Summary of lawsuit for Dollar Tree background checks:
- WHO: Plaintiff Eddie Jonathan Smith, who applied for a job at Dollar Tree, has sued the discount retailer.
- Why: Smith says Dollar Tree violates job applicants’ rights by refusing to hire people based on background checks when the person doesn’t have prior access to the reports.
- Where: The lawsuit over Dollar Tree’s background checks was filed in Virginia federal court.
A man who applied for a job at Dollar Tree is suing the discount retailer after he says the company ran an inaccurate background check on him and then refused to hire him.
Plaintiff Eddie Jonathan Smith filed a class action lawsuit against Dollar Tree Inc. on June 14 in a Virginia federal court, alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
Smith alleges that Dollar Tree systematically violates the rights of job applicants on whom it receives consumer reports — or background checks.
Smith says he and other job applicants were harmed when the company relied on the reports and checks to take adverse employment action without first giving the person “sufficient and timely notice and a copy of the report and a summary of rights ” under the FCRA.
“These failures leave applicants without any meaningful opportunity to correct any errors in the report or to discuss the contents of the report with Dollar Tree,” he says.
Plaintiff’s Experience with Dollar Tree
In October 2023, Smith applied for a job with Dollar Tree and was given a conditional offer of employment contingent on passing a background check, he alleges.
Dollar Tree then ordered a consumer report on Smith from the background check company it allegedly contracts with, Sterling.
However, “devastating for Mr. Smith, Sterling included in his report criminal convictions that did not belong to Mr. Smith, but rather another person with the same name,” the lawsuit states.
Smith says Dollar Tree told him the results of the background check and told him to contact Sterling if he wanted to dispute the results. He says he filed his dispute the next day, and Sterling removed the criminal record and corrected the report that day.
“Despite receiving this clean background check on October 26, 2023, Dollar Tree did not hire Mr. Smith or make any attempt to contact him at all,” the lawsuit states.
Smith contends that Dollar Tree’s initial negative decision was actually the final decision and the purported pre-action notice provided “was a sham.”
It alleges that Dollar Tree violated the FCRA, as the company is required to provide notice, a copy of background reports and an FCRA statement of rights before taking “adverse action.”
He says he suffered financial and reputational damage, lost employment and emotional distress. He is seeking to represent any candidate for new employment, continuing employment, transfer or promotion at Dollar Tree who was the subject of a history report containing one or more adverse information that the company treated as disqualifying, within two years. the last.
Smith is seeking certification of the class action, damages, fees, costs and a jury trial.
In May, Hormel Foods recalled two specific amounts of Planters nuts due to potential exposure to listeria after the nuts were distributed to Publix and Dollar Tree in a total of five states.
What do you think of the allegations in this Dollar Tree background check lawsuit? Tell us in the comments.
The plaintiff is represented by Leonard A. Bennett, Drew D. Sarrett and Craig C. Marchiando of Consumer Litigation Associates PC and James A. Francis, John Soumilas and Lauren KW Brennan of Francis Mailman Soumilas.
of Dollar Tree background check class action lawsuit IS Eddie Jonathan Smith Vs. Dollar Tree Inc., Case no. 2:24-cv-00384 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
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