INDUSTRY NEWS

Chuck E. Cheese to pay $1.75M to settle class action over background checks

The settlement comes as a result of allegations that the company's background check authorization forms violated the federal Fair Credit Reporting and California Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Acts.

Specifically, the complaint alleged that the popular family entertainment chain’s “preauthorization form” was “embedded in a multi-page employment application, and contains a liability release, among other extraneous information” – a practice which runs afoul to FCRA requirements that employers must obtain authorization to run a background check on standalone disclosure and authorization forms.

Since the approval of the settlement, Chuck E. Cheese has implemented fully compliant background check authorization forms in every state in which it conducts business.

The settlement itself will be divided amongst an estimated 28,500 people who applied to Chuck E. Cheese’s since March of 2012. Amongst those 28,500 are 405 individuals who are entitled to a slightly larger settlement than the rest of the class as they claim to have had adverse action taken against them as a result of Chuck E. Cheese’s improper background checks.

Source: Law360.com, 7/7/2015

Posted: July 17, 2015