Recently the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals was the first federal appeals court to decide that it is a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to include a liability waiver on the background disclosure form.
Under the FCRA, an employer cannot collect a consumer report on an employee or applicant without providing a clear and conspicuous disclosure. This means that a disclosure document must only contain the disclosure itself and be a stand-alone document without any extraneous information.
Employers take note; this decision by the Ninth Circuit of Appeals means any liability waiver or other “extraneous” information on a disclosure form would constitute a willful violation of the FCRA. Willful violations can result in either statutory damages or actual damages, ranging from $100 to $1,000 per violation. Make sure all your forms comply with the FCRA, as well as state and local laws.
Here is a link to more information on this subject:
Ninth Circuit: FCRA Background Check Disclosure Cannot Include Liability Waiver