Background Check Errors: Your Legal Rights

You applied for a job or submitted a rental application, and something went wrong. Maybe the offer was rescinded. Maybe your application was denied. When you asked why, the answer pointed to your background check.

Background check errors are more common than most people realize. The companies that produce these reports, including Checkr, HireRight, First Advantage, and Sterling, are consumer reporting agencies under federal law. They are subject to the same accuracy requirements as the major credit bureaus, and when they get it wrong, the consequences for consumers can be severe and immediate.

This page explains what background check errors are, how they happen, what your legal rights are under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and what you can do if a background check error has cost you a job or housing.

What Is a Background Check and How Do Errors Happen?

A background check is a consumer report compiled by a screening company for use by an employer, landlord, or other entity making decisions about you. Depending on the type of check, it may include criminal records, employment history, education verification, credit history, sex offender registry data, and address history.

The screening companies that produce these reports are consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) under the FCRA. The statute defines a CRA broadly: any entity that regularly assembles or evaluates consumer information for the purpose of furnishing reports to third parties. That definition covers Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, and it equally covers Checkr, HireRight, First Advantage, Sterling, Accurate Background, and the many other companies in the background screening industry.

These companies process enormous volumes of reports. To do so at scale, they rely heavily on automated systems and third-party databases rather than direct verification with official sources. That reliance on automation is where most errors originate.

Common causes of background check errors include:

Mismatched identities. The screening company confuses you with another person who has a similar name, date of birth, or Social Security number. Your report then includes someone else’s criminal record, employment history, or other adverse information. This is especially common for people with common names or for family members (father and son, for example) who share a name and address.

Identity theft. Someone has used your personal information to commit crimes or engage in other activity, and the resulting records now appear on your background check. Unlike mismatched identities, where the screening company confuses you with a real person, identity theft cases involve fraudulent activity that has become associated with your name or Social Security number in criminal justice or other databases.

Outdated or incomplete records. Criminal charges that were dismissed, cases that resulted in acquittal, or records that should have been sealed or expunged continue to appear on your background check. The screening company pulls data from a database that has not been updated to reflect the current disposition.

Incorrect criminal record information. The severity of an offense is misclassified (a misdemeanor reported as a felony), the disposition is wrong (a dismissed charge reported as a conviction), or records from the wrong jurisdiction are attributed to you.

Unreliable data sources. Some screening companies pull information from aggregated third-party databases rather than going to the original court or government source. These databases are often incomplete, outdated, or poorly maintained.

Employment and education verification errors. Wrong job titles, incorrect dates of employment, omitted positions, or errors in degree or institution records.

Types of Background Checks

Background checks are used in several contexts, each with its own practical stakes and legal requirements.

Employment Background Checks

Employers across virtually every industry use background checks as part of the hiring process. When these reports contain errors, the consequences can be immediate: a rescinded job offer, a lost promotion, or termination. The FCRA imposes specific requirements on employers who use background checks for employment decisions, including mandatory written disclosures, written consumer authorization, and a multi-step adverse action process before any negative decision can be made based on the report. Learn more about employment background check errors.

Tenant Screening Reports

Landlords and property management companies use screening reports to evaluate rental applicants. These reports may include criminal records, eviction history, credit data, and rental payment history. Errors on tenant screening reports can result in denied housing, higher security deposits, or lost apartments. Tenant screening companies are CRAs under the FCRA and must follow the same accuracy and dispute investigation requirements as any other consumer reporting agency. Learn more about tenant screening errors. For an overview of your rights when landlords check your credit, see our article on tenant credit screening rights.

The Screening Companies

If you have received an inaccurate background check, the report was produced by a specific screening company. That company is a consumer reporting agency under federal law, and it has legal obligations to you.

Checkr is one of the largest background screening companies in the United States. Checkr processes millions of reports using automated systems that pull data from court records and third-party databases. Errors involving Checkr often involve mismatched criminal records, outdated dispositions, or records sourced from unreliable databases rather than official court systems. If you are looking to dispute a Checkr background check or are considering a Checkr lawsuit, the FCRA provides the legal framework for both.

HireRight is a major provider of employment background screening for large and mid-size employers. A HireRight dispute follows the same FCRA process: you have the right to obtain a copy of your report, file a written dispute, and receive a reinvestigation within 30 days.

First Advantage and Sterling are also significant players in employment and tenant screening. Each is subject to the same FCRA obligations regarding accuracy, dispute investigation, and consumer notification.

Accurate Background and other smaller screening companies round out the industry. Regardless of which company produced your report, the legal framework is the same: the FCRA requires maximum possible accuracy and gives you the right to dispute errors and seek damages when those obligations are violated.

Your Rights Under the FCRA

Background check companies are regulated under the same federal statute that governs the major credit bureaus: the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq. The key provisions that apply to background check errors include:

Reasonable procedures for accuracy (§ 1681e(b)). Every CRA, including every background check company, must follow reasonable procedures to assure the maximum possible accuracy of the information in its consumer reports. When a screening company reports a dismissed charge as a conviction, attributes someone else’s criminal record to you, or includes sealed records that should not appear, it has likely failed this obligation.

Disclosure and authorization requirements (§ 1681b(b)). Before an employer can obtain a background check on you, it must provide a clear, standalone written disclosure that a report will be obtained and get your written authorization. An employer that pulls your background check without following these requirements has violated the FCRA, regardless of whether the report itself contains errors.

Adverse action requirements (§ 1681b(b)). Before taking any adverse action based on a background check (rescinding an offer, denying a promotion, terminating employment), the employer must provide you with a pre-adverse action notice, a copy of the report, and a summary of your FCRA rights. After a reasonable waiting period, the employer must then provide a final adverse action notice. These requirements exist to give you the opportunity to review the report and address any errors before the decision becomes final. Failures at any step of this process are independent FCRA violations.

Public record requirements for employment reports (§ 1681k). CRAs that compile public record information (such as criminal records) for employment purposes have additional obligations: they must either notify the consumer at the time the information is reported to the employer, or maintain strict procedures to ensure the public record information is complete and up to date.

Right to dispute (§ 1681i). If you identify an error on your background check, you have the right to file a dispute with the screening company. The company must conduct a reasonable reinvestigation within 30 days and notify you of the results.

State law protections. Many states provide additional protections beyond the federal FCRA. In New York, for example, Criminal Procedure Law § 160.59 prohibits background check companies from reporting sealed convictions. New York Executive Law Article 23-A requires employers to consider specific factors before denying employment based on a criminal record, including the relationship between the offense and the job, the time elapsed, and evidence of rehabilitation. Other states have their own restrictions on what can be reported and how criminal history can be used in employment decisions.

These are not aspirational standards. They are enforceable legal obligations, and violations carry real consequences. For more on the damages available in FCRA cases, see our article on FCRA damages.

When an Employer Pulls Your Background Check Without Permission

One of the most common FCRA violations in the background check context has nothing to do with errors on the report itself. It involves the employer or other entity obtaining the report without following the legally required process.

Under the FCRA, before an employer can request a background check on you, it must provide you with a clear and conspicuous written disclosure, in a standalone document, that a consumer report may be obtained. It must also obtain your written authorization before the report is pulled. These are not optional steps, and they cannot be buried in a stack of onboarding paperwork or combined with other documents.

If an employer pulled your background check without giving you proper disclosure or obtaining your written consent, that is a violation of the FCRA. This is true even if the report turned out to be perfectly accurate. The violation is the unauthorized pull itself.

If you believe a potential employer ran a background check on you without proper authorization, or if you were never given a standalone disclosure form, you may have a legal claim. For more on how the adverse action process works when an employer uses a background check, see our page on adverse action and denials.

When an Employer Acts on Your Background Check Without Giving You a Chance to Respond

Even when an employer properly obtains a background check, the FCRA requires a specific process before the employer can take adverse action based on the results. Many employers skip or short-circuit this process, and that failure is itself a violation of the law.

Here is what the FCRA requires:

Before making a final decision, the employer must send you a pre-adverse action notice along with a copy of the background check report and a summary of your rights under the FCRA. The purpose of this step is to give you the opportunity to review the report and identify any errors before the employer’s decision becomes final.

After a reasonable waiting period, if the employer still intends to take adverse action, it must send a final adverse action notice informing you of the decision and your right to dispute the information with the screening company.

In practice, many employers skip the pre-adverse action step entirely. They review the background check, make their decision, and inform the applicant after the fact, or not at all. Some employers send the notices but do not provide a meaningful opportunity to respond before acting. Others fail to include a copy of the report or the required summary of rights.

Each of these failures is an independent FCRA violation, regardless of whether the underlying report was accurate. If you were denied a job, had an offer rescinded, or were terminated based on a background check and were never given the chance to review the report and respond before the decision was made, you may have a legal claim. For more on your rights when an employer takes adverse action, see our page on adverse action and denials. See also our article on what to do when you receive an adverse action notice.

How to Dispute a Background Check Error

If you know that your background check contains inaccurate information, you have the right to dispute the error directly with the screening company. This is important both as a practical matter and because the dispute triggers the company’s legal obligation to investigate.

Step 1: Obtain a copy of your report. Under the FCRA, you have the right to request a copy of your background check report from the company that produced it. If you were denied a job, housing, or other opportunity based on the report, the adverse action notice you received should identify the screening company and explain how to obtain a copy.

Step 2: Identify the errors and gather documentation. Review the report carefully and identify every piece of inaccurate information. Gather supporting documents: court records showing a dismissal or expungement, certificates of disposition, employment records, or any other evidence that contradicts what the report says.

Step 3: File a written dispute. Send a written dispute to the screening company by certified mail. Be specific about what information is wrong and why. Include copies of your supporting documentation. We recommend written disputes over online dispute portals, which may limit the information you can provide and may restrict your legal options.

Step 4: Wait for the investigation. The screening company has 30 days to investigate your dispute and provide you with the results. If the company finds the information is inaccurate, it must correct or delete it and notify anyone who received the report in the recent past.

For general guidance on the dispute process, see our step-by-step guide to disputing credit report errors.

When Disputing Is Not Enough

The dispute process is one path, but it is not the only path, and for many consumers it is not sufficient.

In some cases, the dispute process cannot address what went wrong. If an employer pulled your background check without authorization, or if an employer made a decision based on the report without ever giving you the required notice and opportunity to respond, the harm has already occurred and a dispute with the screening company does not remedy it.

Even where the issue is an error on the report itself, the dispute process often falls short. The screening company may “verify” the inaccurate information by checking the same flawed database that produced the error in the first place. Or it may correct the error on one report, only for the same mistake to reappear the next time a report is pulled. And even when a dispute succeeds, the correction does not undo the harm. If you lost a job or were denied an apartment because of inaccurate information, the screening company’s belated correction does not compensate you for those losses.

The FCRA provides legal remedies for these situations, including actual damages (lost wages, lost housing, emotional distress), statutory damages of $100 to $1,000 per willful violation, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees and costs paid by the defendant. If you have been harmed by a background check error or by an employer’s failure to follow the FCRA’s required procedures, it may be time to talk to a background check lawyer.

How Schlanger Law Group Can Help

Schlanger Law Group has been litigating on behalf of consumers since 2007. The FCRA, the principal federal statute governing background check accuracy and the rights of consumers in the background check process, is a core focus of our practice. Background check companies are consumer reporting agencies under the FCRA, subject to the same statutory requirements and the same causes of action that we litigate every day on behalf of consumers dealing with credit reporting errors. The legal framework, the litigation strategies, and the defendants’ typical defenses are ones we know well.

While every case is different, we are proud to regularly achieve outstanding, six-figure results for individual FCRA clients. For examples of our work, see our case results page.

Our founder Dan Schlanger is a former federal appellate clerk who has spent his career advocating for consumers. Our attorneys regularly educate other attorneys on credit reporting and consumer protection issues at conferences, and the firm has been recognized by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the ABA Journal for our work in consumer financial protection.

We typically represent victims on a contingency fee basis, which means there is typically no cost to you upfront. The FCRA is a fee-shifting statute: if you prevail, the defendant pays your attorney’s fees and costs. If your case is not successful, you owe us nothing.

For more on how the process works when you hire a credit reporting attorney, see our credit reporting attorney page.

Get a Free Case Review

Schlanger Law Group has been litigating on behalf of consumers since 2007, and the FCRA is a core focus of our practice. Background check error claims, including claims against screening companies and against employers who fail to follow the FCRA’s required procedures, fall squarely within our practice area. We typically represent victims on a contingency fee basis and handle cases nationwide. If an inaccurate background check has cost you a job or housing, or if an employer ran a background check on you without following the proper process, contact us today to discuss your options.

Frequently Asked Questions About Background Check Errors

Can an employer run a background check without my permission?

No. Under the FCRA, an employer must provide you with a clear, standalone written disclosure that a background check will be obtained and must get your written authorization before the report is pulled. If an employer ran a background check on you without providing this disclosure or obtaining your consent, that is a violation of the FCRA, regardless of whether the report itself was accurate. You may have a legal claim for statutory damages, actual damages, and attorney’s fees.

What is an employer required to do before denying me a job based on a background check?

Before making a final adverse decision based on a background check, the employer must send you a pre-adverse action notice along with a copy of the report and a summary of your FCRA rights. This gives you the opportunity to review the report and identify any errors. After a reasonable waiting period, the employer must then send a final adverse action notice. If the employer skipped these steps, that is an independent FCRA violation even if the report was accurate. For more on what to do in this situation, see our page on adverse action and denials.

Can I sue a background check company?

Yes. Background check companies are consumer reporting agencies under the FCRA and can be sued for violating their legal obligations, including failing to follow reasonable procedures to ensure accuracy, failing to conduct a reasonable reinvestigation of disputed information, and reporting information they know or should know is inaccurate. Employers who fail to follow the FCRA’s disclosure and adverse action requirements can also be sued. The FCRA provides for actual damages, statutory damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees.

What errors can appear on a background check?

Common errors include criminal records belonging to a different person with a similar name or Social Security number, dismissed or expunged charges reported as convictions, misclassification of offense severity (a misdemeanor reported as a felony), records from identity theft appearing on your report, incorrect employment history or education records, and outdated information that should no longer appear. These errors typically result from the screening company’s reliance on automated systems and third-party databases rather than direct verification with official sources.

What is Checkr and why is my background check wrong?

Checkr is one of the largest background screening companies in the United States. Checkr processes millions of background checks using automated systems that pull data from court records and third-party databases. Errors in Checkr reports often involve mismatched identities, outdated criminal record information, or data sourced from unreliable databases. If your Checkr background check contains errors, you have the right to dispute the inaccurate information and, if the error is not corrected or you have suffered harm, to pursue legal claims under the FCRA.

How much does a background check lawyer cost?

In most cases, nothing upfront. The FCRA includes a fee-shifting provision that requires the defendant to pay the prevailing consumer’s attorney’s fees and costs. Because of this, most background check lawyers, including Schlanger Law Group, typically represent clients on a contingency fee basis. If your case is not successful, you owe nothing. For more on what you can recover in an FCRA case, see our article on FCRA damages.

Talk to Us

If you have questions about an error on your background check, or if you believe an employer pulled your background check without proper authorization or made a decision without following the required process, we are happy to discuss your situation. Contact us today for a free consultation.