Sue HireRight for Background Check Errors Under the FCRA
Yes, if a HireRight background check contained an error and you lost a job because of it, you may be able to sue HireRight under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). You could seek compensation for lost wages, benefits, emotional distress, and other damages. Willful violations may also allow statutory or punitive damages, along with attorney’s fees
The first step is to identify the mistake. An accurate report that affects an employer’s decision is different from a report showing someone else’s criminal record, an outdated record, or information HireRight failed to correct after you disputed it.
Keep reading to find out when you may be able to sue HireRight, what people have recovered in similar cases, how Drive-A-Check (DAC) report errors can affect truck drivers, and what to do if a background check has already cost you a job.
Can You Sue HireRight for a Background Check Error?
You can sue HireRight for a background check error when the report contained information that was inaccurate, outdated, or belonged to someone else, and that error played a role in a lost job, a rescinded offer, or another adverse employment decision. Section 1681e(b) of the FCRA requires consumer-reporting agencies like HireRight to use reasonable procedures to assure the maximum possible accuracy of their reports. FCRA’s Section 1681i also requires them to conduct a reasonable reinvestigation when a consumer disputes the accuracy or completeness of reported information.
These same FCRA obligations apply to every consumer-reporting agency, not just HireRight, so if a different screening company such as Checkr furnished the inaccurate report, you may have similar grounds for suing Checkr.
Examples of inaccurate information may include:
- reporting another person’s criminal record as the applicant’s record,
- listing a dismissed case as a conviction,
- reporting an incorrect case disposition,
- failing to correct information after the applicant provides supporting documents.
The CFPB identifies HireRight as a consumer-reporting company and confirms that consumers have the right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information in their reports.
The firm does not take cases involving a report that is accurate but unflattering. The FCRA addresses inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable reporting, not truthful negative information. Therefore, a correctly reported conviction, employment history, or other unfavorable information generally does not create a claim merely because it caused an employer to reject an applicant.
While HireRight prepares and supplies the background report, the hiring, promotion, termination, or other employment decision rests solely with the employer. Furthermore, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) notes that employers must inform applicants that the background-reporting company did not make the adverse decision and cannot provide specific reasons for it.
Complaints about an employer’s hiring criteria, employment decision, or failure to follow the required adverse-action process generally concern the employer rather than HireRight. A potential claim against HireRight would usually need to involve the background report itself, such as inaccurate information or a failure to reasonably reinvestigate a dispute.
HireRight Lawsuits and Settlements: Documented Outcomes
HireRight has been sued and investigated repeatedly over the last fifteen years, and several of those cases resulted in significant, publicly documented outcomes. See a few HireRight class action lawsuit cases and other HireRight lawsuits below, with documented outcomes. None of the numbers below are estimates; they come from court filings, settlement records, and a federal enforcement action.
Ryals v. HireRight Solutions, Inc. — E.D. Va., 2012 (HireRight Lawsuit Settlement)
What happened: In a reported HireRight class action lawsuit, HireRight allegedly furnished employment reports containing inaccurate or outdated public-record information and failed to provide required notices.
FCRA violation: Sections 1681e(b), 1681k, and 1681i - requirements to use reasonable accuracy procedures, provide required public-record notices, and reasonably investigate disputed information.
Outcome: A $28.375 million HireRight Lawsuit Settlement was approved in December 2011.
United States v. HireRight Solutions, Inc. — D.D.C., 2012
What happened: According to the FTC, HireRight supplied employers with duplicate, outdated, and wrong-person criminal records, which could affect consumers’ employment opportunities.
FCRA violation: Sections 1681e(b), 1681g, 1681i, and 1681k, requirements concerning accuracy, file disclosures, dispute investigations, and public-record reporting.
Outcome: HireRight agreed to pay a $2.6 million civil penalty in a 2012 settlement.
Smith v. HireRight, LLC — N.D. Ga., 2020
What happened: According to the reported complaint, HireRight allegedly attributed another woman’s California commercial-driver license to a Georgia truck driver, causing lost job opportunities and wages.
FCRA violation: Section 1681e(b) — requirement to use reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy.
Outcome: The proposed class action was filed on September 24, 2020; no public settlement or monetary award is identified.
HireRight Solutions, Inc.
Several older cases were filed against HireRight Solutions, Inc., referred to as “Old HireRight” in HireRight’s SEC filings and identified as a predecessor to HireRight, LLC. HireRight Solutions was the defendant in Ryals v. HireRight Solutions, Inc. and the FTC’s 2012 enforcement action, which is why older lawsuits may appear under that name. Those cases concern the same screening business now commonly identified as HireRight, LLC or HireRight. Please note that prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
If you believe a HireRight error caused you to lose a job, you can request a free case review to discuss what happened, review the report and supporting documents, and learn about your potential options.
FCRA Violations That Make HireRight Liable
Most HireRight lawsuits trace back to one of four recurring violations. Identifying which one applies to your report is usually the first step in evaluating a claim.
Mixed Files: Reporting Records That Belong to Someone Else
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b), HireRight must follow reasonable procedures to ensure the maximum possible accuracy of the information it reports. Employment background check errors can occur when a report contains inaccurate job history, incorrect employment dates or positions, duplicate records, or information belonging to another person. A “mixed file” happens when HireRight attaches a criminal record, employment record, or other adverse information to the wrong person, often someone with a similar name, and sometimes with a different middle name, date of birth, or Social Security number entirely. Federal regulators have specifically flagged this as a recurring problem in HireRight’s own reporting history, and it is one of the more straightforward violations to prove once the discrepancy is documented.
Reporting Expunged, Sealed, or Vacated Records
If a court has expunged, sealed, or vacated a record, background check companies are expected to reflect that updated status. Reporting a conviction or charge without noting it was later expunged, sealed, or vacated, even though the corrected disposition is publicly available—can support an accuracy claim under § 1681e(b) and an obsolescence claim under 15 U.S.C. § 1681c. This is the exact fact pattern behind several documented HireRight cases: a conviction that had been legally vacated, or a charge that had been dismissed and reduced, kept showing up on reports because HireRight's data sources weren't updated even though the correct court disposition was publicly available.
Reporting Non-Conviction Records Older Than Seven Years
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(a), HireRight generally cannot report arrests, civil judgments, and other adverse non-conviction information older than seven years (an exception applies for some jobs paying $75,000 or more annually). This rule doesn't erase criminal convictions themselves, which the FCRA allows to be reported indefinitely, but arrest records that never led to a conviction, and other adverse items that fall under § 1681c's seven-year window, are supposed to age off. When HireRight reports a stale arrest or judgment past that window, it's a distinct violation from a simple accuracy error.
Failing to Reinvestigate After a Dispute
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i, once you dispute information in your file, HireRight has a duty to reinvestigate, generally within 30 days, and to correct or delete anything it can't verify. A dispute that goes nowhere, that gets a form-letter denial with no actual re-check of the underlying record, or that blows past the statutory deadline, is its own violation independent of whatever error started the dispute in the first place. This is often the strongest part of a case, because it shows HireRight had a chance to fix the problem and didn't.
These aren't technicalities. Courts treat these as substantive statutory duties, and a background screening company that skips them can face liability regardless of whether the underlying mistake was intentional.
How Much Is a HireRight Case Worth?
There's no fixed number, and the honest answer is that it depends heavily on whether HireRight's violation was negligent or willful, and on how well the loss can be documented. That said, FCRA cases generally draw from four categories of damages.
If a HireRight error cost you a specific job offer, the salary and benefits you would have earned are usually the largest and most provable component of a claim. This is what most people mean when they search for how a HireRight report cost them a job in dollar terms, the calculation typically starts with the offer you lost and how long it took to find comparable work.
Courts have allowed recovery for the stress, anxiety, and reputational harm that come with being denied a job over a background check error, particularly when the error involved a criminal record that wasn't yours. This category is harder to put a number on and usually depends on the specifics of the case and, sometimes, supporting documentation like counseling records.
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681o, a negligent violation entitles you to actual damages plus attorney's fees and costs: no statutory floor, no punitive damages. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681n, a willful violation meaning HireRight knowingly violated the FCRA or acted with reckless disregard for its requirements opens the door to statutory damages of $100 to $1,000 even without proof of actual loss, plus punitive damages the court may allow. A mishandled dispute, where HireRight had clear notice of an error and did nothing, is the kind of fact pattern that can push a case from negligent into willful territory.
Both § 1681n and § 1681o require HireRight to pay a successful plaintiff's attorney's fees and costs. That's part of why FCRA cases are typically handled on contingency; there's no fee unless the case recovers.
Publicly documented HireRight outcomes range enormously by case type: individual settlements tied to a single lost job, and class-wide settlements in the tens of millions when the violation affected hundreds of thousands of consumers at once, as in the $28.375 million Ryals settlement. Anyone telling you a number before reviewing your file and your job loss is guessing a real estimate requires reviewing the report, the dispute history, and the wages actually lost.
A few practical factors tend to move the number more than anything else. How long you were out of work before finding comparable pay matters, because lost wages are usually calculated against that gap. Whether you disputed the error and HireRight ignored, mishandled, or blew past the deadline on that dispute matters, because it's often the strongest evidence of willfulness. And whether the error was a one-time clerical slip or part of a documented pattern like the mixed-file and duplicate-record issues federal regulators found in HireRight's own history matters, because a pattern is harder for HireRight to characterize as an isolated mistake.
Failed a HireRight Background Check? What to Do First
If you were just denied a job because of a HireRight report, the sequence matters more than the speed. A failed report does not always mean the information is correct. Background reports can contain outdated records, mixed-up identities, incorrect employment dates, or other mistakes. If you're wondering how long a HireRight check normally takes, remember that delays or unexpected results don't necessarily mean the report is accurate. Focus on these next steps:
- Get the report. Employers are required to give you a copy of the HireRight report they relied on before taking adverse action, along with a summary of your FCRA rights. If you
- don't have it, you can request your file directly from HireRight.
- Identify the error. Read the report line by line against what you actually know to be true: names, dates, case numbers, dispositions. Mixed-file errors often show up as a different middle name or birthdate buried in an otherwise-correct-looking record.
- Gather proof. Court records showing a dismissal, expungement, or vacated sentence; documentation that a criminal record belongs to someone else; anything showing the actual disposition of a case HireRight reported incorrectly. This is the evidence that both a dispute and, later, a lawsuit will be built on.
After collecting your evidence, follow HireRight’s instructions for disputing the report. Explain each error clearly and attach the documents that support your correction. Save every email, letter, report, and submission confirmation. Acting quickly gives you the best chance to correct the record before the hiring decision becomes final.
Filing a HireRight Dispute
If you find an error in your HireRight background report, you can file a dispute for free. A dispute tells HireRight that specific information, such as a criminal record, employment date, education detail, or license record is inaccurate or incomplete. You can usually submit the dispute through the HireRight Applicant Center, by phone, or by mail. Explain exactly what is wrong and attach supporting documents, such as court records, pay stubs, tax forms, school records, or a letter from a former employer. Keep a copy of everything you submit, including your confirmation number.
After receiving your dispute, HireRight must conduct a reasonable reinvestigation. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), this generally must be completed within 30 days. HireRight may contact the original data source, such as a court, school, or employer, to check the information. If the information is proven inaccurate, incomplete, or cannot be verified, HireRight must correct it, update it, or delete it from your report. The company must also record the result of the investigation and notify you in writing after it is completed. HireRight states that some disputes may take up to 45 days in limited circumstances, particularly when you provide additional relevant information during the investigation. If the error affects a pending job application, contact the employer directly and explain that you have filed a dispute, because HireRight does not make the hiring decision.
When a Dispute Is Not Enough
Sometimes another dispute with HireRight is not enough to resolve a background-check problem. A candidate may be able to challenge inaccurate information, but repeated errors, missed deadlines, or a lost job opportunity can make another round of correspondence ineffective.
One warning sign is repeated errors. If HireRight continues reporting the same inaccurate criminal record, incorrect public-record information, or information belonging to someone else after a reinvestigation, the issue is no longer simply a disagreement over one item in a report. Repeated errors suggest that the problem has not been properly corrected despite the candidate's efforts to resolve it.
Another is a missed reinvestigation deadline. HireRight's reinvestigation process can take up to 30 days, or up to 45 days in limited circumstances. If the applicable period passes without the error being corrected, particularly while an employer is waiting to make a hiring decision, another dispute may not provide a timely solution. The report may continue affecting the candidate while the opportunity to correct the problem is slipping away.
The most serious situation is when the job opportunity has already been lost. A candidate may receive a conditional job offer that is withdrawn or given to someone else because an inaccurate background-check result is not corrected in time. Even if HireRight later confirms the error, that correction may not restore the position, lost income, or opportunity.
These are the situations in which speaking with a lawyer may make more sense than starting another dispute: when errors continue, a reinvestigation deadline has been missed, or the consequences have already occurred.
HireRight DAC Reports and Commercial Drivers
A HireRight DAC report is an employment-history file used by trucking companies when evaluating commercial drivers. It may contain a driver’s employment dates, equipment and loads operated, job duties, reason for leaving, rehire eligibility, employer comments, reported accidents or incidents, and drug-and-alcohol testing information. Related screening may also include motor-vehicle records, license status, violations, and crash or inspection data.
The most damaging errors are often not obvious identity mistakes, but mischaracterizations. An accident may be incorrectly labeled “preventable,” even when the driver was not at fault. A routine termination, resignation, or performance dispute may be recorded as a safety-related incident.
Another driver’s accident, violation, or employment history may also be attached to the wrong person. Because carriers commonly rely on these reports during hiring, an inaccurate entry can cause qualified applicants to be rejected before they have an opportunity to explain the circumstances. Courts have recognized that an employer’s DAC report can affect hiring decisions at other trucking companies.
The stakes are higher here than with an ordinary reference check. A bad report can follow you from carrier to carrier, effectively pushing you out of the industry rather than just costing you one job. If you're a CDL driver, you can request a copy of your DAC file and start a HireRight DAC dispute, sometimes called a DAC report dispute for anything you believe is inaccurate or incomplete.
Why Consumer Attorneys for a HireRight Claim
We handle HireRight background check errors on contingency, no fee unless we recover for you, and the FCRA requires HireRight to pay our fees separately when a case succeeds, so a recovery isn't diluted by legal costs the way it might be in other types of cases. Case review is free: send us the report, the dispute history if you've already started one, and what job or offer you lost, and we'll tell you honestly whether you have a claim against HireRight, a claim against the employer, or neither. The first call typically covers what happened, what documentation you already have, what's still missing, and if there's a viable claim, what the next 30 days should look like.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. If HireRight violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)—for example, by reporting inaccurate information or failing to follow reasonable procedures to ensure accuracy, you may have a claim against it. However, HireRight generally is not responsible for providing pre-adverse-action or adverse-action notices in an employment screening matter. If you lost a job offer without receiving those notices, that claim would typically be against the employer rather than HireRight. You may be entitled to damages for lost wages, emotional distress, and statutory penalties.
To sue HireRight, you typically send a demand letter or file suit under the FCRA (or a state equivalent) after gathering evidence of the violation, such as your background check report, the job offer or rejection, and any correspondence. Most people work with an FCRA attorney, who often takes these cases on contingency, meaning no upfront fees.
Yes. HireRight Solutions, Inc., sometimes referred to as “Old HireRight,” was a predecessor to HireRight, LLC. Older lawsuits and enforcement actions may therefore appear under the HireRight Solutions name, while current screening services and disputes generally use the HireRight name.
A “613 notice” refers to FCRA Section 613 (15 U.S.C. § 1681k(a)), which applies when a background check company reports public‑record information—such as certain criminal records—that could negatively affect your employment. The law gives the company two options: notify you at the time it reports that information, including the employer’s name and address, or maintain strict procedures to ensure the public‑record data it reports is complete and up to date. If it follows strict procedures, no 613 notice is required.
First, get a copy of the HireRight report and review it carefully for inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, or mismatched information. Compare the report with your own records, identify the specific error, and gather documents that support your position. If you find a mistake, dispute it directly with HireRight and keep copies of your report, dispute, supporting documents, and any responses you receive. If HireRight fails to reasonably investigate the dispute, or if the employer failed to follow the required adverse-action process, an FCRA attorney can help determine which party may be responsible.
Compensation varies by case but can include actual damages (lost wages, job opportunities), statutory damages for willful violations, punitive damages for egregious conduct, and attorney's fees. Many successful FCRA claims settle in the low thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the harm and whether the violation was willful or negligent. If a HireRight reporting error has already cost you a job or income, you can request a free case review to have the report, dispute history, and resulting harm evaluated.
Usually not upfront. Most FCRA attorneys take HireRight cases on contingency, meaning they only get paid if you win or settle, typically as a percentage of your recovery. The FCRA also allows successful plaintiffs to recover attorney's fees and costs from HireRight directly, which is why many lawyers offer free initial consultations.
Gather your HireRight background check report, the job posting or offer letter, any rejection or withdrawal notice, and all correspondence with the employer and HireRight. Also collect proof of harm, like pay stubs showing lost income. Evidence showing that HireRight reported inaccurate information, failed to follow reasonable procedures, or failed to reasonably reinvestigate a documented dispute can also be important when evaluating a potential FCRA claim.
Most FCRA cases against HireRight resolve in 6 to 18 months if settled, since HireRight often prefers settlement to avoid litigation costs. Cases that go to trial can take 1 to 2+ years. Timing depends on case complexity, whether HireRight disputes liability, and how backlogged the court is.
Daniel Cohen is the Founder of Consumer Attorneys. Daniel manages the firm’s branding, marketing, client intake and business development efforts. Since 2017, he is a member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates and the National Consumer Law Center. Mr. Cohen is a nationally-recognized practitioner of consumer protection law. He has a we... Read more
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