Dollar General continues to be locked in to a battle with the EEOC in federal court in Illinois over the company’s criminal background checks. In a separate and unrelated case, Dollar General has agreed to settle a putative class action in Virginia which alleged that the company failed to properly notify over 200,000 job applicants that they would be subject to a background check. The plaintiffs, represented by Len Bennett of Consumer Litigation Associates, and the Consumer & Employee Rights Law Firm, alleged violations of the FCRA, and Dollar General has agreed to pay $4 million in settlement. According to Law 360,
The proposed settlement splits the plaintiffs into two classes nearly equal in number: those who will get money from the settlement fund and those who will not.
Those not included in the monetary class will be granted injunctive relief that includes Dollar General’s promise that it will change its background check notification policies to a system that is unarguably compliant with the FCRA. These class members may not file a subsequent class action, but may pursue damages individually, according to the filing.
‘The alleged violation occurred when defendant used an outdated version of the CFPB’s disclosures regarding consumer reports,’ the settlement said. ‘Because the defendant [provides] a disclosure, albeit one with the incorrect verbiage, defendant’s violation is merely technical,’ the settlement said.
After a 25 percent cut for attorneys’ fees, settlement administrator fees and class representative awards, each monetary class member will get on average $24 each. The fund will be distributed on a tiered basis, with the first tier receiving at most $53 each.
The case is Marcum v. Dolgencorp Inc., No. 3:12-cv-00108 (E.D.Va.).
Eric J. Ellman is Senior Vice President for Public Policy and Legal Affairs at the Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA) in Washington, DC. He also served for eight months as Interim President and CEO of the Association. More