Legality

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington

My girlfriend was caught stealing at her last place of work and agreed to pay it back so no she would not be arrested. She was then let go and was reported to ChoicePoint (a place for companies to do background checks). I was wondering if this is legal since no charges were filed against her and if she could do anything about it.

Employers and background-checking firms are legally allowed to say anything they want about former employees, as long as what they say is true, or they have good reason to believe it to be true.

While ChoicePoint cannot say that your fiancee was arrested for stealing - because that's not true - it can say that she was caught stealing - because that is true.

Where on earth did you get the idea that there had to be charges filed against her before anyone could say anything? It is 100% legal and no, there is not one darned thing she can do about it.

Tell your girlfriend that the time to worry about reference checks was BEFORE she decided to steal.