzi0681

Junior Member
No More information

So are these companies that are reporting the information doing it ilegally? I have a backround check that I ran on myself and also one that the company ran on me. Is that statement from the FCRA saying they are not allowed to report arrest records from that long ago? If so why are the 2 companies used in the backround screening reporting them? There must be some sort of loop hole or something if there are multiple companies reporting this with no care. I even have expunged records and called the courthouse and they have no record of the arrest. In response to your question I have no other documentation to support my claim other then the 2 things I posted earlier. I apologize about getting the name wrong (FTCA instead of FCRA).


Thank you for your responses.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
you are going to have to research the FCRA to discover exactly to whom it applies and if the entities you were provided information by fall within that group.
 

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