©2023 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com 2023 Cal-Peculiarities | 71 authorization form a box that an individual can check to request a copy of any report that is sought for reasons other than suspicion that the subject of the investigation has engaged in wrongdoing or misconduct.75 ICRAA also imposes detailed requirements. Thus, a California employer asking an employee or applicant to sign a form authorizing the employer to obtain an investigative consumer report from a reporting agency must disclose, in a writing consisting solely of the disclosure, information such as the following:76 the permissible purpose for obtaining the report, that an investigative consumer report may be obtained (as the FCRA requires), that the report is being obtained for employment purposes (as the FCRA requires), that the report may include information on the individual’s character, general reputation, personal characteristics, and mode of living (as the FCRA requires), the nature and scope of the investigation requested (which the FCRA requires only if the individual asks), the name, address, telephone number, and website of the investigative consumer reporting agency that will conduct the investigation (the website information is beyond what the FCRA requires),77 that the investigative consumer reporting agency will, on reasonable notice, permit the individual to inspect the agency’s files for information on the individual (beyond what the FCRA requires), that the individual may obtain a copy of the file, by paying the actual cost of duplication (beyond what the FCRA requires), and that the individual may obtain a summary of the file information by telephone, with proper identification (beyond what the FCRA requires).78 In a 2019 case, the Ninth Circuit, interpreting both FCRA and ICRAA, held that an employer’s disclosure form for job applicants did not comply with the stand-alone-document requirement because it contained extraneous state disclosure requirements and was not clear and conspicuous.79 Moreover, there are California-specific limits on what may be reported by a background screening company. For example, under the FCRA, there is no longer any time limit affecting the search for records of criminal convictions for applicants making $75,000 or more.80 In California, it’s different. A California report generally must not contain reports of convictions that precede the report by more than seven years, regardless of an applicant’s contemplated salary.81 On-line child care job posting. California has enacted extra requirements for on-line child care job posting services (including unlicensed childcare providers) and the background check service providers that service those companies.82 Unlike the rules outlined above, which focused on the subject of the background screening, this new requirement focuses on informing parents of the availability of background screens. Childcare services providers’ websites must now include a notice informing parents how to access free background screen information and a description of the types of background screens available from their website.83 Background check services providers have more extensive notice requirements, including a detailed description of what is included in the background check and a chart listing the databases searched, the sources of the data,
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