Definition

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires employers to engage in a two-step process known as adverse action whenever an adverse hiring decision, such as denying employment, terminating an employee or deciding not to promote an individual, is made in whole or in part based on information in an employment screening report. The purpose of this document is to provide information about adverse action requirements, ordering procedures and the applicant dispute process.

Info Cubic offers a fully compliant adverse action notification solution that allows you to order Pre and Final Adverse Action Notifications (i.e. letters) online at the click of a button. After reviewing the background report results and placing an order for the Pre-Adverse Action letter, Info Cubic will handle the timely delivery of both notifications.

Should an applicant dispute the reported information, Info Cubic will reinvestigate the results and report our findings to both the applicant and you at no cost. With our automated, compliant solution you can streamline your Adverse Action notification process and create an audit trail which may help better protect against litigation.

Pre-Adverse Action Notification Requirements

If you are considering taking adverse action based on any part of the employment screening report, the first step is to send a Pre-Adverse Action notice. As noted by the Federal Trade Commission, the intent of this notification is to give the applicant visibility into the report and clear up possible inaccurate information in order to still be eligible for the position.

 The Pre-Adverse Action notice must include:

• Instructions on how to contact Info Cubic to dispute information in the consumer report
• The amount of days you intend to wait before making a final decision
• A copy of the consumer report
• The document: A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
  • An English version is available at: https://www.infocubic.com/assets/media/FCRA-Summary-of-Rights-English.pdf
  • A Spanish version is also available online at: https://www.infocubic.com/assets/media/FCRA-Summary-of-Rights-Spanish.pdf
• Any applicable state rights documents such as New York Article 23-A or A Summary of Your Rights Under the New Jersey Fair Credit Reporting Act.

These documents are also available as Resource documents within The Cube under the Docs & forms Menu.

Ordering an Adverse Action

Ordering Adverse Action Notifications can be done from within The Cube with the click of a button. It’s as simple as finding your applicant, opening their order and clicking “Adverse Action” under the One Click Product Ordering Action. 

Automated Final Adverse Action

Once the Pre-Adverse Action notification has been sent, you can choose to have Info Cubic automatically send out the Final Adverse Action notification after the waiting period specified in the notice has elapsed. If a dispute is filed by the applicant, Info Cubic will notify you via email and will delay sending until the dispute is resolved. Once the reinvestigation is completed you will receive another email with the results. At that time, you can request that we either forgo or proceed with sending the Final Adverse Action notification based on your final hiring decision.

Ban the Box Legislation

Over the past several years, cities, counties and states continue to implement ban the box laws that impact the hiring process. The majority are considered “traditional” ban the box legislation as these laws simply regulate the timing of the criminal history question. However, a small handful also regulate the adverse action process. Typically in these “ban the box plus” jurisdictions, a customized letter is required per applicant when considering taking adverse action based on criminal history.

In this situation, you can customize the letter(s) to meet the requirements of the specific jurisdiction. Your Pre-Adverse and Final Adverse Action letter templates will be uploaded into the Cube. From within an applicant’s report, you can generate the letter(s) for an individual applicant and customize the content. The letter will open in Microsoft Word so you can easily edit. The Cube will also pre-populate the applicant’s name, address, date, etc. for ease of creation. In this scenario, because the letter must be customized, you will need to send the letter(s) to the applicant yourself. Please contact us for a current list of impacted jurisdictions.

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