{"id":9283,"date":"2022-09-08T10:13:11","date_gmt":"2022-09-08T14:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/env-8605394.mightybox.site\/?post_type=news&p=9283"},"modified":"2024-09-24T13:47:28","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T17:47:28","slug":"the-ticking-time-bomb-lurking-within-staffing-fcra-data-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techservealliance.org\/the-ticking-time-bomb-lurking-within-staffing-fcra-data-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Terefic – The ticking time bomb lurking within staffing FCRA & data privacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you had a ticking time bomb in your hands, would you ignore it because it hadn\u2019t exploded yet? Would you think, \u201cWell nothing bad has happened so far, so I\u2019ll deal with it when it becomes a problem\u201d? Of course not! Non-compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)<\/a> is that ticking time bomb for staffing firms, and just because it hasn\u2019t exploded yet, doesn\u2019t mean you can afford to ignore it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FCRA regulates the collection of employment references by intermediaries in the United States. Any software, individual recruiter, and\/or staffing firm that acts as a third-party between a job applicant and the final employer must comply with the FCRA.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FCRA was first passed in 1970 and most recently updated in 2018. At its core, it\u2019s designed to regulate and protect the privacy and accuracy of consumer information\u2014think protecting businesses from unlawfully sharing your credit report. But if you dig deeper, you might be surprised at the scope of how a \u201cconsumer report\u201d is defined, and the implications of the FCRA in governing how consumer reports can be used. Consider section 603:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConsumer report\u201d is defined as \u201cany written, oral, or other communication of any information by a consumer reporting agency bearing on a consumer\u2019s\u2026character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living which is used\u2026for the purpose of serving as a factor in establishing the consumer\u2019s eligibility for (1) credit\u2026or (2) employment purposes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And how does the law define a \u201cconsumer reporting agency\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe term \u2018consumer reporting agency\u2019 means any person which, for monetary fees\u2026regularly engages\u2026in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what staffing firms do!<\/strong> They collect and assemble information (i.e. references) on consumers and furnish those reports to third parties (their client companies).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law goes on to outline with great specificity the manner and timing with which any references can be collected, how to handle bad references, and what the candidate has the right to know and change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, it would be easy to dismiss concerns about the FCRA by thinking, \u201cThis is scaremongering. Every company collects references and has been for years. As long as we do it professionally, we\u2019ll be fine.\u201d Perhaps, but consider how much the cultural landscape around consumer privacy has shifted in the last decade. In 2010, Mark Zuckerberg was named Time Magazine\u2019s Person of the Year and tech companies were hailed as helpful revolutionaries modernizing how we work and interact. Does anyone really believe that spirit is alive today? Rather, concerns around how our data is collected, utilized, and protected (or not) is a hot-button issue that draws bipartisan ire and cuts across all demographics. The landscape has shifted, and staffing firms must be on the right side of consumer privacy compliance.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what\u2019s the risk if you\u2019re not? Is a job seeker really going to comb through an arcane law to make sure your staffing firm followed all proper procedures when collecting a reference on them? Probably not, but a law firm most definitely will! They will be meticulous in searching for any missteps\u2014failure to inform candidates of their rights under the FCRA, not filling out proper disclosures on time, or on the proper page of a report. Every single reference check that doesn’t follow the law exposes your staffing firm AND your clients to potential class action lawsuits for 5 years after the date of violation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s already happening. In the last 5 years, companies like Home Depot and Amazon have settled class action suits for violations of the FCRA. \u201cIt\u2019s a wake-up call to employers that use staffing agencies to place employees,\u201d said Robert Mather, CEO of an employment services firm. \u201cMany employers\u2026have rock solid employment screening practices as well as compliance practices \u2026 yet they completely ignore the requirements when it comes to the staffing agencies that they utilize\u201d (Source: SHRM, news article<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was originally published in Terefic Blog<\/a> by Emmanuel Toutain<\/em>, <\/em>Terefic, Founder & CEO<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you had a ticking time bomb in your hands, would you ignore it because it hadn\u2019t exploded yet? Would you think, \u201cWell nothing bad has happened so far, so I\u2019ll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_company_domain":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topics":[230],"member-content":[],"class_list":["post-9283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","topics-suppliers"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techservealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techservealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techservealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techservealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techservealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9283"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/techservealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21030,"href":"https:\/\/techservealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9283\/revisions\/21030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techservealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techservealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techservealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9283"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techservealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=9283"},{"taxonomy":"member-content","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techservealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/member-content?post=9283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}