A Pennsylvania Court Makes a Ruling on The FCRA “Up to Date Requirement”

In a recent court case in Pennsylvania, Kelly v. Business Information Group, the plaintiff brought a complaint against the company, claiming the background check report that was conducted did not provide complete and up to date information under the terms of this requirement as provided by the FCRA. The case was brought forward under the idea that the report contained public record information that belonged to someone else, and failed to include personal identifiers that linked the record to the plaintiff. The result of the erroneous information resulted in the plaintiff not being hired for the position.

Once these arguments were heard, the court rejected them.  The opinion of the court was that CRA’s comply with section 1681k of the FCRA by maintaining “strict procedures designed to insure that whenever public record information which is likely to have an adverse effect on a consumer’s ability to obtain employment is reported it is complete and up to date.”

The court ruled that the information provided within the body of the background check report did not fall into the category of accuracy of information.  This was due to the finding that the information contained in the report was not “complete and up to date, and that completeness refers not to accuracy nor to inclusion of identifying information as to the consumer but rather the current public record status of the item that is attributed to the consumer” (Kelly v. Business Information Group Opinion).