As reported by the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Judge Yvette Kane of the Middle District of Pennsylvania has approved a “$562,500 settlement of a class-action lawsuit against a company accused of providing prospective employers with inaccurate criminal background checks.”  The story adds that “[m]ost of the money from the settlement…will result in payments of $333 each to more than 1,000 people whose criminal histories were incorrectly reported.”

The lead plaintiff, T. Jason Noye, “accused Yale of misreporting four summary offenses lodged against him as more serious misdemeanor crimes.” According to the Patriot-News, “Pennsylvania law allows prospective employers to consider candidates’ felony and misdemeanor convictions, but not summary convictions, which are the lowest level of offenses in the state’s Crime Code, Noye contended in the suit. Littering and loitering, for instance, are summaries. . . Noye claimed in filing suit in 2015 that Yale incorrectly reported to a prospective employer that he had four misdemeanors on his record. Those were actually summaries, he said. He said the employer withdrew its job offer after receiving the Yale report.”

The plaintiffs were represented by Francis Mailman Soumilas, as well as the Harrisburg-based Community Justice Project.