Over the last few years, Checkr has become an increasingly popular target for these suits thanks to the explosive growth of the gig economy, the fact that Checkr serves so many of the gig economy's biggest players, and growing pressure on companies like Uber to enhance security with more-frequent background checks. The prevalence of these suits is partly a product of Checkr's success.īut Checkr has pitched itself as a different kind of background check company, one that's fairer, more accurate, and worthy of Silicon Valley venture capitalists' millions. "There's been a steady rise over the years in FCRA litigation in part because there's a low barrier to sue and a high potential payoff at the end," he says. According to Eric Ellman, senior vice president for public policy at the Consumer Data Industry Association, these types of lawsuits are growing across the industry. Some law firms exist for the explicit purpose of suing consumer reporting agencies. Its competitors like Hireright and Sterling Talent Solutions have faced similar accusations. And it's not the first to face these kinds of suits. But in a statement, a spokesperson said, "We understand that candidates are people whose lives are affected by the results we deliver, so we're committed to the highest standards of accuracy and fairness in our reporting."Ĭheckr, of course, is not the only background check company in the world or even in the gig economy. Checkr also declined Protocol's requests for an interview. Uber blames Checkr, and who suffers?" says Alexis Lehmann, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based firm Francis Mailman Soumilas, which has represented dozens of consumers in these cases. Time and again, people report getting the same runaround. These cases, some of which have been dismissed or ended in confidential settlements, represent only a fraction of the complaints about Checkr flooding Twitter and online review sites, like the Better Business Bureau. When he got out and applied to work for Uber, the case alleges, he was denied because Checkr's report included a murder conviction. One class action suit filed in November 2019 concerns Jose Montanez, who was famously exonerated after serving more than 20 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. In court documents, the plaintiffs have accused Checkr of a wide range of wrongdoings, from mistaking them with other people to misreporting their offenses to including past criminal activity that is too old to report under the law. Roughly half of those suits have been filed in the last year alone. Since 2015, Checkr has faced some 80 lawsuits under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which regulates both credit reports and background checks. "I was like, 'There have to be people who sue them for this.'" So, late last year, she started Googling the company. "This could literally destroy someone's life," Rae says. Even though it's only a part-time job, Rae says that as a 37-year-old single mother of two with one kid in college, she's felt the pinch. Rae says she was making hundreds of dollars a week as an Uber driver, income that disappeared when she was suspended. Over the years, Rae says she has been repeatedly suspended from Uber over her background check, only to be reinstated and suspended again. It was one little mistake, but more than two years later, Rae is still trying to wind her way out of the Kafkaesque maze she stepped into that day in November. It turned out that rather than telling Uber that Rae didn't have her license in her possession, a minor violation, Checkr reported she was driving with no license at all. That is, until four months later when Rae, a full-time office manager who drives for Uber part time, opened her app one night and found that her account had been blocked due to some issue with her background check.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |