In Pennsylvania, a prodigal descendant of Hank Reardon, Ms. Cathy Reardon, filed a class-action lawsuit against ClosetMaid Corporation, complaining that the home storage and organization business had violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

In plain non-lawyer language, this statute says that a prospective employer cannot purchase a consumer report from a consumer reporting agency unless it does two things:

1. Provide a “clear and conspicuous” notice to the employee applicant disclosing that the employer is going to get the consumer report for employment purposes

2. Obtain the applicant’s written authorization permitting the employer to get the consumer report.

The disclosure notice must be on a free-standing document.  It must be all by itself.  If it’s a paper notice, then it must be on its own piece of paper.  If it’s an electronic notice, it must be on its own screen, without any other statements.

But, the statute makes an exception: you can include the applicant’s written authorization with a disclosure notice.

To read more about what happened with the lawsuit against the ClosetMaid Corporation click here.