A class action lawsuit has been filed against Capital One for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act. On December 6, 2011, Nichols Kaster, PLLP, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Kevin Smith, accusing Capital One of violating two sections of the FCRA. The first alleges that Capital One’s disclosure and authorization form is flawed, purposely burying the disclosure form in the employment application. The FCRA requires that a separate “stand alone” disclosure form must be completed by the subject of the consumer report (cannot be part of the employment application).

Secondly, Capital One allegedly violated section 615 of the FCRA, which affords applicants the opportunity to review and dispute information in the background check that may be inaccurate, in the event of any adverse action on the part of the employer. Capital One failed to provide the applicants against which they took adverse action with copies of their background checks.

Employees and prospective employees may be entitled to statutory damages of up to $1,000 for each violation. Therefore, “everyone who has applied to, or worked for, Capital One in the past three years should be eligible to receive statutory damages.”

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