Sue HireRight for Background Check Errors Under the FCRA

Yes, you can sue HireRight if an inaccurate background check report cost you a job. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a screening company that fails to take reasonable steps to keep its reports accurate is liable for lost wages, emotional distress and, in willful cases, statutory damages and 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report that affects an employer's decision is different from a report showing someone else's criminal record, an outdated record, or information HireRight failed to correct after you disputed it.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You can sue HireRight for a background check error when the report contained information that was inaccurate, outdated, or belonged to someone else, and that error played a role in a lost job, a rescinded offer, or another adverse employment decision.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. Section 1681i also requires them to conduct a reasonable reinvestigation when a consumer disputes the accuracy or completeness of reported information.

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 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau identifies HireRight as a consumer reporting company and confirms that consumers have the right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information in their reports.

These same FCRA obligations apply to every screening company, not just HireRight. If a different company furnished the inaccurate report, the same analysis applies to a Checkr lawsuit, to a First Advantage background check dispute, or to a report from a smaller screener such as Hirease.

We do not take cases involving a report that is accurate but unflattering. The FCRA addresses inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable reporting, not truthful negative information. A correctly reported conviction, employment history, or other unfavorable detail generally does not create a claim just because it caused an employer to reject an applicant.

HireRight prepares and supplies the report, but the hiring, promotion, or termination decision rests with the employer. The Federal Trade Commission requires employers to tell applicants that the reporting company did not make the adverse decision and cannot explain the reasons for it.

Complaints about an employer's hiring criteria, its decision, or its failure to follow the required adverse-action process generally concern the employer rather than HireRight. A claim against HireRight needs to involve the report itself: 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 matters produced documented outcomes. The figures below are not 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 the notices the FCRA requires.

FCRA violation: Sections 1681e(b), 1681k and 1681i — the requirements to use reasonable accuracy procedures, provide public-record notices, and reasonably investigate disputed information.

Outcome: A $28.375 million settlement. 

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 that could affect consumers' employment opportunities.

FCRA violation: Sections 1681e(b), 1681g, 1681i and 1681k — 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 complaint, HireRight attributed another woman's California commercial driver's license to a Georgia truck driver, costing him job opportunities and wages.

FCRA violation: Section 1681e(b) — the requirement to use reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy.

Outcome: The proposed class action was filed on September 24, 2020. 

HireRight Solutions, Inc.

Several older cases were filed against HireRight Solutions, Inc., referred to as "Old HireRight" in HireRight's SEC filings and identified there as a predecessor to HireRight, LLC. HireRight Solutions was the defendant in Ryals and in the FTC's 2012 enforcement action, which is why a search for a HireRight Solutions lawsuit still turns up those older matters today. They concern the same screening business now operating as HireRight.

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 options.

FCRA Violations That Make HireRight Liable

Most HireRight lawsuits trace back to one of four recurring background check errors. 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 what it reports. A mixed file happens when HireRight attaches a criminal record, employment record, or other adverse information to the wrong person, usually someone with a similar name and sometimes with a different middle name, date of birth, or Social Security number entirely. A false background check of this kind is one of the more straightforward violations to prove once the discrepancy is documented, and federal regulators have flagged it as a recurring problem in HireRight's own reporting history.

Reporting Expunged, Sealed, or Vacated Records

If a court has expunged, sealed, or vacated a record, a screening company is expected to reflect that updated status. Reporting a conviction or charge without noting that it was later expunged, sealed, or vacated 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, kept showing up because the data source was never 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 to some jobs paying $75,000 or more a year. This rule does not erase criminal convictions, which the FCRA allows to be reported indefinitely, but arrests that never led to a conviction are supposed to age off. When HireRight reports a stale arrest or judgment past that window, it is 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 cannot verify. A HireRight 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 it. This is often the strongest part of a case, because it shows HireRight had a chance to fix the problem and did not.

These are not technicalities. Courts treat them as substantive statutory duties, and a screening company that skips them can face liability regardless of whether the underlying mistake was intentional.

How Much Is a HireRight Case Worth?

There is no fixed number. It depends heavily on whether HireRight's violation was negligent or willful, and on how well the loss can be documented. FCRA cases generally draw from four categories of damages.

Lost wages. 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 part of a claim. If "a HireRight report cost me a job" is the question you are searching, this is where the math starts: the offer you lost, and how long it took to find comparable work.

Emotional distress. Courts have allowed recovery for the stress, anxiety, and reputational harm of being denied a job over a background check error, particularly when the error involved a criminal record that was not yours. This category is harder to quantify and often depends on supporting documentation such as counseling records.

Statutory and punitive damages. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681o, a negligent violation entitles you to actual damages plus attorney's fees and costs, with no statutory floor and no punitive damages. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681n, a willful violation — meaning HireRight knowingly violated the FCRA or acted with reckless disregard for it — 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 move a case from negligent into willful territory.

Attorney's fees and costs. Both § 1681n and § 1681o require a losing defendant to pay a successful plaintiff's attorney's fees and costs. That is part of why FCRA cases are typically handled on contingency.

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 quoting you a number before reviewing your file is guessing. A real estimate requires the report, the dispute history, and the wages actually lost.

Three factors move the number more than anything else. How long you were out of work before finding comparable pay, because lost wages are calculated against that gap. Whether you disputed the error and HireRight ignored or mishandled it, because that is often the strongest evidence of willfulness. And whether the error was a one-time clerical slip or part of a documented pattern, because a pattern is harder to characterize as an isolated mistake.

If a HireRight error has already cost you income, a free case review is the fastest way to find out what your situation is actually worth.

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 HireRight background check does not always mean the information is correct. Reports can contain outdated records, mixed-up identities, incorrect employment dates, or other mistakes, and a delay is not evidence of accuracy either — how long a HireRight check normally takes depends on courts and former employers, not on what the report says about you.

Get the report. Employers must 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 do not have it, you can request your file directly from HireRight.

Identify the error. Read the report line by line against what you know to be true: names, dates, case numbers, dispositions. Mixed-file errors often show up as a different middle name or birthdate buried inside an otherwise correct-looking record. Our guide on getting an accurate background report errors lawyer involved explains when the discrepancy is worth escalating.

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 are built on.

Then follow HireRight's instructions for disputing the report. Explain each error clearly, attach the documents that support your correction, and save every email, letter, 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 report, you can file a HireRight dispute for free. A dispute tells HireRight that specific information — a criminal record, employment date, education detail, or license record — is inaccurate or incomplete. You can usually submit it through the HireRight Applicant Center, by phone, or by mail. Explain exactly what is wrong and attach supporting documents: court records, pay stubs, tax forms, school records, or a letter from a former employer. Keep a copy of everything, including your confirmation number. The same approach works with any screening company, and our guide on how to fix a background check error walks through it step by step.

After receiving your HireRight dispute, the company must conduct a reasonable reinvestigation, generally within 30 days under the FCRA. HireRight may contact the original source — a court, school, or employer — to check the information. If the information is inaccurate, incomplete, or cannot be verified, HireRight must correct, update, or delete it, record the result, and notify you in writing. Some disputes can take up to 45 days in limited circumstances, particularly when you provide additional information during the investigation. If the error affects a pending application, contact the employer directly and tell them a dispute is in progress, because HireRight does not make the hiring decision.

When a Dispute Is Not Enough

Sometimes another round with HireRight will not fix the problem. Repeated errors, missed deadlines, or a job that is already gone can make further correspondence pointless.

Repeated errors. If HireRight keeps reporting the same inaccurate record after a reinvestigation, the issue is no longer a disagreement over one line in a report. It means the problem has not been corrected despite your efforts.

A missed reinvestigation deadline. HireRight's reinvestigation can take up to 30 days, or 45 in limited circumstances. If that period passes with the error still in place while an employer waits on a decision, another dispute will not arrive in time.

The job is already lost. A conditional offer may be withdrawn or given to someone else because an inaccurate result was not corrected in time. Even if HireRight later confirms the error, that correction does not restore the position or the income.

These are the situations where talking to a lawyer makes more sense than starting another dispute.

HireRight DAC Reports and Commercial Drivers

A HireRight DAC report is the employment-history file trucking companies use when evaluating commercial drivers. It can contain employment dates, reason for leaving, rehire eligibility, employer comments, reported accidents or incidents, and drug-and-alcohol testing information, alongside motor vehicle records and crash or inspection data.

The most damaging errors are usually not obvious identity mix-ups but mischaracterizations. An accident may be marked "preventable" when the driver was not at fault. A routine termination or performance dispute may be recorded as a safety incident. Another driver's accident, violation, or employment history may be attached to the wrong file entirely.

The stakes are higher here than with an ordinary reference check. Carriers rely on these reports during hiring, so one bad entry follows you from carrier to carrier and can push you out of the industry rather than cost you a single job. If you drive commercially, 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. The FCRA requires a losing defendant to pay our fees separately, so a recovery is not diluted by legal costs the way it can be in other kinds of cases.

Case review is free. Send us the report, the dispute history if you have started one, and what job or offer you lost, and we will tell you honestly whether you have a claim against HireRight, a claim against the employer, or neither. The first call covers what happened, what documentation you already have, what is still missing, and what the next 30 days should look like.